There is bread, and there is fresh bread, then there is fresh homemade bread! I am completely and totally addicted to bread. Ever since I learned the techniques of using my Kitchen Aid mixer, I just cannot stop making bread on the weekend. This weekend was no exception. My bread making adventures continued with Italian bread! This bread’s secret is the pre-ferment ( the poolish ) that I put together the night before and placed on my countertop. The pre-ferment gives the bread its flavor and helps out the texture. Using a pre-ferment gives you many of the benefits of a sourdough, but is a so much easier!
I again consulted my master artisan bread maker, Barry Harmon at Artisan Bread Baking, and decided to use the recipe for his standard Italian Boules. A boule, from the French for “ball”, is a traditional shape of French bread, but in this case I made it into Italian bread. The original recipe called to use malt, but I could not source any malt in a hurry, so I just used sugar instead. This bread recipe took the better part of 4.5 hours to complete start to finish (not including the pre-ferment) and was so delicious that I nearly consumed one boule myself within a few hours of completion!
The finished product is a great accompaniment to any meal, although I would not really recommend it as sandwich bread due to its thick, deep crust.
Italian Boules
Poolish:
- 200 g King Arthur Bread Flour
- 200 g Water
- 2 g (1/2 tsp.) Dry Active Yeast
Final Dough:
- 890 g Bread Flour
- 480 g Water
- 15 ml (1 tbsp.) Dry Active Yeast
- 15 ml (1 tbsp.) Salt
- 225 ml (1/2 cup) Non-Fat Dry Milk
- 15 ml (1 tbsp.) Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 15 ml (1 tbsp.) Sugar
- Make the poolish, cover it, and allow it to sit on the countertop for at least 24 hours at room temperature.
- After 24 hours put the poolish, water, sugar, yeast, oil, milk powder into the mixer bowl.
- Add half the flour and mix for two minutes using the paddle attachment.
- Switch to the dough hook and add the rest of the flour and mix for two minutes.
- Let dough rest, covered for 25 minutes (this is the autolyse).
- Add the salt and knead for 8 minutes.
- Cover and ferment for 1 hour.
- Perform a fold.
- Cover and ferment another hour.
- Perform a fold.
- Cover and ferment for 30 minutes.
- Shape into two equal loaves (mine was approx 880 grams each) place on parchment paper and rise for 50 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 425F.
- Slash the loaves in three places across the top of each boule and place in the oven and bake for 20 minutes.
- After 20 minutes, rotate the loaves to ensure equal baking and bake for another 15-20 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 200F.
- For a deeper crust, turn of the oven and let the loaves sit in the cooling oven for 5 minutes.