I went a little wild this weekend with some pre-ferments for bread from The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart. I made two firm dough starters, a pate fermentee and a biga. The latter has no salt but otherwise they are about the same. I planned to make the Pain Siciliano, a bread that also uses coarsely ground semolina (pasta flour) and Pugliese, a bread similar to Ciabatta. Well, I let time get away from my and switched from the Pugliese, which requires a lot of folding and stretching, to regular old Italian bread. I finally got around to baking the loaves last night and this morning.
First I baked the Italian loaves. They turned out OK but my absence from bread baking can be noticed. The crumb (not pictured) isn't quite as open as it should be, and it could have baked a minute or two longer.
I shaped the loaves for the Pane Siciliano while the Italian loaves were rising, but they required an overnight rest in the refrigerator. This morning I told my husband to turn on the oven when he went to make coffee (good boy!), and then baked the loaves when I dragged my ass out of bed half an hour later.
You will note that these are "S" shaped, sort of. Like I said, my absence from bread baking is apparent (as is my lack of photographic skill). I just can't bring myself to do it in the heat of summer. I "knead" to get back in the rhythm (that was so bad I really should slap myself).
Tonight we are having Monte Cristo sandwiches with the Italian loaf and the (still) leftover ham from Thanksgiving. The ham will be gone after this evening. I really enjoyed it - we make it so rarely. It's too bad pigs are so smart; they sure are tasty critters.
Comments