If at first you don’t succeed, TRY, TRY AGAIN!!   And it’s been a lot of trying but here is Sicilian Bread . . .

Recently Jean wrote asking me about how and with what breads do I use my starter.  You may remember my post about Double or Nothing Bread where I got tired of throwing away perfectly good flour and water (toss off) and made bread by feel. 

Yesterday I started with a recipe out of Carol Field’s The Italian Baker just about the time I was thinking “It’s been a while, I need to feed my starter.”  And there I was again faced with “toss off.”  Now, if my name were Susan and I had a blog called WildYeast, I would have gone about this in a very measured way.  I would have accounted for the water and the flour in the starter and related it to the amounts called for in the recipe.  Did I do that?  Ah, well, no.  My name is not Susan. 

I do love her blog and find it incredible sometimes to go there and see how alike we can be.  A recent post by Susan Rule #1: Do What Works took the words right out of my mouth!  I always try to follow my own advice and listen to everyone’s advice but I believe passionately that the only advice that’s any good is what works for me.  Something else entirely different may work for you and that is good advice for you. 

Enough ramble, onto the bread.

Faced with toss off and a straight method dough, I decided I’d like to try using some of the toss off in the recipe for Pane Siciliano (Sicilian Bread).  Susan would have accounted for the water and flour in the toss off like she did in Adventures in OTiS.  But, since my name is Tanna and not Susan, here’s the way I did it.

Pane Siciliano (Sicilian Bread)

adapted from The Italian Baker by Carol Field

70 grams starter

1/2 cup water room temperature

166 grams (1 cup) King Arthur Durum flour

Mixed to incorporate liquid; cover and left at room temperature for 2 hours.

Pre-ferment above

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon malt syrup

1/2 cup water at room temperature

250 grams (1  1/2 cup) King Arthur Durum flour

150 grams (1 cup + 1 tablespoon) unbleached All Purpose flour

2 teaspoons salt

3/4 teaspoon yeast

I whisked together all the dry ingredients.

I mixed the preferment and the olive oil, malt syrup and additional water.  Then I added the whisked together dry ingredients one half cup at a time until I got a beautiful silky soft dough.  I had one cup left over dry flour mix.