Stirato is an Italian bread similar to ciabatta, made with a minimal amount of yeast and a long cold fermentation: a dough of flour, water, salt, and half a teaspoon of yeast sits for 12-18 hours. It bakes at 250°C with a bowl of water for steam, so the crumb comes out moist and open, with a crisp crust. I recommend mixing the dough the night before.
Stirato - Simple Italian Bread
Homemade stirato bread with a long fermentation: moist, open crumb and a crisp crust, baked at 250°C with steam.
Ingredients
Method
- Mix the dough the night before - it needs to ferment for at least 12-18 hours. Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl, pour in the cold water, and stir with a fork or whisk. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave it at room temperature for the specified time.
- This is how the dough looks after 12 hours.
- Flour the counter well, turn out the dough, and stretch it into a rectangular sheet, dusting more flour on top.
- Fold the dough: first away from you to the middle, then toward you - you'll get a roll.
- Cut the roll in half. Leave the loaves on the counter for another 40 minutes under a towel to rise.
- Preheat the oven to 250°C and be sure to place a bowl of water at the bottom for steam. Transfer the loaves to a floured baking tray, stretching each one by hand into a long baguette shape.
- Bake the bread for 30 minutes, then remove and let cool on a wire rack. Enjoy!
Tips
- The water for the dough really should be cold: with cold water, fermentation is slow and the crumb turns out nicely open.
- The bowl of water on the oven floor is a must - without steam the crust won't turn crisp.
- If the loaves don't fit on your tray, cut each one in half again to get four smaller loaves.
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