Old Como bread (Pane di Como Antico) in the oven

[Biga (starter)]

Old Como bread (Pane di Como Antico) in the oven

Category: Yeast bread

Ingredients
Biga (starter)
Wheat flour, premium	100g
Water	78g
Pressed yeast	0.5g
Dough
Wheat flour, premium	435g
Water	360g
Whole grain flour wheat, optional	65g
Salt	10g

Cooking method

• Continuing the theme of Italian bread and after a resounding success
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 9. Bon appetis (Bon appetit, Italian.)!

The dish is designed for

2 loaves

Time for preparing:

from 28 - 77 hours

Cooking program:

oven

National cuisine

Lombardy, Italy

Note

This recipe was obtained by Field, Carol in Milan from the baker Grignani, Giancarlo.
Karol lives in San Francisco with her husband, an architect, and loves to travel around Italy. She is the author of the most popular cookery books: "In Nonna's Kitchen", "Focaccia", "Celebrating Italy", "The Italian Baker" and the novels "The Hill Towns of Italy" and "Mangoes and Quince".

Lake Como (Italian Lago di Como), less often Lario (Lario, from Lat.Larius lacus, also Lat.Comacenus lacus, Lomb.Lagh de Com) is the third largest lake in Italy (length 47 - km, width - up to 4 km), one of the deepest in Europe (up to 410 m). It is located 40 km north of Milan at an altitude of 199 m in the setting of limestone and granite mountains up to 600 m from the south and 2400 m from the north. Consists of three sleeves approx. 26 km. It feeds on the Adda River. Takes its name from the coastal city of Como.

Ancient Roman authors refer to Lake Como as Lacus Lārius, and Polybius in the Greek version Λάριος. The name Lario has Dolatin origin. Linguist Alfredo Trombetti argued that it comes from the Proto-Indo-European root * lar- meaning "recessed place." In the Middle Ages, the lake became known as lacus commacinus or comensis, later as Como.

Numerous towns and villages are scattered along the shores of Lake Como - Como, Lecco, Cernobbio, Laglio, Colico, Bellagio, Menaggio, Varenna, etc. In antiquity, Virgil and Pliny the Younger had villas on the shores of Lake Como, nowadays George Clooney acquired real estate in the area , Vladimir Soloviev, and many other famous people.

What a delight. Myakish skaaazka Now with olive oil or a soup from tomato salad ... mmm .. yummy !!!

went to make a starter. Yes, but what room temperature are we talking about? Nothing that in the house hail 30 ...

went to make a starter. Yes, but what room temperature are we talking about? Nothing that in the house hail 30 ...

I'm only on the weekend.

abalde! I love Italian bread with its lovely holes. eh, he would have had more ... summer is over and the oven can be turned on more often ... but for now I will admire it.

I'm only on the weekend.

I'll put it on now, and I'll bake it on Thursday

[half]

went to make a starter. Yes, but what room temperature are we talking about? Nothing that in the house hail 30 ...

Indoor room is 28 degrees. If 30 then you can reduce the minutes by 10 - 15. Careful with yeast - for two loaves you need 1/2 (half) grams!

What a delight. Myakish skaaazka Now with olive oil or a soup from tomato salad ... mmm .. yummy !!!

Tomorrow it will be the most delicious - I can't wait for breakfast anymore ...

[half]

Indoor room is 28 degrees. If 30 then you can reduce the minutes by 10 - 15. Careful with yeast - for two loaves you need 1/2 (half) grams!

I realized that only 0.5 grams. Already set ....

I realized that only 0.5 grams. Already set ....

The first time I put SUCH biga, in the morning, as I woke up, I went to check it - did it ferment? Everything turned out to be fine. I'm used to the proportions from Reinhard and Bertinier - there you need 4 times more yeast for this amount of flour!

My God, what a piece of bread !!!!
Took it in notes. Thanks for the recipe!
PS: I have such a question, but don't you know Italian white bread?
We have an Italian shop with a bakery, where Italian bakers bake their own bread, I cannot describe this aroma and taste ...
it is indescribable. They bake it in the form of loaves, as in your photo, but we can, more.
It costs about 160 rubles per loaf. The bread is gorgeous !!!
I read and looked at your bread and thought,
that this is probably the very same bread, only from white flour, without adding whole grain.

My God, what a piece of bread !!!!
Took it in notes. Thanks for the recipe!
PS: I have such a question, but don't you know Italian white bread?
We have an Italian shop with a bakery, where Italian bakers bake their own bread, I cannot describe this aroma and taste ...
it is indescribable. They bake it in the form of loaves, as in your photo, only we can, more.
It costs about 160 rubles per loaf. The bread is gorgeous !!!
I read and looked at your bread and thought,
that this is probably the very same bread, only from white flour, without adding whole grain.

Thank you!

Most Italian bread recipes only use plain, white flour. Most likely, Como bread is in that bakery. It's just that this recipe, as I wrote in the cap, was slightly modified by a Milanese baker.

