Panne Rustico- no knead

I went back to Suzanne Dunaway's book for another recipe. This time I made her panne rustico.



I used the overnight cool proof method so that's what I'll give here.

It starts with a biga or sponge.

Biga
1 teaspoon active dry yeast
1 cup lukewarm water
3/4 cup unbleached bread flour
4 tablespoons rye flour

You just mix the ingedients together well (it helps to mix the yeast and water together before adding everything else), cover it tightly and let it sit overnight at room temperature.

The next day you mix the dough:

Bread
2cups lukewarm water
5.5 cups unbleached bread flour
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup flour for baking sheet and tops of loaves (plus some for the counter when shaping the loaves)

Mix the water, flour, biga and salt in a large bowl (really large) and stir until all of the flour is incorporated and the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. To prevent drying you can grease your hands and fold the dough a couple of times into a smooth ball (I didn't and it was fine).

Cover the bowl and refrigerate overnight. Remove 2 hours before shaping and let stand, covered, in a warm place.

Preheat the oven to 500F and dust a baking sheet with a few tablespoons of flour.

Turn the dough onto a floured work surface, keeping the dough as inflated as possible (I find it very difficult and so tend to let the dough rise twice at this point, first as a ball and then shaped as loaves).

Cut the dough in half and shape each piece into rectangles.

Fold the top third of each rectangle ove the middle third and the bottom third over that and seal the seam by pressing it together with the palm of your hand.

Place the loaves on the floured baking sheet and let them rise for 40 minutes or until doubled in size. Slash the surface a few times, turn the oven down to 400F and bake for 30-40 minutes until the tops are browned. Cool on a wire rack (or they will become slightly soggy).