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I think Italian breads are probably my favorite breads, but I have never had THIS particular bread, and felt like I have been missing out for years. This bread was wonderful beyond words and the fact that traditionally it is made using all wild yeast is my kinda tune. Pane Pugliese bread is the rustic bread that comes from the heel of the boot in Italy, and now I want to visit there just to try the bread personally! Reinhart describes this bread having similarities to ciabatta explains that the difference between the two is the shape: Pugliese bread is usually a round shape. Peter explains that also the use of golden wheat semolina is used extensively in Pugliese bread baking is the real distinction in the nutty taste. If you have the book, follow along on page 222 or if not, try this link.
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I actually used semolina flour since I couldn't find durum wheat in my area. I only used a fourth of a cup since Reinhart recommends using only up to thirty percent of semolina flour.

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This is a very wet dough-- a lot like making ciabatta. The dough will come together after a few rests and risings as indicated by the recipe.

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Here is the dough after the second rise and inside of it's final proofing bowl. Reinhart instructs to proof with the seam side UP so the seamless side will be the final exposed side .

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The final loaf came out really golden in color-- I guess that is from the semolina flour. It was absolutely delicious with a chewy and open interior. The crust was supposed to soften a little after coming out of the oven, but the actual loaf didn't last long enough for us to make any comparisons.
yeastpotted

 
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Potatoes and rosemary are two of my favorite ingredients together. So, when I saw that this was the next BBA Challenge bread, I got pretty excited. The rosemary in my garden has also been growing out of control, so at least I could use some of it before throwing most of it away. Peter says that we owe it to the Italians for coming up with this remarkable bread that they call "panmarino", and is a good use for leftover potatoes. Turn to page 219 of the Bread Baker's Apprentice to follow along if you have the book, otherwise, try this link.
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This is another 2 day bread that uses a biga, or "old dough" that has been left in the refrigerator overnight.

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All the ingredients were mixed together the next day until the dough windowpaned.

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Let the dough bulk rise and then deflate gently and form into whatever shape-- I chose simple round boules.

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The finished bread fresh out of the oven. Reinhart suggests letting the bread cool one hour before devouring. But since we were smelling this incredible bread perfume our house, we just couldn't wait.

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Let me tell you, this bread REALLY is as good as it sounds. It is crusty, and the potato addition really made the crumb super soft and chewy. This loaf is high on my list of breads to visit again soon. Another one for yeastspotting.

 
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So here we are at bread number 25 in the book Bread baker's Apprentice: Pizza in the Neapolitan style. As you may have heard by now, my hubby is truly first generation Italiano, and so PIZZA is a serious topic for him. We have tried many pizzas all over our city, and there is only ONE place here in the US we go to get true pizza napoletano, and it's Antico Pizza. Having said all that, when this recipe came up, Nic was enthusiastic about trying to duplicate as close to the real thing at home. The verdict? Honestly, the pizzas were WAY better than average, but I think maybe my oven didn't get hot enough(it only heats up to 500 degrees). And also, my toppings were not too authentic either, maybe I should have tried to do some more authentic styles of pies. At any rate, I would say these pizza are definitely worth trying at home. If you have Mr Reinhart's book you can follow along on page 207 where he begins his introduction to how pizza is the perfect food,etc, but it is pretty interesting reading regarding how so many factors contribute to great pizza, but he believes in the power of the dough. I am not sure that is exactly what I believe, because at Antico Pizza they import all their ingredients from Italy, flour, salt, cheese, tomatoes, and other seasonings including their oregano, and I have to say, theirs is the closest we've had to REAL Italian Pizza.
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Mixed dough was on the slighty sticky side.

Reinhart tells us that the single biggest flaw in pizza making is that the pizza maker doesn't allow the dough a long rest in the refrigerator to release enzymes and improve gluten relaxation. So, after mixing the dough, I cut it into 6 pieces and formed them into balls and slipped them into the fridge.

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The next day, I took out 4 of the pizza balls (and froze the other two)and made small disks and then let those rest for about 2 hours. I then rolled them out into thin circular type shapes that looked very RUSTIC. Since toppings are endless, and Peter warns against using everything but the kitchen sink, we decided to top each pizza with a different assortment of ingredients. I think they look good enough to send to yeastspotting.

