Sunday, January 11, 2009

An Interesting Flatbread


I'm going to try this again tomorrow with an even wetter dough. Here's what I did, though I wouldn't call it a recipe.

Sponge Night Before:
4 cups bread flour
1/8 teaspoon instant yeast
1/2 tablespoon salt
Enough water to make a wet, soupy mixture

Mix well, cover and let sit overnight.

Next Day:

Into the sponge add:

1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
1/2 tablespoon salt
2-3 cups bread flour

Add the flour to the sponge gradually. It should be really wet so that you are essentially mixing it with your hands, but not really kneading it smooth. After about ten minutes of this, turn it out of the bowl onto a baking sheet covered with about a cup of flour. Give the dough blob a fold horizontally and the vertically, dusting off any excess flour. Cover with a towel and let rise about an hour. Fold it again in both directions being careful not to add too much flour. Let rise another hour, fold again.

Let rise another forty minutes. Dust a baking sheet with semolina. Stretch out the dough into a flat shape and transfer to the sheet. Toss lightly with some flour on top and cover with a towel. Let rise another hour. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. If you use a pan to create steam, heat it at this time as well.

Before transferring dough to oven, use a sharp pair of scissors to make a series of tiny cuts on top to create a dimpling effect. Create steam in oven, load the bread and bake 20 minutes. Rotate pan and bake another ten minutes or so or until bread has an internal temperature of around 200 degrees F.

Cool on rack.

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