italian bread experiment 01/07/10

How To Make italian bread experiment 01/07/10

• Step 1
  Stir together the biga/poolish ingredients in a large bread bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit overnight (8-10 hours) until bubbly.
• Step 2
  To the risen biga/poolish, add the remainder of the envelope of yeast, salt, 3 1/2 cups flour, salt, olive oil and water. Stir well to combine. This will form a very sticky, ragged dough. Cover the bread bowl again and allow to rise 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
• Step 3
  Knead the risen dough, first on a counter greased with olive oil, then on a counter dusted with as little additional flour as possible.
• Step 4
  Form the dough into a ball and throw it onto the counter two or three times. The impact relaxes the dough, enhancing the rise.
• Step 5
  Place back in the bowl, cover, and allow to rise for an additional hour.
• Step 6
  Remove the dough from the bowl and slap it several times onto a lightly floured counter to relax it. Shape it into a rectangle, roll it into a loaf and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Cut slits across the top at about 1 inch intervals to release the tension on top of the loaf. Allow to rise for another 45 minutes to 1 hour.
• Step 7
  Preheat oven to 500F. Bake for 10 minutes then reduce to 400F. Bake for 35 minutes.
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