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Spinach, carmelized onions,feta, and pecorino in a tomato base
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fresh mozzarella,basil, anchovy paste and fresh cherry tomatoes
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Carmelized onions,pepperoni, and mozzarella
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Spainach, Mushrooms, and fontina cheese
 
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My friend Robin who recently had cancer surgery, loves Italian baked goods. She has been in the hospital since Christmas  and is finally out in rehab. So, when I knew I was going to visit her I asked her if there was anything she needed, and she replied: "Panettone would be nice!" How could I refuse such a request? She never got a chance to indulge in the holiday goods when it was in season, And it just so happened that it was next on my list in the Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge. This remarkably tender, and fluffy bread originated in Milan, according to my Italian hubby, but we see it here in the stores starting in Oct, so I guess you can say the actual freshness of the product is sometimes in question. If you like store-bought Panettone, then you MUST try this home-aide version, number 24 in the Bread Baker's Apprentice book.
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This is a two day bread starting with an active starter. Here you see my starter, "Adam" bubbling away and working his magic.
If you still haven't bough the book-- you can find an adapted recipe here, but it's not quite the same as Peter's recipe.

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Next the ingredients. This dough was very similar to the egg- butter breads from the beginning of the book, but with the addition of the liquor and the vanilla extract in the soaking dried fruit, the bread had a wonderful aromatic fragrance.

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It took a while to get the dough to get the "window pane" texture, but it finally came together.

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I divided the dough in half and decided to use a loaf pan for the one Nic and I would keep and used a real Panettone mold for Robin's bread.

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The result was delicious! This tasted WAY better than the dry store bought variety that we're bombarded with every Christmas. Christmas in July is a good reason to bake this festive bread.
Yeastspotted

 
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The Sicilians must really know what a gem of a bread they have here. The use of semolina flour is just wonderfully incorporated to produce these golden, chewy, and earthy breads. The only drawback to making this bread is that it took 3 whole days! However, the end product was so delicious, I guess it wasn't too much of a pain in the retrospect. So it seems that I am halfway through now seeing that this is bread #23 in the Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge, where people all over the globe seem to be possessed in baking every single bread recipe in Reinhart's book.  but again, if you don't have the book, look here.
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The pate fermentee has to be made first, and then retarded overnight in the fridge. Mine was made using my wild yeast "Adam". The next day, I cut the pate fermentee into about a dozen or so pieces and let it come to room temp before mixing all the ingredients together.

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The directions says to continue kneading until the dough passes what is called the "windowpane test" . This actually took a little longer because of the semolina flour, but in the end, the texture of the dough was silky and easy to handle.

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Then let the dough bulk rise until doubled in size before punching down and separating into battons and then shaped like the letter "S". You then cover the formed loaves and again retard them in the refrigerator overnight.

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Here you can see the lovely crumb. This bread was incredibly chewy and had a touch of sweetness from the honey. The crust was perfectly crunchy and deliciously studded with the sesame which also aided in the crunch factor. Hmmm... crunchy and chewy... my kinda bread.
yeastpotted!

 
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Another rustic bread from The Bread Baker's Apprentice. According to Peter Reinhart, this is the classic country bread of France and can be made into all kinds of different shapes and sizes. It usually is made with a small amount of either whole wheat or rye flour to give a denser crumb. And although so many of the other folks who have participated so far in this challenge had chosen to use a more interesting shape, I thought I would just make plain old batards and celebrate the simplicity of the bread. You should know that this is a two day bread starting with a pate fermentee, and If you don't have the book you can find the recipe here.
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Here is the finished dough being left to rise until it doubles in bulk. This dough was actually pretty easy to handle, even with the use of my wild yeast, "Adam". I chose to use a touch of whole wheat in mine, since Adam is a whole wheat starter.

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The loaves were shaped into batards, and I covered them to let rise a second time  until they rose to 1 1/2 of it's original size, before scoring and putting them into the oven.

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This bread was really delicious. It had a nice earthiness from the whole grain, and the crust was wonderfully hard and golden brown. The texture was chewy and the flavor from the pate fermentee was so complex. I see why so many other bakers have experimented using different shapes. Maybe next time I will give more attention to forming a different shape. I can definitely see myself making this one again.
yeastspotted.

 
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This is bread. If you have never tried this bread before, you're in for a treat. In The Bread Baker's Apprentice, Peter Reinhart gives the simplest of ingredients here and makes use of a slow cold fermentation in the fridge to extract sugars from the wheat. According to Mr. Reinhart, this develops loads of flavor from the dough and creates a final product that is oh-so complex. Naturally, the Bread baker's apprentice Challenge folks does not wish for me to share the recipe, but it's all over the internet already, like if you look here.
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This was a VERY wet dough. The original recipe says that: "The dough should be sticky on the bottom of the bowl, but it should release from the sides of the bowl." I wasn't sure quite what that meant, but I just mixed until it looked a little "stringy".

