Currently baking from The Art & Soul of Baking by Cindy Mushet.

Okay, I had problems with this recipe right off the bat. The first step is to make a biga, which is a pre-ferment that should have the consistency of bread dough. Mushet’s instructions are to mix the biga, turn it out onto the counter and knead until smooth and elastic. My biga looked more like paste. I double and triple checked the amount of flour versus water, but with 4 ounces of water to 4.5 ounces of flour, it’s going to be somewhat runny. I settled for whisking vigorously.

After letting the biga rest for a couple of  hours, you mix up the rest of the dough. Here’s where I ran into another problem. Mushet calls for an additional 7 ounces of flour to an additional 4 ounces of water, but doesn’t tell you what the dough’s consistency should be, just that it should be firm, elastic and smooth. To me, that means a dough that holds together and can be kneaded by hand, if necessary. My dough, once again, was much to runny to hold together or knead by hand. My dough, in fact, resembled more of a foccacia dough.  I ended up adding about another 1/2 cup of flour just to get the dough to a consistency where I could handle it with a greased dough scraper.

The first rise went fine and then it was time to shape the dough. Again, because my dough was much wetter then her dough, I had problems shaping it. It stuck. To me, to the parchment paper, to the knife I was using to cut the pattern. Instead of clearly defined holes in the bread, I got minor indentations. I went ahead and let the dough rise a second time and then baked it off.

The final product? Well, I let it bake a little too long and ended up with a slightly drier bread, but it tastes herby and looks pretty good, if not exactly like Mushet’s. Next time, I’ll increase the flour until I get a more cohesive dough. I’m not sure about the biga, though.