# Pane Siciliano



## roo-b-q'n (Apr 3, 2009)

Made my first batch of Pane Siciliano from the Bread Bakers Apprentice (BBA). These loaves were made over a period of 3 days. First day I made the pre -ferement and placed it in the refirdgerator for 24 + hours. This is to retard the dough and allow for flavor build up out of the flour. It will also make the finished bread taste more rustic for lack of a better word. I didn't take pictures of that step but the rest of the steps are below.

Day 2 removed the preferment and mixed with 40% Semolina flour, 60% Bread flour, salt, honey, 1 tsp. yeast, and 1 1/4 cup water. Once done, placed into a bowl and covered for 2 hours into the proofer to double.



After the had doubled in size I formed them into 24 inch lengths, and using the baguette method ( I really need to work on uniformity of the strands.) from there I formed them into the traditional Pane Siciliano shape.





From here they were sprayed with vegetable oil covered with plastic wrap and placed back in the fridge to retard and build flavor for another night. 

Day Three

After a night in the fridge, I let them come to room temp and rise again while I brought the oven up to 500 degrees. I also let a heavy pan come to temp in the oven to be used to introduce steam in the first few minutes of baking. Once the oven was to temp, I placed the bread into the oven. Added a cup of water to the steam pan and closed the door, after 30 seconds I opened and with a spray bottle sprayed down the sides of the oven to help create more steam. I repeated this step two more times and then turned the oven down to 450 degrees. Baked the loaves for 15 minutes and then rotated the pans 180 degrees and removed the steam pan. Back into the oven for 10 more minutes. The recipe says they are finished when the bread reaches 200 - 205 degrees. They were well over 205 according to my thermapen so I pulled them and let them cool off.




And a close up of the crumb. I was somewhat dissapointed in the crumb as it was fairly moist and did not have a lot of structure. I am thinking that thsi was caused by two things. 1. I had just baked a loaf of semolina flour sandwich bread that came out really dry and so when I add the 1 1/14 cup to this 40% semolina loaf I #2 ocer hydrated the bread. I should have started with a cup of water and then added the 1/4 - 1/2 cup called for in the recipe.



However the crust was crunchy and the flavor was bold.  Worth trying again.

Thanks for looking.


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## txbbqman (Apr 3, 2009)

Looks awesome, thanks for sharing


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## ronp (Apr 3, 2009)

Nice!! Thanks for sharing.


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## rivet (Apr 3, 2009)

That's real good looking bread, and the recipe sounds great. Would you mind sharing it- including the pre ferment step? Not familiar with that at all.


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## bigbaldbbq (Apr 3, 2009)

Sounds great. Thanks for sharing the b-view(?)


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## bassman (Apr 3, 2009)

Looks great.  Thanks for the pics.


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## mgwerks (Apr 3, 2009)

That is just beautiful!  There is nothing like fresh home-made artisan bread.  Please share the detailed recipe!


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## roo-b-q'n (Apr 5, 2009)

Thank you everybody.  The bread is fun to make and if you really want ot get into artisan breads get a copy of the Bread Bakers Apprentice.  

I don't know if posting the recipe would be a against copyright laws, but found a few blogs about it, and found this recipe http://www.mykitcheninhalfcups.com/M...ian_Bread.html

It also has a recipe for the starter or pre ferment.  

Give it a shot it is easy and rewarding.


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## rivet (Apr 5, 2009)

Hey Roo-B, thanks for the link!

Cooking interest started with bread way back when I was a kid. Been talking up your pics and recipe to my wife since Friday. She's not sure three days of prep for bread are worth the trouble *grin* 

Of course it is! I've answered in earnest~ since I AM going to try your recipe, which by the way sounds great. Got a 3 day weekend for Easter, so what more to ask for? A three day bread recipe!

Anyway, in good fun to try to prove me wrong, she baked some yeast bread today- with garlic, oregano and basil. Didn't get a chance to take pics while she was making the loaves, but she used the smoked garlic from yesterday, made it into a paste with butter and added oregano and basil flakes. Rolled it up just like a Fattie, although she denied this as "heresy" since she can't stand pork, bacon even less, after having been raised on it.

(As a funny aside, she joked today that my German Fattie should be a Felony, because it's pork wrapped in pork, wrapped in pork! I better be careful or I'll go to jail)

Anyway, here's her loaves of bread just out of the oven:



And a pic of the crumb. You can see where the butter/garlic caused it to pull away, and the herbs. Very tasty it is with a bottle of red we opened.




Thanks for looking, and thanks again for sharing your great bread!


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## mgwerks (Apr 6, 2009)

Although I consider myself a decent cook most of the way around, I fail miserably at baking.  Here's to hoping that this recipe turns the corner for me!


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## jbraas (Apr 6, 2009)

That looks great Roo! I just bought that same book after Christmas and have been trying a few things. I will need to try that one now.

I do have some picks of my bagels from that book and may have to post them...


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## roo-b-q'n (Apr 6, 2009)

Rivert the bred your wife made looks very good.  Going to add that to the list of breads I have.  The list is growing!

My wife is like yours, not sure a three day bread is worth it.  You can cut the time by one day, and bake after the shaping and rise on the 2nd day, but I believe that the extra day in the fridge helps develope flavor.

I wanted to make another batch, doing it all in one day (forgoing the pre ferment and just add everything all at once) to see how different it really is.  But we had a 7 hour power outage and ran out of time.  Perhaps next weekend.

Good luck and have a great weekend baking!


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## DanMcG (Apr 6, 2009)

Very nice looking bread Roo. If it tastes half as good as it looks you got a winner.
And Mrs Rivets looks great too!


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