consecutive bakes....

[Xabia Jim]

I just read in the "bread bakers apprentice" book about sequential bakes in a wood fired oven....the national record is sixteen!

Now that's heat management.

I just don't know if I can make 16 consecutive bakes!

What's your experience with the number of things you can cook from a single firing?

Should be fun trying!

[CanuckJim]

Xabia,

I've managed eight. The only reason there weren't more is that I ran out of dough and energy. When the oven was really cool (225), I braised a five pound beef roast.

Jim

[captain]

Hey Jim ,how are you, when you braised that roast the fire is taken out and the door is put in place am I coorect whit this also I was checing out your bakery site very impessive,what is a good dough recipe for your pane puglise bread that is exactly what I am trying to dupliact as that is the kind of bread I was raised on,it is hard to find good bread today. I woul like to make 6 to 12 at a time for my family. Thanks for you help

[CanuckJim]

Captain,

You are correct about the braised roast: the fire was raked out and the door put in place.

The Pane Pugliese recipe I've used with some success is in Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice. After experimentation, I've settled on a 50 per cent golden durham (or fancy durham, or extra fancy durham) flour and 50 per cent hard, unbleached bread flour. This is a high hydration formula, so you have to get used to handling sticky dough, but it's worth the effort.

Let me know how you get on with it.

I've been thinking about adding Pugliese to the Forno Bravo Hearth Bread doc. Any takers?

Jim

[fdn1]

Jim
I would be most interested in seeing it posted. Thanks

[james]

Heck, I'm the editor, and I would like to see it. Jim, how do you see the difference between Ciabatta and Pugliese?

btw -- we need a good Ciabatta photo for the bread baking PDF and web-pages.

James

[CanuckJim]

James, Fred,

I guess the difference isn't in the fact that they're both high hydration. It's mainly the difference between a round, rustic loaf, raised in a basket, and a slipper loaf that's free form and dimpled, more like a focaccia. Let's not forget the flour type either. Although you can make ciabatta successfully with golden durham flour, at least in my experience and reading it traditionally is not used. Pugliese, on the other hand, has a high proportion of durham flour. If I go any higher than a 50/50 blend, though, the rise seems to suffer, but maybe that's just me. Durham flour also requires more hydration than regular wheat flours. Takes a bit of experimentation to get it right.

To my palate, durham flour gives Pugliese a taste almost like almonds, while Ciabatta has a more open structure (due to the flour), a lighter yet more chewy texture and a focaccia like flavour. Pugliese is a real country rustic bread: hearty, good with soups and stews.

Both formulas demand the same type of handling, stretching and folding, shown in the Wet Dough clip. I should have said on camera, and didn't, that the stretch/fold method elongates and strenghtens the gluten strands in the dough. This is particularly important for high hydration doughs, but as Jeffrey Hamelman rightly points out, any long bulk fermentation dough will benefit from the technique about halfway through the ferment time. I've never tried it with pizza dough, but my guess is it could only improve the finished dough.

I will definitely come up with a wood-fired formula for Pugliese that we can add to the bread baking section. And, okay, I'll get a Ciabatta pic or two the next time I bake some, probably next week. Right now, I'm getting snowed with bagel orders due in the next two days. Just started making them, and they bring back memories of the Lower East Side in my wastrel youth.

Think I need a bigger oven and several employees if this keeps up.

Cheers,
Jim