The photography isn't that good...

The photography isn't that good because I was still in baking mode and not in photo taking mode.

(I wrote that so it rhymes)



I got a little impatient. The starter gets started the day before. The starter is called a biga and the biga is one cup flour, one half cup water and an eighth of a teaspoon of yeast. You mix the ingredients and let it sit at room temperature for SIX hours and then put it in the refrigerator over night.


The next day you take the biga out of the frig and let it sit for about an hour to get to room temperature or there about. You mix two cups of flour (5.25oz), a cup of water, a half teaspoon of yeast and one teaspoon of salt along with the biga. I use a stand mixer so I mix it on low for about two minutes using the paddle attachment or until the mixture all comes together and then I mix it on medium high for three minutes which should change the soupy batter into a sticky dough.

I then put the dough into a bowl and let it rise until triple in volume (1.5 to 2 hours). I then let the gooey mass plop out of the bowl onto a bed of flour. I then cover the dough in flour and then cut it in half with a bench scraper.

I then carefully shape each piece into a rectangle (this makes two loaves), then dimple it by pressing my fingers into the dough at about one inch intervals. I then push the sides of the dough to make it taller. I then flip the dough over onto a half sheet pan that has a Silpat in it. I then let it rise until 1.5 times the volume (1.5 to 2 hours).

I then bake it in a magic bread oven at 475 for five minutes and then at 400 for twenty.

I didn't let this bread, the one in the photos, rise as much as I probably should have, I got impatient and couldn't wait but it's better for sandwiched without the huge voids that I got with the loaf before these ones.

My oven isn't really magic. I just use a baking stone and have a cast iron skillet at the bottom and immediately after the bread goes in, I dump a cup of ice into the skillet which causes a bunch of steam to fill the oven. I also spritz it a bit with a spray bottle.

Steam is important.

That's up to eleven hours and twenty five minutes of just waiting (over two day)