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1
Place the grano arso flour in a dry pan over a medium flame. Stir continuously for 2–3 minutes until the flour smells toasted and smoky but shows no sign of further darkening. Tip onto a plate and allow to cool completely before mixing. The flour should smell of smoke and bitter-sweet char, not of raw carbon.
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2
Combine the cooled grano arso flour with the semola rimacinata in a large bowl. Dissolve the lievito madre in the lukewarm water, then pour the liquid into the flour blend. Mix until no dry flour remains. Cover and rest 30 minutes at room temperature (autolyse). The mass should feel shaggy but cohesive, with no dry pockets visible.
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3
Add the salt and work it fully into the dough by folding and pressing. Over the following 2 hours, perform a series of stretch-and-fold cycles every 30 minutes (four cycles in total). After the final fold the dough should feel noticeably more elastic and hold its shape when gathered; it will spring back slowly when pressed with a finger.
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4
This is the step on which the bread lives or dies: shape the dough into a tight round or oval, building sufficient surface tension so that the loaf holds its form without spreading. Place it seam-side up in a well-floured proving basket. Cover and transfer immediately to the refrigerator for 12–16 hours. The cold retard is not optional — it is the fermentation window in which the char compounds of the grano arso are transformed from simple bitterness into layered, smoky-sweet complexity by the lievito madre. A shorter retard or commercial yeast produces a flatter, less complex bread.
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5
Heat the oven — wood-fired if available, otherwise domestic — to maximum temperature with a baking stone or heavy tray inside. Invert the cold loaf onto a peel or lined tray, score the surface decisively with a blade, and bake. The crust should be a deep amber-gold; the scored openings should have burst open and show a pale, airy interior. The loaf, when tapped on its base, sounds hollow.
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6
Transfer the loaf to a wire rack. Rest for a minimum of 2 hours before cutting. Cutting the bread hot produces a gummy, dense interior; the crumb continues to develop and set as it cools. The fully rested crumb should be open and golden, with a crust that yields with a clean crack.