And you ask the Italians in the bakery - what kind of bread they bake. I'm sure I have a recipe for this bread.

I forgot to add - the size of the bread, which can be seen in the photo, is the maximum for my stone. A little more and they would start hanging from the stone. Therefore, I could not make more bread. But in fact, these loaves should be even larger.

Igor, tell me, can you use dry yeast for this bread?

Igor, tell me, can you use dry yeast for this bread?

It is possible, they need three times less, i.e. about 0.2 g.

It is possible, they need three times less, i.e. about 0.2 g.

Where can I buy pharmaceutical scales?

Thanks for the recipe! Beautiful bread!
Here, I'll train a little, I will definitely do it.

Well this is how many grains, we will count

I have long wanted to buy a scale with three decimal places. People on the Internet order Chinese scales. They do not work with the declared accuracy, but they define well up to two digits.

You can make 1g dry yeast tracks and divide this track into five parts. One part will be about 0.2g

Where can I buy pharmaceutical scales?

Thanks for the recipe! Beautiful bread!
Here, I'll train a little, I will definitely do it.

You can safely do - the bread is such that it forgives many mistakes. Only reduce the portion. These two loaves, of course, are extreme - I just wouldn't fit on a stone. You can take two-thirds of the recipe or divide everything in half and make two loaves too. There will be a good workout and great bread in the end.

You can make tracks from dry yeast in 1g

I heard about other tracks, about "from yeast" did not hear!

You can safely do - the bread is such that it forgives many mistakes.

Thanks, I'll try

I have long wanted to buy a scale with three decimal places. People on the Internet order Chinese scales. They do not work with the declared accuracy, but they define well up to two digits.

Contact a medical equipment store.

Contact a medical equipment store.

I have never seen high-precision household scales (accurate to 0.001g) ...

is such precision necessary?
In our case, +/- 0.1 \ is it critical?

is such precision necessary?
In our case, +/- 0.1 \ is it critical?

About a year ago, I came across a discussion among amateur bakers of household scales for weighing dry yeast. And according to the owners of such scales, if the device has an accuracy of 0.1, then it can accurately weigh only up to a whole gram. If 0.01 to a tenth and and. As a result, the collective intelligence came to the conclusion that the best option would be scales with an accuracy of the thousandth. They still will not show such great accuracy, but, for example, they measure 0.25 g quite accurately. The price of such things, made in China, is from 600 to 1500 Russian rubles. The maximum weight for this price is from 20g to 200g.

I understood this, but tell me, if you put 0.3 g, not 0.25 g in some recipe?
Could it be critical? I would like to understand whether I need such accuracy or not?
Maybe the tracks are just for us?

I think yes, it's critical. 0.05 from 0.25 is one-fifth, 20%! If you add 20% more or less of any other ingredient, is it critical? It is clear that an increased amount of yeast will not so noticeably affect the quality of bread as a decrease / increase, for example, salt by 20%, but yeast also affects. The collective intelligence believes that when there is a lot of yeast, their behavior changes - they fight among themselves for food and therefore their essence changes slightly. I consider it a bit esoteric, but there is something in it ....

when there is a lot of yeast, their behavior changes - they fight among themselves for food and therefore their essence changes slightly.

You gave me a whole new perspective on yeast!
Now I will be more careful with them!

You gave me a whole new perspective on yeast!
Now I will be more careful with them!

You would be even more surprised if you learned that very famous and authoritative people among bakers believe, for example, that yeast suppresses the will, forcing a person to eat more and more sugar!

You can make 1g dry yeast tracks and divide this track into five parts. One part will be about 0.2g

You can also take 0.5 g of yeast, this is 1/8 tsp, dilute in 100 ml of water, and take from there 40 ml of solution. Pour out the rest.
Subtract, of course, this 40 ml from the required amount of water.

You can also take 0.5 g of yeast, this is 1/8 tsp, dilute in 100 ml of water, and take 40 ml of solution from there. Pour out the rest.
Subtract, of course, this 40 ml from the required amount of water.

That's cool! Simple and accurate!

Everything is described well and in detail, there are a lot of photos of the finished bread, but I would also like a photo of Biga before the main batch. Now I put it, and what should it be before the batch ???

This must be done in the process. Biga liquefies, there are a lot of air bubbles on the surface and under it, when you remove the film (or container lid) a very strong alcohol smell hits your nose. somehow like this

This is how it looks when finished:

... Now I put it down ...

I would like to advise one trick: after the final proofing, it is very difficult to transfer the workpieces to a shovel - the dough is very wet and literally spreads. To make it easy, after molding, each blank should be laid out on a separate towel (or a piece of parchment), the edges of which (along the long sides of the blank) should be wrapped onto the blank. How to cover it, otherwise the workpiece will greatly increase in width.

Then you can use this towel as a stretcher to transfer the workpiece to the shovel. Remember to dust the towel well with flour. If you used parchment and it stuck to the dough, it doesn't matter, it will lag behind during the baking process.

