In July 2007, the three bakers from A Year in Bread received copies of Daniel Leader's new book, Local Breads. The book chronicles regional bread recipes across Europe. The trio would have loved to bake sourdoughs from the book, but they had took pity on clueless souls like me and decided to do Italian breads. Those that use a biga and don't need a whole week to ferment.
I first picked Susan's Puccia - lovely olive rolls, and you try resisting that name. But Susan recommends oil cured black olives and I didn't want to substitute my olives in brine. And I didn't like the idea of grapes on focaccia (so Kevin's probably mad at me because I've never picked any of his breads, but I'd make up for it, promise!). And Beth? she made Rosemary Filone. I loved her bread, but I am not a fan of rosemary so I made thyme filone instead. Followed her recipe exactly but for this one change.
I loved the bread for sandwiches (as Beth did), and thyme added a nice touch. But I also had the same problem as Beth, that I got a dense crumb instead of the gorgeous open crumb the book promised.
Next up on A Year in Bread is quick breads. Stay tuned!
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