← Nouns Cooking · Italian

Ingredients

• 150 g strong bread flour
• 100 ml Water
• ¼ tsp fast-action dried yeast
• 350 g strong bread flour
• 300 ml Water, lukewarm
• 1 tsp fast-action dried yeast
• 2 tsp Salt
• 1 tbsp Olive oil
• 2 tbsp semolina or flour, for dusting

Method

1. The night before, stir the starter flour, water and yeast into a stiff, shaggy dough. Cover and leave at room temperature for 12–16 hours, until bubbly and domed.
2. Add the dough water and yeast to the starter and squish them together, then mix in the flour to make a very sticky, wet dough. Cover and rest for 20 min.
3. Sprinkle over the salt and oil and pinch and squeeze them in with a wet hand until absorbed.
4. Over the next 1½ hours, do 3 sets of folds every 30 min: with a wet hand, lift one side of the dough, stretch it up and fold it over, turn the bowl and repeat 4 times. Then leave it for 1 hour, until wobbly, bubbly and doubled.
5. Heavily dust the counter with semolina. Tip the dough out gently, cut it in two and stretch each half into a long rectangle without knocking out the air. Lift onto floured baking paper and leave for 30–45 min.
6. Heat the oven to 240°C (465°F) with a baking tray inside and a roasting tin on the bottom. Slide the loaves in on their paper, pour a mug of hot water into the tin for steam, and bake for 22–25 min, until deep golden and hollow-sounding underneath.
7. Cool on a rack for at least 30 min before slicing.

Tips

• Wet hands are your best tool: the dough is meant to be sticky, so resist adding extra flour.
• For an even airier crumb, use 10–20 ml more water as you get used to handling it.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

GialloZafferano BBC Good Food Pasta Grammar