Pane di Genzano IGP con Pasta Madre

Ingredients

• For the pasta madre (staged builds)
• 200 g Stiff sourdough starter (pasta madre), maintained at 60% hydration; fed 2–3 times over 12–16 hours before final mix
• 200 g Strong white wheat flour, local Castelli Romani wheat where available; otherwise high-protein bread flour
• 120 ml Water, cool; added in stages to maintain 60% hydration of the refreshed starter
• For the final dough
• 800 g Strong white wheat flour, sifted
• 560–600 ml Water, cool; yields 70–75% hydration
• 16 g Fine sea salt
• 320 g Ripe pasta madre (from staged builds above), at peak activity — domed, aerated, tangy in smell

Method

1. 1
   Stage the leaven. Over 12–16 hours, refresh the pasta madre 2–3 times at roughly equal intervals: each time, combine equal weights of existing starter and flour with water sufficient to maintain 60% hydration, mix to a firm, slightly tacky paste, and leave covered at room temperature. The leaven is ready when it is fully domed, aerated throughout, and smells sharply lactic-acetic — not flat or vinegary-collapsed. An under-ripe leaven produces dense bread.
2. 2
   Mix the final dough. Combine the 800 g flour with 520 ml of the water and mix until no dry flour remains. Cover and rest 30 minutes (autolyse). Add the 320 g ripe pasta madre, then dissolve the salt in the remaining 40–80 ml water and incorporate. Work the mass until cohesive — it will be slack and extensible. The dough is mixed when it holds together as a single, slightly shaggy mass that does not tear when stretched a short distance.
3. 3
   Develop by stretch and fold. Over the first 2 hours of bulk fermentation, perform four sets of stretch and folds at 30-minute intervals. For each set, take one side of the dough, stretch it upward without tearing, and fold it to the opposite side; rotate the vessel 90° and repeat four times around. After the fourth set, the dough is developed when it feels notably more taut and elastic, holds its shape briefly, and the surface appears smooth and slightly blistered. This is where the bread's open crumb is decided: insufficient development here cannot be recovered.
4. 4
   Continue bulk fermentation. After the folds, leave the dough undisturbed at room temperature until it has increased by 50–75% in volume and the surface shows a network of small bubbles. The dough should jiggle as a single, cohesive mass when the vessel is gently shaken — not slump or tear.
5. 5
   Divide and pre-shape. Turn the dough onto an unfloured surface and divide into two equal pieces. Pre-shape each into a loose round by folding the edges to the centre, then flipping seam-side down. Rest uncovered for 20–30 minutes. The dough is ready to shape when the surface has tightened slightly and a gentle press with one finger springs back slowly but fully.
6. 6
   Shape and cold retard. Shape each piece into a tight round or oval, building sufficient surface tension without tearing. Place seam-side up in well-floured proving baskets. Cover and refrigerate overnight — 10–14 hours. The cold retard extends fermentation and develops the complex lactic-acetic acid balance that defines Genzano's flavour. The shaped loaves are ready to bake when they have risen noticeably in the basket and a fingertip press leaves an indentation that springs back slowly and incompletely.
7. 7
   Prepare the oven. Place a Dutch oven (or equivalent heavy lidded vessel) in the oven and preheat at 250°C for a minimum of 30 minutes. This approximates the steam-trapping environment of a wood-fired oven at 280–300°C. The oven is ready when the vessel is too hot to approach without protection — uniform, sustained heat throughout.
8. 8
   Score and bake. Remove one loaf from the refrigerator, turn it seam-side down onto a sheet of baking paper, and score with a lame at 45° in a single long cut. Lower into the preheated Dutch oven, cover immediately, and bake 20 minutes. Remove the lid and bake a further 20–25 minutes until the crust is deep mahogany to almost-charred, the loaf sounds hollow when the base is rapped firmly with a knuckle, and it feels rigid and fully set — no softness at the base.
9. 9
   Rest before cutting. Transfer the baked loaves to a wire rack and leave undisturbed for a minimum of 1 hour. The interior is still setting as starch gelatinisation completes; cutting too early collapses the open crumb. The bread is ready when the crust has lost its initial softening and returns to a rigid, audibly crackling state when pressed lightly.