Italian Bread

Another weekend and another bread making (and soap making) undertaking!  Man, my full-time day job is seriously getting in the way of my life!

This weekend I picked another recipe in my Christmas gift bread book.

I started with making my biga (bread starter) Saturday evening.  Sunday morning I used the biga and made dough for two Italian loafs.

After a couple hours of rising, you can see how nice the dough was.








I separated the dough into two pieces and formed a batard, a shape similar to a baguette but slightly shorter.

Another hour of rising and the dough is ready to bake.  I used my Emile Henry Rectangular Baking Stone, Black
again and steamed the oven by pouring a cup of steam in a hot cast iron pan and every 30 seconds opening the oven to spray water against the sides for 3 times.

I believe these loaves are my best yet!  I got the nice air pockets in them and they taste divine!