I think those of you who enjoy cooking will understand this “thing” I have that when I see a recipe that makes me want to make it, I get sick if I don’t do it right away. And that’s how yesterday at 1:48 am I remembered the bread baked in the iron pan and went to the kitchen in my pajamas (those who follow @panelaterapia on Instagram saw it)! But there was no yeast (fuem fuem fuem…).
The recipe I really wanted to make was a slow fermentation bread, which takes 8 to 24 hours to rest, so I was going to make it in the early hours of the morning and leave it to rest to bake today.
I wanted to see if the difference that they say slow fermentation causes was noticeable. According to supporters of this technique, the bread is lighter, digestion is better and the glycemic index of this bread becomes lower. Maaaaas, as I only managed to buy yeast today at lunchtime, I couldn’t wait all that time so I made a normal loaf of bread, in fact, I used the bread machine to mix it, but it’s not necessary, okay? You can do it using the traditional method and I guarantee it will work.
This bread is practically what is sold out there as Italian bread or rustic bread. In fact, any bread recipe that you bake in an iron pan will have a hard crust on the outside and soft on the inside. This is because the pan is heavy and is well sealed, forming steam inside and reaching a temperature that is similar to professional ovens. But you need a pan, preferably iron, with a lid that can also be placed in the oven.
Enough blah, blah, blah, let’s get to the ingredients:
1 and 1/2 cup. (tea) water;
1 and 1/2 col. salt (tea);
3 and 1/2 cup. (tea) wheat flour;
1 col. (tea) of dry organic yeast.
If you have a bread machine, just put the ingredients in the order above and choose the cycle that beats and lets the dough rise. In the case of mine, which is from Britain, it is cycle 8 and takes 1 hour and 30 minutes.
If you don’t have a machine, mix everything in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let it rest in a warm place until it doubles in size, this can take up to 2 hours. This dough is really sticky, it doesn’t stick to your hands, so you can use a large spoon or spatula to mix the ingredients. Just mix it up. You don’t need to keep manipulating the dough, so it goes right into the pan.
Heat the oven with the pan and lid inside for 20 minutes at maximum temperature (mine is 250ºC).
Sprinkle cornmeal and flour on a board or tray, turn the dough that was rising on top, sprinkle more cornmeal and flour on top of the dough and manipulate it carefully, very gently forming a ball. Be careful here not to knock the air out of the dough.
Sprinkle a lot of cornmeal and wheat flour on the bottom of the pan, which will be super hot. Turn the dough inside, if it falls out, don’t move, leave it like that. I tilted the board and pushed the dough.
I made a cross-shaped cut on the surface of the dough, but if I don’t, that’s okay, it will open naturally when the air expands. Cover the pan and bake for 30 minutes, still at maximum temperature. After this time, remove the lid, lower the oven to 200ºC and let the bread crust brown. In my oven it took another 10 minutes. People… people… people… what bread!!!!!!
Get yourself an iron pan, it doesn’t even have to be one of those expensive ones, it can be the regular black ones and make this wonderful bread! Just be very careful when handling the pan as it gets MEGA hot, ok?
