Pane Valle Maggia, ver. 1b

I have made the Pane Valle Maggia (or "Pane Maggiore") 3 previous times. I have decided I actually liked the first version the best, so I made it again today. The procedure was substantially the same. See Pane Valle del Maggia.

I found the dough much gloppier than I remembered it being. I didn't come up with a good explanation until just now. I was checking my blog entry for this bread to make sure I had included the formula, and I discovered I had left out an ingredient - 63g of Medium Rye Flour. That turned an 86% hydration, sticky dough into a 92% hydration gloppy dough that needed to be treated like a ciabatta - heavily floured and stretched into rectangles rather than shaped into boules. Of course, I didn't do that. Using lots of flour on the board and on my hands and using the bench knife to tighten up the loaf, I shaped boules and transferred them to heavily floured, linen-lined bannetons. 

After spending the night in the fridge and about 2 hours proofing at room temperature, to my relief, the loaves released super-easily from the bannetons, didn't spread much on the peel, sprang up in the oven and came out looking really good.

The crumb was significantly more open than the previous bake, as would be expected, given the higher hydration. 

I let the bread cool for 60 to 90 minutes before slicing. It was still a bit warm, but the crumb was cool on the tongue and tender. It had the mouth feel of a ciabatta, in fact. The flavor was sweet and wheaty with only the slightest sourdough tang and more of a lactic acid creamy flavor. It is really good!

I am wondering if I would make this bread again at 92% hydration. It is so delicious, I just might, but, if I do, I would be inclined to use it for ciabatta or ciabatta rolls. Hmmm ... That sounds like a plan!

David