The other night, while perusing the Safeway Bread section, I saw a loaf of un-assuming "Italian" bread that perked my interest and called my name. The label called it Pugliese Bread. When I got home, I put olive oil in a pan with garlic and a few herbs, then set it on a warm burner that I had just turned off so that the oil would heat but not get too hot. Ooooo! Garlic and herb flavored oil is amazing for dipping good Italian bread and I had just brought home some of the best Italian bread that I was ever to have.
Well, a little veggie soup and Pugliese Bread dipped in flavored olive oil made a fabulous bread. I went back to the Safeway bread section for more, but, alas, there has been no more there! Why? Don't they realize what amazing bread they had???? I did.
So, my husband sat down at the computer for me since I couldn't find a good recipe when I looked. The following Friday I planned on having my friend Sarah (K) over for dinner for more Pugliese Bread and soup. She went to the store for bleu cheese and sun-dried tomatoes while I planned to make the bread. Thursday night I sat down to print out the recipe. Pugliese requires a starter made the night before and left out to sit over night. I thought I would be coming home after work so I could bake bread right before dinner, until I discovered how many steps are required to make the bread and how many hours are in between each step! I was frustrated, at first, until I realized that I could take the ingredients with me and make the bread while I work (since I babysit).
My nephew, Ben, who is 5, wanted to help and turned out to be a lot of help. We had lots of fun and he really liked digging his hands into the gooey dough. Here are some pictures of the process and a links to the blogs where I (and by I: I mean my husband) found the recipes.
The Starter on the morning after. It's called the "Biga".
After we put in all the ingredients. Ben was very helpful.
After 2 hours of rising time, it had grown quite a bit!
After 3 hours of rising time...
Ben's loaf is the front one, mine is the back. We just pulled the dough out of the pan and laid it out. It's very sticky and therefore hard to get in a nice shape.
90 minutes later... We put an oiled sheet of saran wrap over the bread for the raising process. My nephew was concerned that it would catch on fire. I assured him that we would take it off before we put it into the oven at 450 degrees.
And eat!!!! It didn't raise as much as I thought it would and wasn't as "holey" as the bought bread. It was, however, as bouncy in texture and as wonderful tasting as the bread from Safeway. My friend brought over her bleu cheese and sun-dried tomatoes which we put on the slices and toasted in my toaster oven. I had never had toasted bleu cheese before and am now hooked! Mmmmmm!!!! So, the veggie soup and olive oil work well with this bread. We will definitely be making it again.
I got my Biga recipe from here:
http://www.fornobravo.com/brick_oven_cooking/bread/pugliese.html
http://www.realbakingwithrose.com/2007/01/baby_breada_great_new_techniqu.html
Jessica trying to catch one in her lap.
