Pane di Altamura · Pane di Altamura DOP
Puglia · bread · serves 10 · 720 min total · medium
Pane di Altamura DOP must be made from four specified durum-wheat varieties grown on the Murge plateau, leavened with biga madre, and baked in a wood oven. Records of the loaf go back to Horace, who praised it in 37 BC on the road to Brindisi.
Ingredients
- 500 g semola di grano duro rimacinata
- 320 ml warm water
- 100 g active durum-wheat starter
- 12 g fine sea salt
Method
- Whisk starter into the water until milky. Add the semola; mix to a shaggy mass and rest 30 min.
- Add salt; knead 10 minutes until smooth, deep yellow, and elastic.
- Bulk ferment 4 hours, three folds in the first two.
- Shape: pat dough flat, fold like a wallet into a thick rectangle, then press a deep crease across the middle with the edge of your hand and fold one half over the other — the classic 'cappello del prete' (priest's hat).
- Final proof 90 minutes seam-down on a floured cloth.
- Heat oven to 250°C (480°F) with a baking stone. Steam the oven.
- Flip loaf onto the stone seam-up, no scoring needed — the fold opens to form the ear. Bake 20 min at 250°C, then 40 min at 200°C (390°F) until deep mahogany.
- Cool fully on a rack — the crumb is bright yellow, the crust thick and almost sweet.