Rustic Italian Loaf with Semolina
It has been a while since I have posted. We went away for a few days for a mini vacation and I’ve had a tough time getting back to baking and blogging.
On top of that I am experiencing changes in the way my starter is acting. Since the weather has gotten warm my starter has become weak and listless. When I went to make this loaf of bread, there was no sign of activity 5 hours after refreshing it and it certainly didn’t float. I proceeded anyway figuring I could compensate with longer bulk fermentation. That worked but bulk fermentation took a total of 19 hours with 8 hours and 45 minutes in the fridge.
The long fermentation gave the bread a distinct sourdough flavor, almost like a San Francisco sourdough, not unpleasant but not what I wanted for an Italian Bread.
The flours used for this bread were King Arthur Organic Bread Flour and Caputo Semolina.
The Formula
| Ingredient | Amount | Bakers % |
| Sponge | ||
| Starter | 20 g | 11% |
| Water | 131 g | 75% |
| Bread Flour | 125 g | 70% |
| Semolina | 50 g | 30% |
| Dough | ||
| Sponge | 346 g | 106% |
| Starter | 75 g | 23% |
| Water | 234 g | 72% |
| Bread Flour | 225 g | 70% |
| Semolina | 100 g | 30% |
| Salt | 9 g | 1.8% |
My Process
- Weigh all ingredients for sponge.
- Add the starter to the water in a bowl and mix thoroughly. Add the flours to and mix to incorporate the flours into the counter.
- Cover and let rest on the counter for at least 5 hours. Then place covered bowl in the fridge until the next morning.
- The next morning weigh all ingredients for the dough.
- Add the starter to the water in a mixing bowl and mix thoroughly. Break up the sponge into pieces and incorporate into the water with a dough whisk.
- After the sponge is incorporated begin adding the flour mixture, a handful at a time. Incorporate each flour addition with a dough whisk before making another. Use hands to make sure all the dry flour is incorporated into the dough.
- Cover mixing bowl and let rest on counter for 20 to 30 minutes.
- Add about 1/2 the salt on top of the dough. Fold dough a couple of times. Add the remaining salt on top of the dough and fold several more times to incorporate the salt.
- Transfer the dough to a clean container for bulk fermentation. Cover and let rest on counter for 60 minutes.
- Stretch and fold dough on 60 minute intervals a total of 4 or 5 times or until a good windowpane test is achieved.
- From here on this was an abnormal process due to the low activity of the starter.
- Let the dough rest covered on the counter until bed time then place the covered dough in the fridge to continue bulk fermentation.
- Remove the dough from the fridge when getting up the next morning. Let rest on the counter for 2 hours.
- Remove the dough from the fermentation container to an unfloured work surface.
- Use a floured bench scraper to shape the dough into a ball.
- Flour the top of the ball and cover and let rest on work surface for 30 minutes.
- Invert the dough ball onto a floured work surface a shape dough into its final shape. This time it was a small batard.
- Place the dough seam side up in a lined and floured banneton to proof. Cover banneton.
- Place baking stone in oven and preheat oven to 500 F.
- After 60 minutes check dough to see if it is proofed. If not continue checking on 15 minute intervals. The impression of a finger press in the dough should slowly fill. It is better be slightly underproofed that overproofed.
- When dough is proofed, place roasting pan in oven to preheat. Invert dough on to a parchment lined peel.
- Score dough as desired.
- Remove preheated roasting pan from oven. Transfer dough on parchment to baking stone and cover with inverted roasting pan. Close oven and reduce temp to 475 F.
- Bake covered for 20 minutes. Remove cover and reduce oven temp to 450 F. Bake another 20 minutes.
- Remove bread from oven to a cooling rack.
- Let bread cool at least 2 hours before slicing.
This turned out to be a very good bread, just not what I was aiming for.
This experience has shown me that baking naturally leavened breads are very forgiving. I used a starter that I knew shouldn’t have enough strength to leaven bread and it came though for me, given enough time and patience on my part. For the better part of a day and a half I was ready to dump out the dough. It wasn’t until the next morning when I saw the bubbles in the dough that I thought it might work. Was it a perfect loaf of bread? No, but it tasted good and in the end that’s what I want.