Dark Tuscan Bread (pane Toscano Scuro)

Total Time: 24 hrs 40 mins Preparation Time: 40 mins Cook Time: 24 hrs

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon active dry yeast (6 g)
• 2/3 cup warm water
• 1 1/3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (175 g)
• 1 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast (9 g)
• 1/3 cup warm water
• 1 cup water, room temp
• 1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour (30 g)
• 3 3/4 cups stone-ground whole wheat flour (475 g)
• cornmeal

Recipe

• 1 starter, stir the yeast into the water and let it stand for 10 minutes, until creamy.
• 2 add the flour and stir with 100 strokes of a wooden spoon, or w/ the paddle of an electric mixer for 1 minute (i recommend the latter unless your arms look like popeyes).
• 3 cover with plastic wrap and let rise until tripled, 6 hours to overnight.
• 4 dough, stir yeast into the warm water and let it stand for 10 minutes, until creamy.
• 5 add the room temp water and the starter.
• 6 stir vigorously or squeeze the mixture between your fingers to break the starter up.
• 7 stir in the flours, half at a time, until thoroughly mixed.
• 8 knead dough on floured work surface until firm and resilient, 8 to 10 minutes.
• 9 place dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and let rise until doubled, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
• 10 turn the dough out onto a floured surface, and punch it, then shape it into a large round loaf, or 2 oval loaves.
• 11 place on cornmeal-sprinkled peel or an oiled baking sheet.
• 12 dust the top (s) lightly with flour, cover with a lightly dampened towel, and let rise until doubled again, 45 to 60 minutes.
• 13 preheat oven to 450f.
• 14 score top of loaf (ves) with a sharp knife or razor in a"tic-tac-toe" pattern and slide onto a baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal.
• 15 bake 15 minutes, then turn the heat down to 400f& bake 20 minutes for the smaller loaves, and 25 to 30 minutes for the large loaf.
• 16 loaf is done when they sound hollow when tapped.
• 17 cool on a rack.