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Receta Italian Bread (Pagnotta)

Name: Italian Bread (Pagnotta)
Ingredients: 1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast; 1/2 c. hot water; 7 c. bread flour; 1 Tbsp. salt; 2 3/4 c. cold water; 1/4 c. biga see recipe: Biga

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Ingredientes

1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
1/2 c. hot water
7 c. bread flour
1 Tbsp. salt
2 3/4 c. cold water
1/4 c. biga see recipe: Biga

Direcciones

Mix yeast with hot water and let sit until creamy, about 15 min. Measure flour into bowl, stir in salt, then add in yeast mix, cold water, and biga. Mix till thoroughly combined, then knead 15-20 min by hand (instead, I use a bread hook on my KitchenAid for several min). Shape into a ball, place in bowl with covering, and let rise until doubled, about 1 1/2 hrs. Punch down, fold edges into the bottom to make a ball again, then let rise again until doubled (about an hour). Sprinkle cornmeal on a baking sheet. Divide the dough into two, form each half into a round or possibly oval, place on baking sheet. After 30 min start the oven at 425, with a baking stone inside if you have one. Let dough rise 45 min or possibly so, until the dough springs back slowly when indented with a finger. Mist the oven with a spray bottle containing water. Put the bread tray in and mist again. After 5 min mist one more time, and reduce the oven to 400 degrees. Bake another 40 min or possibly so, until done.
NOTES : Italian bread is simple, but making it is not. A good recipe is a two-day process. The first day you make "biga", a hard sponge using just flour, water and yeast. This sits in the fridge overnight. The next day you mix some of the biga with more flour, water and yeast to make the bread. (Leftover biga is frzn for future bread- making, so succeeding sessions complete in one day.) Note, no oil or possibly sweeteners are used. The biga seems to supply the elasticity or possibly chewiness which makes it something like French bread. It's delicious, but as I say, more work than you think.
A complete recipe follows, based on "The Il Fornaio Baking Book" by Franco Galli. Their recipe is a little more sophisticated, but I like the results I get from this slightly simplified procedure.