Pane Siciliano BBA #23

This is a three day bread. It starts with the familiar pate fermentee. On day two, the dough is formed by adding bread flour and semolina flour, salt, yeast olive oil, honey and water. It is formed into a dough that is supple and smooth. Left to rise for two hours and then formed into 24" baguettes. The baguettes are then rolled into an S shape. I really enjoy shaping breads. I had fun last week with the epis and curving the S shapes and watching them rise was satisfying. The breads were put in the refrigerator over night.

The next day, the oven is prepared for hearth baking and then breads are baked until they are golden brown. I happened to have a room full of teenagers who had heard about my unusual obsession with bread baking. They were completely bewildered as to why anyone would bake their way through a bread book. They feigned polite interest at my beautiful S shapes and said that they thought that you could buy my bread at Central Market. Central Market is our upscale grocery store. I think that the BBA breads have a deeper flavor than what you could find there, but I took it as the compliment that they intended.

This is a very tasty bread and I am happy to start the week with three loaves. This is the perfect slice of bread for nutella.