MsG recently invested in copies of Yotam Ottolenghi's two books: The Cookbook and Plenty. Plenty is packed with recipes from his Guardian Weekend column, such as the smashing Shakshuka. Both MsG and I have made recipes from this book and have found ourselves enjoying a variety of ingredients and combinations we'd previously never tried (and in some cases, vociferously refused) to cook with or eat.
The Cookbook also includes a hefty baking section. I've already made a few of the recipes, including the semolina tart (see pic below; I heretically used strawberries instead of the prescribed raspberries) and focaccia.
One recipe that had to be tackled was the crusty white Italian loaf. A recipe by Dan Lepard, the loaf is described as "having dark crunchy crust, soft waxy centre with giant holes and giant flavour". Sounds very tempting but the recipes states: "To achieve this creation … you need a good mixer as the dough is very wet and sticky and takes a lot of kneading. Don't try to do it by hand or using an old weak machine." For an advocate of hand made bread this caveat had the soft plopping sound of a floury baking gauntlet being thrown down.
The first attempt was a minor disaster. I tried using Richard Bertinet's technique for hand mixing but the final loaf was flat, dense and doughy; just awful. However, I was still convinced the loaf could be made completely by hand and was sure that if I adopted Dan Lepard's mxing style it would work. MsG tweeted Dan about it, and brilliantly, he replied saying that, yes a slow or no knead technique would work.
And so the following Friday I made the loaf using Mr Lepard's slow knead technique and the loaf was a success (see the handsome devil in the first picture above). An almost Faustian have-your-cake-and-eat-it mix of the best bits of all your favourite bread: a rustic crunchy crust, a soft, chewy crumb and a brilliant intense flavour. Definately well worth the effort.
So here's the complete adapted recipe: Ottolenghi's weights and measures, Lepard's mixing method, and just generally treating the dough like Ciabatta.
Ingredients
Biga
200g Italian 00 flour
175g strong white flour
170g tepid water
1.5 tsp fresh yeast
Dough
25g Italian 00 flour
2.5 tsp polenta
2 tsp malt or dark brown sugar
110g tepid water
1 tsp salt
Method
1. Make the biga: mix the flours, crumble and rub the yeast into the flour, then slowly add the water, mixing thoroughly with fingers and thumbs until all flour is mixed in and you have a firm dough. Put in a bowl, cover and leave somewhere warm and quiet about for 15 to 20 hours, the longer the better.
*
2. After a nice long ferment the biga should now smell incredible, all boozey and malty. Break into small pieces into your large mixing bowl. Mix in the dough ingredients: add the flour and polenta, mixing into the biga; mix in the malt or sugar, then the salt; finally pour in the water and mix thoroughly using your fingers and thumbs, squeezing and pushing all the ingredients together until you have a very sticky but smooth, lump-free doughy paste. Rest for ten minutes, covered with a clean, damp tea towel.
3. Scrape out the dough onto a clean, lightly olive oiled work surface. And using a light, gentle but defined knead, mix the dough for 15 seconds. Form into a ball and leave covered for ten minutes.
4. Knead for 15 seconds. Rest for ten minutes.
5. Knead for 15 seconds. Rest for 30 minutes.
6. Knead for 15 seconds. Rest for one hour.
7. Knead for 15 seconds. Rest for one hour.
8. Oil a clean dry bowl. Knead the dough for 15 seconds. gently form into a ball, place it into the bowl, cover the bowl with oiled cling film and rest for two hours.
9. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Gently, first easing the dough into square shape, fold the dough into a baguette shape.
10. Line a baking tray with a clean tea towel, generously flouring the base; gently lay your dough seam side down onto this floured base. Cover and leave to prove for 60 to 90 minutes.
11. Set your oven to 260ºc or as hot as you can get it, preferably bake on a baking stone.
12. When the dough is finished proving slide it into the oven using a peel or baking sheet. Give the oven a quick mist, shut the oven door and immediately set the oven temp down to 220ºc. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, until a dark golden brown.
13. Cool the loaf upside down on a wire rack.
When completely cool, enjoy pieces of this loaf with any of your favorite charcuterie, cheeses, oily roasted mediterranean vegetables or a big bowl of black, salty olives. Strong, healthy teeth and gums recommended.
Nice blog - you might include a picture of the crumb next time?
ReplyDeleteI approve of your vices!
Irrespective of receiving daily oral or future injectable depot therapies, these require health care visits for medication and monitoring of safety and response. If patients are treated early enough, before a lot of immune system damage has occurred, life expectancy is close to normal, as long as they remain on successful treatment. However, when patients stop therapy, virus rebounds to high levels in most patients, sometimes associated with severe illness because i have gone through this and even an increased risk of death. The aim of “cure”is ongoing but i still do believe my government made millions of ARV drugs instead of finding a cure. for ongoing therapy and monitoring. ARV alone cannot cure HIV as among the cells that are infected are very long-living CD4 memory cells and possibly other cells that act as long-term reservoirs. HIV can hide in these cells without being detected by the body’s immune system. Therefore even when ART completely blocks subsequent rounds of infection of cells, reservoirs that have been infected before therapy initiation persist and from these reservoirs HIV rebounds if therapy is stopped. “Cure” could either mean an eradication cure, which means to completely rid the body of reservoir virus or a functional HIV cure, where HIV may remain in reservoir cells but rebound to high levels is prevented after therapy interruption.Dr Itua Herbal Medicine makes me believes there is a hope for people suffering from,Parkinson's disease,Schizophrenia,Lung Cancer,Breast Cancer,Colo-Rectal Cancer,Blood Cancer,Prostate Cancer,siva.Fatal Familial Insomnia Factor V Leiden Mutation ,Epilepsy Dupuytren's disease,Desmoplastic small-round-cell tumor Diabetes ,Coeliac disease,Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease,Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy, Ataxia,Arthritis,Amyotrophic Lateral Scoliosis,Fibromyalgia,Fluoroquinolone Toxicity
ReplyDeleteSyndrome Fibrodysplasia Ossificans ProgresSclerosis,Alzheimer's disease,Adrenocortical carcinoma.Asthma,Allergic diseases.Hiv_ Aids,Herpe ,Copd,Glaucoma., Cataracts,Macular degeneration,Cardiovascular disease,Lung disease.Enlarged prostate,Osteoporosis.Alzheimer's disease,
Dementia.(measles, tetanus, whooping cough, tuberculosis, polio and diphtheria)
Hpv,All Cancer Types,Diabetes,Hepatitis,I read about him online how he cure Tasha and Tara so i contacted him on drituaherbalcenter@gmail.com / info@drituaherbalcenter.com. even talked on whatsapps +2348149277967 believe me it was easy i drank his herbal medicine for two weeks and i was cured just like that isn't Dr Itua a wonder man? Yes he is! I thank him so much so i will advise if you are suffering from one of those diseases Pls do contact him he's a nice man.