Pane Integrale (Whole-Wheat Bread)
- 2 1/4 cups (300 grams) bread flour
- 3/4 cup (100 grams) wheat flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons (8 grams) table salt
- 1/2 teaspoon (2 grams) instant or dry active yeast
- 1 1/4 cups (300 grams) cool water (55 to 65 degrees)
- Wheat bran, cornmeal or flour, for dusting
- In a medium bowl, stir together the flours, salt and yeast.
- Add the water, and using a wooden spoon or your hands, mix until you have a wet, sticky dough, about 30 seconds.
- Cover the bowl with a towel or plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature until the surface is dotted with bubbles and the dough is more than doubled in size, 12 to 18 hours.
- When the first rise is complete, generously dust a work surface with flour.
- Use a bowl scraper or rubber spatula to gently scrape the dough out of the bowl in one piece.
- Using lightly floured hands or a bowl scraper or spatula, lift the edges of the dough in toward the center.
- Nudge and tuck in the edges of the dough to make it round.
- Place a cotton or linen tea towel on your work surface and very generously sprinkle it with wheat bran, cornmeal or flour, using at least 1/3 cup.
- Gently place the dough on the towel, seam-side down.
- If the dough is tacky, dust the top lightly with wheat bran, cornmeal or flour.
- Fold the ends of the tea towel loosely over the dough to cover and place it in a warm, draft-free spot to rise for 1 to 2 hours.
- The dough is ready when it is almost doubled.
- If you gently poke it with your finger, it should hold the impression.
- If it springs back, let it rise for another 15 minutes.
- Thirty minutes before the end of the second rise, preheat the oven to 475 degrees, with a rack positioned in the lower third, and place a covered 4 1/2-to-5 1/2-quart heavy pot in the center of the rack.
- If using a lid with a plastic handle, be sure that it can tolerate high temperatures.
- You might have to unscrew it and plug the hole with aluminum foil.
- Using thick potholders, carefully remove the preheated pot from the oven and uncover it.
- Unfold the tea towel and quickly but gently invert the dough into the pot, seam-side up.
- (Use caution: the pot will be very hot.)
- Cover the pot and bake for 30 minutes.
- Remove the lid and continue baking until the bread is a deep chestnut color but not burned, 15 to 30 minutes more.
- Use a heatproof spatula or potholders to carefully lift the bread out of the pot and place on a rack to cool thoroughly.
bread flour, flour, salt, active yeast, water, bran
Taken from cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1012815 (may not work)