Pane Pugliese (Semolina bread)

Pane Pugliese
(makes 1 large loaf)
 
Although many of my recipes are inspired by the Tuscany region, this recipe is a Southern Italian treasure from the Puglia region. Pane Pugliese is made with either all or the greater part hard durum wheat – fine semolina or ‘semola rimacinata di grano duro’. The finest example of this is Pane di Altamura, now granted PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) status. The loaf is a beautiful pale gold in colour and has the characteristic crumb and crunchy crust of a semolina bread. It is utterly delicious and well worth a try.

If you wish, you can use all semolina for this recipe. Simply replace the bread flour in the biga and dough with more semolina.
 
 
Ingredients
 
Overnight biga:
Strong bread flour        100g
Tepid water                   100g
Fresh yeast                        2g
 
For the dough:
Strong bread flour        100g
Fine durum semolina   400g
Tepid water                   300g
Biga, from above          200g
Fresh Yeast                      10g (or 5g instant dried yeast)*
Sea salt                            10g
*if you intend to prove overnight in the fridge, reduce the amount of yeast to about half.
 
 
Method
 
The night before, mix together the ingredients for the biga and leave, covered, overnight at ambient room temperature.
 
Make the dough by combining the above ingredients and knead for 10-15 minutes until you have a smooth elastic dough. Leave, covered, in an oiled bowl for 30 mins, after which you can stretch and fold your dough. Cover once more and leave for a further 30 minutes.
 
When your dough has significantly increased in size, after this first prove of about 1 hour, tip it out onto a lightly floured surface and shape tightly into a ball. Place into a floured banneton, cover and leave to prove again for 1 – 1½ hours, depending on ambient temperature. Alternatively, place in the fridge and allow to prove slowly overnight*.
 
Pre-heat the oven to 240°C.
 
When your loaf is ready, slash the top with a sharp knife or baker’s lame and either slide from a peel onto a hot baking stone, or bake inside a preheated cast iron pot. Turn oven down to 220°C and bake for 45-50 minutes. If baking in a cast iron pot, remove the lid after 15 minutes to allow the loaf to develop a golden crust. The loaf will be baked when the crumb reaches 95°C.
 
Leave to cool on a cooling rack.