Here, everything is clear to me. And special thanks for the Cunning.
And then I did the previous Como, he was blown away by me when shifting, well, I baked it anyway. It turned out flat but tasty.

Here, everything is clear to me. And special thanks for the Cunning.
And then I did the previous Como, he was blown away by me when shifting, well, I baked it anyway. It turned out flat but tasty.

I was blown away - it may have stalled. There is such an ancient way of determining the readiness of a piece for baking - you need to take a piece of dough the size of a walnut and after the pieces have been put for final proofing, put it in a glass of water. When the dough comes up, it's time to put the bread in the oven. They say this was done in Russian villages. To be honest, I define it easier - I lightly press with my finger and watch how quickly the dough rises, if quickly - early, if slowly - it's time.

I would like to advise one trick: after the final proofing it is very difficult to transfer the blanks to the shovel - the dough is very wet and literally spreads.To make it easy, after molding, each blank should be laid out on a separate towel (or a piece of parchment), the edges of which (along the long sides of the blank) should be wrapped onto the blank. How to cover it, otherwise the workpiece will greatly increase in width.

Then you can use this towel as a stretcher to transfer the workpiece to the shovel. Remember to dust the towel well with flour. If you used parchment and it stuck to the dough, it doesn't matter, it will fall behind during the baking process.

And I always do this, I do not risk "quickly shifting to a shovel", this is not for teapots not enough experienced bakers, like me, for example. If the final proofing is on paper, then I just drag it onto a shovel, and from there - onto a stone. If I put it in a basket, I sprinkle the blank with flour, put a sheet of paper on top, a shovel on top, turn the whole structure over, then carefully remove the basket - that's it, bread on paper and on a shovel. It remains to drag her "by the ears" to the stone or wherever necessary.

But it would be nice to turn the workpieces over when transferring to a shovel

I have a special shovel for these purposes (transferring blanks from a kush / towel) - a rectangular piece of wood about 5mm thick, as long as a baking stone and about 15cm wide. One side (of the long ones) is made as if sharpened - so it is easier to roll the workpieces from the jackpot onto it.

And I have - the bottom of the desk drawer, such a thin plywood, and even with a white coating. (At work, the drawer fell apart, well, I did it ...), has been working great for several years. And if necessary, I use it to turn the bread in the manner described above.
Igor (right?), You serve as a guiding star for us: everything is clear, precise, elegant. Well, and we already ... the main thing is there is room to grow

Yes, that's right and thank you kind words!

Am I the only one so brave to bake this bread? Curiosity is not a vice ...
I have almost no bread left of it, but I’m unlikely to repeat this feat in the near future
The starter stood with me for 36 hours, this is how he looked -
Kneading the dough in a bread maker -
Having sprinkled the table well with flour, I divided the dough into two parts and tried to form a ball, the dough is liquid to work with it you need a lot of flour, otherwise it will instantly stick
This is how I adapted to defend him -
This is my bread before baking-
And here is the cut of this bread- and the bread itself- for some reason it didn't work out for me to bake as beautifully as yours
Idol32 thanks for the delicious bread, I now know the taste of old Como bread (though on Crimean water, flour)

[Vilapo]

Class, Vilapo!
But you are not the only one brave, I already have big.
Let's see what happens

[Vilapo]

Class, Vilapo!
But you are not the only one brave, I already have big.
Let's see what happens

kisuri, good luck

Thank you
I am Ira

Thank you
I am Ira

And I'm Lena and you

[2 Vilapo]

2 Vilapo

Bravo! The road will be mastered by the walking! Congratulations - the bread is really not simple, but delicious!

I spread the blanks (like the ciabatta) on a kush (such a stiff canvas) with folds on the sides so that the dough does not spread wide. The loaves should be uneven and completely handmade.

[2 Vilapo]

2 Vilapo

Bravo! The road will be mastered by the walking! Congratulations - the bread is really not simple, but delicious!

I spread the blanks (like the ciabatta) on a kush (such a stiff canvas) with folds on the sides so that the dough does not spread wide. The loaves should be uneven and completely handmade.

Well, since the handwork should be visible, that's okay. Thanks!

Very nice bread !!! Bravo!!!
Do you really do the kneading by hand?
Will it be as tasty if not on a stone, but simply bake on a hot baking sheet?

Thank you!

Yes, but this bread is only half - first for 10 minutes with a hand mixer with hooks and then another 15 minutes with hands in French (beat on the table with a guy).

I am sure that it will turn out very well on the baking sheet. This bread was baked only on stone, but the previous one, modern bread, Como, tasted differently.Once I forgot to put a stone in the oven while heating it up and baked on an inverted baking sheet. And the baking sheet was cold! It turned out well anyway, the bottom crust turned out to be slightly thinner than the top one and the bread itself, when compared with the one baked on a stone, rose a little less in the oven.

Thanks for sharing the experience and for the valuable details!