Sourdough Pasta Dura, Italian Peasant Bread

Pasta Dura is the ultimate peasant bread. The crumb is dense but heavenly soft.

It is very common throughout Italy, it cannot be bough in shops in the UK, but it can be baked very successfully at home.

The shaping of the bread is very important. We thought this video was very informative ( even if it is in Italian, the shaping speaks for itself!).

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First dough

150 g strong white flour

75 g water

50 g refreshed starter

Second  dough

275 g first dough

550 g strong white flour

300 g water

12 g salt

30 g olive oil

3.5 g malt

Make the first dough at about 16:30; let it rise at room temperature until 8:30 of the day after, preferably in a tall and narrow container, covered with cling film, or sealed, like a tupperware or a jar.

at 8:30 mix the first dough with the remaining ingredients. The dough will be pretty solid and will take quite a lot of effort. Whether you are using a planetary mixer or you are working the dough by hand, keep on working it until it is very smooth and elastic. 

Once the dough is ready let it rest, covered, for about 20 minutes.

With a rolling pin roll it into a rectangle about 0.5 cm thick.

Fold the rectangle into 3, turn it and roll it again. Fold it again.

Rest the dough for half an hour. 

Repeat the folding and resting 3 times.

Eventually roll the dough into a rectangle about 3 mm thick. Roll the rectangle along the longest side and form a long sausage. 

Use the sausage to shape a plait.

Cover the loaf and let it rise for about 4 hours.

Score the loaf quite deeply, roughly down to half of its thickness, just before baking it.

Bake in a preheated oven at 200C for 1 hour.