I made this bread using the sourdough, which recipe you can find here.
It takes quite some long resting periods and patience. But the result is really worth it all.
A golden brown, thick crispy crust and soft inside.
Bread made with sourdough is more fragrant, tasty, digestible and it has also a longer shelf-life.
Ingredients
- 1 kgdurum wheat semola (I used Rusello variety)
- 550 mllukewarm table water
- 250 gsourdough
- 1 spoonbarley malt
- 1 spoonextra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoontable salt
Preparation
– refresh the sourdough the evening before you want to bake, or at least 8 hours in advance, by following the instructions here;
– the sourdough should have doubled its size: now take 250g away from it for the baking, and store the remaining sourdough for the next time you will wish to bake;
– melt the sourdough and the barley malt into the lukewarm water;
– sift the flour onto it and mix well;
– knead till you start getting a ball of dough;
– add the table salt diluted in a teaspoon table water;
– keep on kneading while adding the extra virgin olive oil;
– transfer the dough onto a working surface and knead as follow: fold the dough in half and rock forward on the heels of your hands to press it flat, turn the dough slightly, fold it in half, and rock into it again with the heels of your hands. Do this for about 30 seconds, then take the dough and smash it against the surface a couple of time. Alternate the kneading and the smashing for at least 10 minutes;
– transfer the dough into a large bowl, cover it with kitchen towel and put it to rest in a warm place, away from air drafts (i.e. the switched off oven);
– after 4 hours your dough should have doubled its size;
– cut it in a half to obtain 2 separate balls of dough which you will work separately to shape your loaves;
– dust with some flour the working surface and place the first ball of dough onto it, flat it with your fingers to shape it into a rectangle;
– proceed to the first fold as follow: fold the longer side towards the center, and then fold the other free side towards the center too. You have obtained a cylinder. Fold one side of the cylinder towards the center and then fold the other side over it. This first fold is completed;
– now proceed to the second fold as follow: flat again the dough with your fingers to shape it again into a rectangle, then repeat the same procedure as above;
– round the edges with your hands, shape your loaf and place it on the baking tray or inside a dusted loaf baking tray;
– repeat the folding process for the other ball of dough;
– cover your loaves with a kitchen towel and allow them to rest in warm place, away from air drafts (i.e. the switched off oven) for about 4 hours;
– heat the oven to 230 degrees;
– put your loaves into the oven, and after 5 minutes low the temperature to 210 degrees;
– bake for about 40 minutes or till golden brown;
– allow the bread to cool down before slicing it
The bread made with sourdough can be stored in a cool bread bag, or wrapped in a clean kitchen towel, up to 1 week.
