Pane Siciliano - aka my go-to bread recipe

Here is the recipe I almost always make when I bake bread.  Sometimes I try to branch out, but I pretty much always come back to this recipe.  I consider it a bit of a medium-rich bread due to the oil and honey, but I think it's still technically a lean bread.  I've found that putting the bread in the fridge overnight almost always increases the flavor a lot, so this bread is better with the pre-ferment.  I've also made it as a single whole recipe and then put the whole thing in the fridge overnight.  This used to work better for me, but as my yeast has gotten older I've had some trouble getting a good rise the next day.  It does save having to mix the dough twice, which is nice.

Pate Fermentee (pre-ferment):
2 1/4 c (10 oz) bread flour
3/4 t salt
1/2 t yeast
3/4 - 7/8 c (6-7 oz) water

Mix as for bread dough.  Let rise at room temp, the place in the fridge over night.  The next day, cut the dough into about 10 pieces to warm up.

Pane Siciliano:
1 recipe pre-ferment
3 c (16 oz) bread flour
1 3/4 c (8 oz) semolina flour
1 1/4 t salt
1 1/4 t yeast
2 T (1 oz) oil*
1 T (3/4 oz) honey
1 1/4 - 1 1/2 (10-12 oz) water**
sesame seeds for sprinkling on top.

Mix, knead, let rise, without punching down (though with the understanding that you'll lose some rise as you handle the dough) shape into two loaves.  Make sure to properly develop the surface tension as you shape your loaf.  I've found this to be my biggest problem with putting a full recipe of dough in the fridge overnight. When the dough is colder, it's hard to get the right surface tension so that it rises without spilling over the edges of my pan.  Let it rise again, make three slices across the top, mist with water, then sprinkle on the sesame seeds.  Place a 9X13X2 metal pan inside the hot oven, then pour water in when you add your bread to the oven.  This will create steam that is supposed to help the bread rise more.  (I dunno, it's kinda annoying to do, and I'm not completely convinced it makes a huge difference, especially since I've developed my multi-temp baking method (see below).  Bake until the bread is done - ie about 190-205 degrees F internally.  I like softer, more tender insides, so I tend to pull mine any time after it reaches 190.  If you let it get up to 205, it's going to be drier, which may be your preference.  It should take 20-30 minutes to back.

*I use toasted sesame oil and love the strong flavor it gives.  The original recipe calls for olive oil.  I've found that a mix is also good.)
**I always err on the lower end for the water.  It depends on how dry your flour is, I guess.)

I think the three most important things for bread are the water content, the extent to which the gluten gets developed, and the temp at which it's baked.
-Bread dough should be wetter than you think.  My bread bible says "tacky, but not stick".  I'm not sure how to achieve just kneading the dough by hand.  The flour seems to absorb more water as you work the dough, so even if it seems too wet at first, as you keep working it, it becomes less sticky, even without the addition of extra flour.  I always make mine in my stand mixer, and I'm not sure how you get past that initial "too wet" phase without adding extra flour if you're just doing it by hand.
-Knead until the dough passes the "window pane" test.  If you pull off a small piece and gently stretch it with your fingers, you should be able to stretch it until it's translucent without it breaking.
-I've been playing around with the baking temp lately.  I like a good fluffy interior and a good solid crusty crust.  To get the dough to rise before forming a crust that is too hard for the CO2 to raise any more, I think you have to do the initial baking at a lower temp - say 425-430.  Then, I kick the temp up to 450 or so for the last 5-10 min to create a thicker darker crust.  I think spraying the crust with more water also helps create more "crackle".

Let me know what you think.  I also have recipes for leaner breads and for more rich breads, which I'm happy to pass along.

-Recipes copied or adapted from The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart.  I would recommend this book for all the info in the beginning about the various stages of bread baking.

Update:  The family seemed like they needed some homemade bread, so I went to my go-to recipe this weekend.  I baked it at 425 for about 15 minutes or so, then kicked the temp up to 435 for another 10 maybe (that's a bit of a guess), then up to 450 for the last 7 minutes.  I also used the water pan, and misted the bread and sides of the oven about 4 times during the first 5 minutes or so of baking.  Aleks took it out of the oven, and said the internal temp was somewhere around 205 or so.  It turned out beautifully - a decent crust (never like good bakery crust, but I think you have to have a different kind of oven for that), perfect texture - soft and chewy.   Suzie said "Mmm!" after each bite.
Since it turned out so pretty and I had just posted this recipe, I decided to take a picture.  

Note: I made the initial cuts in across the top when I first put them in the pan to rise.  I should have either made them deeper or deepened them right before I put it in the oven.  Another option, which is maybe the best one, is to only make the cuts right before you put it in the oven.  The point of the cuts is to relieve some of the surface tension, giving the bread a place to "bloom" out as it rises.


We enjoyed it with grilled lamb chops, steamed spinach, caramelized onions, grill-roasted cherry tomatoes with garlic and oregano, and a chipotle blue-cheese cream sauce.  Man, we eat well.