Working on the pane di Altamura bread, I was trying to get a rectangular shape of dough 16"x 6". To get this, I used a rolling pin on the semolina durum dough. I cut off the sides that did not conform to the rectangle I was trying to achieve and added this dough to the center of the larger mass until I got the 16" x 6" rectangle. I think taking the rolling pin to this dough eliminated the gas I built up in bulk fermenting, bench rests and fortifying the biga... i.e. this was the death knell for it. It did not rise in the oven. The bread looks like a purse and the crumb is extremely dense.
How do you shape a difficult dough without using a rolling pin or am I barking up the wrong tree and need to do something else?
thanks,
Pete
Why does the dough need to be rolled out into a perfect rectangle? I am not familiar with the process for pane di Altamur, but pictures I have seen do not make it appear as though it has such an unusual shaping method.
I depends partly on how soft and stretchy your dough is (at what hydration). You can usually just stretch it gently into a rough rectangle shape by lifting the corners, pulling on it a bit then laying it back down again. If it resists, let it sit there for 10 minutes or so and try again.
After some research, I realize it does not have to be a perfect rectangle. Sometimes the sketches and instructions are a bit misleading. A rough rectangle 16" x 6" is fine. There are different shapes. The pane del contadino (peasant loaf), pane del capriccio (tantrum loaf) and pane del accavallato (straddle) which I thought, was easiest of shapes to pull off. Perhaps the pane del contadino is easier.
accavallato
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/41982/pane-di-altamura-trip-there-and-back
I have two different flours the CA.ME.MA Italian flour from Altamura and Caputo Rascinimata. I am using Abe's recipe with which he has had recent success. This week I created two preferments. One with each flour and each day attempted to make the bread with each of the flours and the corresponding preferments. I continue to get a very dense crumb which leads me to believe the gluten structure is very weak in these breads. The Caputo Rascinimata had more flavor than the CA.ME.MA version. I am thinking next weeks efforts with be to just build a boule, not reshape it into a traditional shape.