a busy day...

so for some reason today, i decided to all kinds of exciting things. you would think that i might want to spread them out over a couple of days, but no! lol today i made: chevre, mozzarella, pugliese sponge breads and texas two bean soup - its sort of like the texas two step, but different, and a little spicier then i ended. i also decided, for the heck of it, to smoke the mozzerella. which was even more exciting, it has little flecks of residual smoke particles, and tastes rather smoky, but really not that exciting. i was a little bit more excited about it then i was pleased with the end product, but travis likes it. i have no idea what i'm going to do with it now....but i'm sure we'll figure that out!

but, to the main reason of this post! pugliese sponge breads!!! i love making these breads because they are so different then regular bread. its just this mass of liquidy-wet dough, that you just glop onto the baking stone. but it tastes AMAZING! and has a fabulous texture, crumb & personality  - its just plain lovely! :)

pugliese sponge breads

for the biga:

1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast
1/2 cup lukewarm water
1 cup all-purpose flour

dissolve the yeast in the water. add flour and stir to combine. knead briefly in a bowl until a soft dough has been formed. cover the bowl with cling-film, and let stand at room temperature for 12-24 hours (or for up to three days in the fridge).

for the bread:
1 teaspoon active dry yeast
3 cups lukewarm water
biga, as above
5-6 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tablespoons salt
1 cup whole-wheat flour (or whole-wheat pastry flour)

in a large bowl, dissolve yeast in water. cut biga into 5 pieces and stir into the water, breaking it up with a spoon, loosening it (practically to the extent of dissolving it, but this is not fully achievable).

stir in one cup of all-purpose flour and the salt. add whole-wheat flour, stirring to combine, then add three more cups of all-purpose, one cup at a time, and stirring all the while. stir the dough with a wet hand, maneuver it like a paddle and turn the dough around on itself, like a dough hook would do. add another cup of all-purpose flour with your dry hand. stir and mix with wet hand for 3-5 minutes, keeping an eye on the consistency, which should be wet but clinging together. if the dough is too liquid, add another 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour and continue stirring. cover the bowl with cling-film and let the dough stand for at least 3 hours (even overnight). it will rise a bit but will not double in volume. 

preheat oven to 250 C/500 F and do not open oven door until 20 minutes after oven has reached this temperature. place a baking sheet or quarry tiles on the lower rack. open oven door. with wet hands, break dough in half, shape into a mound (tucking edges underneath to smooth out and tighten the surface), then drop onto baking sheet. decrease temperature to 225 C/450 F after ten minutes. bake for a further 20-25 minutes, until bread is well browned (it will also sound hollow when you tap the base). raise temperature to 250 C/500 F before baking other half of the dough. let cool for thirty minutes before slicing. (i try, but it never really works)