Pugliese Bread
I came across a recipe for "Pugliese Bread" years ago and used to bake 600 gram loaves due to the size of my kitchen oven. A few years ago I bought a bread oven that is able to handle larger loaves, and has holes on top which make it possible to use a pressure sprayer to produce steam and then be closed off. I recently started to bake 2+ kilo loaves and my friends love the results. I bake them for 85 minutes. This results in a very dark crust that crackles for 5 minutes after being taken out of the oven, and a very tender crumb. Whatever is not eaten that day, I halve the bread, let it rest for 5 hours and then slice and freeze it. When the slices are warmed, the crust retains its original crispiness and the crumb is remains tender. I use a little yeast along with sourdough starter. The yeast was in the original recipe, but I reduced it, and I substituted sourdough starter for the biga in the original recipe. The 2 day slow retardation in the refrigerator develops a lot of small bubbles in the dough.
2 x 2361 gm.Round Loaves
2 t Yeast
1474 gms. Water (68%)
1000 gms Sourdough Starter
2 Kg. AP Flour
100 Gms. Rye Flour
100 Gms. WW Flour
3 T+ 1t Salt
2 T Diastatic Malt
- Combined all ingredients except salt
- Mixed until combined
- Added Salt on top of dough
- Autolyzed for 20 minutes
- Mixed additional 8 minutes
- Wet and solid structure.
- 4796 Gms.
- Divided in two 2350 Gm.(Appx.) pieces
- Placed in 2 oiled plastic containers .
- Refrigerated for 2 days
11. Took out and let warm for 3 hours
12. Formed into 2 Round Loaves
13. Placed on 2 bread peels (Can also place on large sheet pans)
14. Let rise for 2 hours
15. Scored with straight blade…5 scores in each direction
16. 500 F Degrees – Sprayed with water for steam.
17. Reduced to 450 F Degrees
18. Baked 85 minutes