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The dough was allowed to ferment in the refrigerator overnight and then left out at room temp to double in bulk. Because I used my wild yeast(Adam) here the rise was a bit different from the pictures from other bloggers.

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When I first saw the recipe, I realized that it made up to 6 baguettes, so I halved the ingredient list and ended up making only 2 or 3 instead. After scoring the loaves, I baked them at 500 degrees and sprayed the oven twice at one minute intervals at the beginning baking cycle. I then turned down the temp to 375 degrees and baked until done, which took me about 24minutes or so.

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The final bread was delicious and crusty, and I was a little disappointed to see the lack of a BIG open crumb, but it was tasty, nonetheless. A definite keeper in the bread making repertoire.
yeastpotted.

 
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Finally, a bread with some real character! Who could not like the chewy, toothsome, and not to mention the wholesomeness of  multigrain bread.
Multigrain bread is bread made with multiple grains such as oats, cracked wheat, buckwheat, barley, millet and flax. Some multigrain bread is also whole grain bread. Yet all multigrain breads are not necessarily whole grain breads as found in this next bread in The Breadbakers Apprentice book. I have played around with many multigrain recipes, but this one is uses both brown sugar and honey, and  since it also uses "bread flour", it delivered a slightly lighter, and sweeter loaf. Reinhart suggests toasting the slices because the sugars in the bread then caramelizes into a beautiful golden color. If you have been following along in this challenge and you have your own copy of the book, turn to page 187. Otherwise, you can find a version here.
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Beautiful quinoa unraveling

As usual, Reinhart gives a soaker to soften and release enzymes in the "multi" grains used in the bread the night before. I used a combination of quinoa, cornmeal, and wheat bran.

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The next morning, I assembled the ingredients together and tried to mix. The dough was stickier than most so I ended up adding more flour to get a cohesive ball, but eventually, it did come together.

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After the initial rise the dough was then punched down and formed into a  loaf and into a 9" pan.

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After about 90 mins, this is what I got. You can see the dough had cracked and split in several places. I am not sure what could have caused that to happen, so if anyone can shed some light, I would really like to know. I just sprayed with water and then topped it with poppy seeds anyway, and baked.

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This was a delicious recipe, although, my loaf looked a little "rustic", it still tasted quite delicious. The texture was pleasantly "lighter" than 100%whole wheat multigrain, and I could definitely taste the honey. Mr Reinhart was right, it was divine toasted with butter the next morning. Another for yeastpotting.

 
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So here I am at bread number 19 out of the Breadbaker's Apprentice book, and if you have been keeping up with these blogs you know the rules of the Challenge already. Nicole from Pinch My Salt did a beautiful marbled loaf that looks too gorgeous to even eat, and I think that she used the caramel color to get that dramatic look. I used the coffee/cocoa substitution instead of the caramel color, and the contrast was definitely not so striking.

As I am baking my way through all the recipes, I have noticed that my starter seem to react differently from each type of flour used in incorporating it-- weird. 
If you don't want to buy the book, you can find the recipe here.
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First, I made the darker dough with the coffee/cocoa mix
I combined all the ingredients together in my mixer and mixed until it came together into a uniform ball.

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I made the same dough again, but left out the coffee/cocoa mix. Of course, this is my lighter rye.

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Here are the two loaves left to bulk rise.

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When the dough doubles in size go to Elizabeth's site to see how she gets the marbling on her bread.

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Out of the oven and sliced, this was more impressive than I thought it would be, and although I still am not a rye lover, I will send it over to yeastpotting.

 
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I was really excited when this next bread was next in line for the Breadbakers Apprentice Challege. I really like the nutty, earthy, and wheaty taste of whole wheat, but this bread was NOT the kind of wheat bread for wheat lovers like me. However, if you are into a wheat bread that only slightly resembles wheat, then this is the bread for you. I found the taste and texture more like a white bread with only a hint of wheat flavor and  a little honey.
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Here are the ingredients:
1-1/4 cups water, at room temperature
2 tablespoons shortening
3 tablespoons non-fat dry milk
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons honey
2-1/2 cups bread flour
1-1/2 cups whole-wheat flour
1 cup of Adam(my wild yeast)



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The First Rise

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I then divided the dough and made two loaves in 8.5 inch loaf pans.

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The golden color was a beautiful sight. Should this photo be yeastpotted?

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The crumb wasn't too bad either.