Free In Search of the Perfect Loaf: A Home Baker's Odyssey by Samuel Fromartz Page A

“poolish,” in which up to half the flour in the loaf is pre-fermented twelve to fifteen hours before mixing, with just a pinch of yeast, so it’s a bubbling mass by the time you mix it with the remaining flour, water, and salt. This tends to open up the crumb even more because poolish helps break down proteins in that long prefermentation. I’m also playing with the salt levels, so that the sodium doesn’t overpower the natural flavor. The baguette tastes cleaner, more pure, but I imagine that in another few months, I’ll go back to using
levain
again, or raise the amount of whole grains in the loaf for a more rustic feel. In the end, my goal is the same: flavor, an open crumb, a dark crust—in short, a dynamite loaf.
    This quest of mine—and the resulting travel piece—got me through the darkest three months of the recession. Work started flowing again. But more than that, this one project—and the obsessive focus it required—grounded me at a tenuous moment. I wasn’t making as much money as before, but I was making a helluva baguette. And that was certainly better than no bread at all.

Stirato
    ( MODERATE )
    Makes 4 loaves
     
    When I first started baking, I stumbled on
stirato,
which is like an easy-to-make baguette. I found it in Joe Ortiz’s
The Village Baker
. Although I didn’t know it at the time, this bread was actually a good one to begin with because it introduced me to the benefits of highly hydrated (that is, very wet) doughs, which create an incredibly airy crumb if handled with a light touch. Ortiz made the dough in a food processor, which you might want to try, but I use a method that combines minimal hand kneading, or more precisely folding, and periodic rests.
    With Ortiz’s recipe, the difficulty came in shaping the loaves. I mangled many, with dough stuck on my hands, apron, and counter. Here, I offer a much simpler technique I learned from Roland Feuillas (chapter 7): you simply form a rectangle and cut off the loaves. Then there’s the fun part: hold the end of each one and stretch it out (hence the name,
stirato
), forming a long, thin, irregular baguette-like loaf.
    This recipe can be made in one day but requires a long first rise to build flavor and crust color and help ensure you’ll get those holes everyone tends to want in homemade bread. If you bake with sourdough, try adding a tablespoon or two to this dough, simply to build more flavor, though it comes out fine without it. If you mix it around nine A.M ., it will be ready by dinner.
    Tools
Bowl or container
Spatula
Plastic dough scraper
Rectangular baking stone
Rimmed baking sheet, for the oven
Dowel or wooden spoon with a long handle or a chopstick
Parchment paper, cut to the size of the baking stone
Cutting board or second baking sheet, to move the loaves to the oven
Cooling rack
    Ingredients
500 grams unbleached all-purpose flour
375 grams water 80˚F (27˚C)
1 / 2 teaspoon instant yeast
1 tablespoon sourdough (optional)
10 grams sea salt
Semolina flour, for dusting the loaves
    Morning
     
    Combine the flour, water, yeast, and sourdough, if using, in a bowl, mixing together with a spatula or your hand moistened with water for about 1 minute. After the ingredients are combined, make a small indentation on the top of the dough. Add the salt to the small well you’ve just made in the dough, and about 1 tablespoon of water to cover it, but don’t mix it in yet. Cover the bowl and let the dough sit for 20 minutes.
    Moisten your hands slightly and use the dough scraper to loosen the dough from the bowl. Rather than knead the dough, you’re going to stretch and fold it in the bowl—a technique I use in nearly all the recipes in the book. Working from the edges of the dough, pull the dough out to stretch it and then fold it over toward the center. You can also squeeze the dough with your fingers to help incorporate the salt. If your hands begin to stick to the dough, moisten them again with water. Work around the dough and