Pugliese Bread

4.25 from 4 votes

This delicious Pugliese bread is a type of rustic Italian bread from Puglia. It's one of the best breads for bruschetta. With thick crunchy crust and soft, uniformed crumb it's nothing short of epic!

Prep Time25

Cook Time50

Proofing Time1

Total Time1 1 15

Course: Bread

Cuisine: Italian

Servings:

Calories: 127kcal

Author: Svi

Ingredients

For Biga

200 grams bread flour
100 grams water , room temperature
1 g instant dry yeast , ⅓ teaspoon

For Dough

150 semolina flour
150 grams water , COLD water
8 grams salt , 1 ½ tsp

Instructions

Prepare Biga (Day 1)

Choose a shallow dish approximate dimensions 8” x 6” (21x15 cm) (see photos above). Alternatively, use a large round ball.
Mix flour with yeast, then add ALMOST all the water, leaving 1-2 tsp. Mix with your hands or with a fork trying to wet all the flour.
Collect all the dry flour left in one corner of the dish and wet it with the water you’ve reserved.
Mix briefly to get a rough dough with no dry flour left, then tear it with your hands into small pieces.
Distribute in more or less uniformed layer in the dish and cover airtight with a lid or with a plastic wrap.
Let sit at room temperature for 3 hours if room temperature is 70F (21C) or less, for 1 hour if room temperature is 74F (23C) or for 10 minutes if room temperature is 79F (26C) or more. Then place in the fridge for 15-20 hours. During the time in the fridge the biga will mature and ferment.

Prepare the dough (Day 2)

Take biga out from the fridge. It should be just ever so lightly puffed and if you open (pull it apart) with your finger if will have beautiful long strands of gluten.
In a mixer bowl add biga torn into large pieces, semolina flour, and almost all the cold water (reserving 50 grams or 4 tablespoon for later). Start kneading on low speed. Knead for 10 minutes.
Past 10-minute mark start adding remaining water in 4 goes. Add a small amount of water, knead and add more water only once the dough has turned to smooth again until you have the last tablespoon of water left.
Add salt together with the last tablespoon of water. Knead a few more minutes.
Do a windowpane test. Wet your hands and stretch a small piece of the dough into a square trying to stretch as thin as possible so that you can almost see through. If the dough doesn’t break it’s perfect.
Fold the dough onto itself and place in a well oiled container.
Let rise until double in size.

Final proofing and baking

Let the dough slide out on just slightly floured work-surface without deflating it.
Do a so called "letter fold" or 3-fold. Take the top end and fold it over ⅓ of the way, bottom end ⅓ of the way over. Fold it in thirds again. Put seal side up and pinch all the seals.
Fold in two pinching well the two ends.
Place seal side up in a bread basket or a small bowl 7 inches (18 cm) diameter lined with a linen towel and dusted with semolina flour.
Cover loose with plastic and let rise until it has leavened noticeably.
Preheat your oven with baking sheet inside to 450F (230C).
Once the oven is hot use hot gloves to take the baking sheet out (it's very hot!). Line it with parchment paper. Carefully flip the bread on the hot baking sheet. Quickly score it with a sharp knife or bread lame.
Place in a hot oven on the lowest rack.
Bake at 450 F (230C) for 15 minutes with steam. Lower the temperature to 400 F (205) an bake for 30-35 minutes. Total baking time is about 45-50 minutes but it depends on the oven. Keep an eye on it on 40 minute mark. I also like to place a wooden spoon to leave the oven door slightly open for 5 extra minutes to help escape excess humidity which will result in a lighter bread.
Cool Pugliese bread upside down on a baking sheet. Avoid the temptation to slice it while still hot!

Notes

See the Step By Step Pictures for a visual walk-through of the recipe.
Use a kitchen scale to measure all ingredients in grams.
Use Italian pizza flour instead of regular bread flour.
Use room temperature water for biga and cold water for the dough.
Bake on the lowest rack.
Bake in a Dutch oven or with steam during the first 15 minutes for the best result.Use 7 inches (18 cm) basket or bowl for the final proofing. This size is perfect for the amount of the ingredients. Large basket will produce flat bread since the dough will spread in width and not in height. If you double the recipe, you'll need two proofing baskets of the same size, since it's very difficult to bake large bakery-style bread in home oven.
Cool before baking. Once your bread has leavened in a basket, place it in the fridge for 30-60 minutes. This is optional but will help your bread get a better spring in the oven.
Let cool upside down before cutting.
This recipe makes one 20-ounce (550 grams) loaf.
Once the bread is cool, slice it in freeze in small batches in zip-lock bags. When ready to eat or/and toast, leave at room temperature for 30 minutes. It'll be as freshly baked!

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