Sourdough based Filone

Now that the mushroom season is over and winter is entering the country, I decided to post again about baking bread. Baking bread is definitely my favorite hobby! This (American) recipe is from Daniel Leader (Bread Alone Bakery) and I found it on the internet: saveur.com. The only thing I changed is using sourdough instead of yeast making the poolish. And I had to convert all the American measures (cups, tblsps, tsps, oz.'s and libs) to grams.... And I had to find out how the dough could be baked best in an Aga. Well, I am satisfied with the result. I hope it inspires other Aga-owners! Good luck!

Rather funny: I am European and I use an American recipe for baking an Italian loaf! A filone is the Italian version of the French baguette (more or less...). The dough is also very wet (about 70% hydration), but olive oil is added and I don't know any recipes of making baguette using oil. This is how I did it:

The evening before making the filone (this recipe is for 2 loafs), I make the poolish, using my own rye-based sourdough. I posted about making a sourdough starter before (check my post about sourdough bread with spelt for this).

poolish:
- 85 g wheat flour
- 75 g water (temp. about 40º C)
- 1 tsp sourdough

In a medium bowl, whisk together the water and the sourdough. Add the flour and mix it until a smooth dough forms. Cover the bowl with plastic and let it rest during the night at room temperature.

dough:
- the poolish
- 450 g wheat flour
- 300 g water (temp. about 40º C)
- 5 g dry yeast
- 12 g salt
- 70 g olive oil

The next morning you can make the dough: add the water en the yeast to your poolish and stir until it forms a homogene fluid. Now add flour, salt and oil and mix it well. It does not look like a dough yet; it has become a kind of a 'shaggy mass'. Now cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow the flour to hydrate for about half an hour. This process is called autolyse.

After the autolyse you can start the kneading. First knead the dough in the bowl using a rubber spatula and after a few minutes transfer the dough to your working surface (not floured). Knead it for about 10 minutes the Bertinet way: check my post about Sourdough Bread with Spelt where I explained the Bertinet method. When the dough becomes rather smooth and elastic (still sticky to the touch, but releasing from your hands fairly easily), use a dough scraper to transfer it to a clean bowl for proofing at room temperature. Cover the bowl with plastic.
The original recipe tells me that it needs two hours proofing, but in my opinion the dough needs a firm stretch and fold halfway the proofing: take it out and use one hand and a dough scraper to stretch the dough and fold it back over itself a few times (west over east, north over south, etc.). Weekend Bakery published an instruction video about this technique.

After the dough has been doubled in size, put a well floured thick cotton tea towel on a baking tin, roll up the left and right side en lift the center, so that you create two long, thin forms to put your both loafs in when you have formed them. Take out the dough, transfer it to a well floured working surface, cut it in two equal sized pieces, and flatten slightly. Fold the top and the bottom edges of one piece toward the middle, and flatten the dough at the seam with the palm of your hand. Roll it over a few times, to get a nice shaped bread. Put it, seam side down, on the prepared towel and repeat the folding and shaping procedure with the second piece of dough.
Cover it with plastic wrap and let it proof for about an hour and a half.at room temperature.

Bake the bread (after scoring them twice with a razor blade) on a baking stone on the bottom of the roasting oven, with a tin filled with hot water to create steam. After half an hour transfer the bread to the baking oven (half high) for another 10 to 15 minutes.