We’re baking Lariano Style Bread (Pane di Lariano) at the Bread Baking Babes this month. Elizabeth, our kitchen of the month, picked this recipe based on Jim Lahey’s Truccio Saré recipe from his book, The Sullivan Street Bakery Cookbook.
Lariano is a town in Italy outside Rome. They grow a special variety of wheat and this flour is used to make Lariano Bread. Jim Lahey describes the bread as “dusky gray and has a peculiar grit to it. […] My absolute favorite part is the crust. At a very high temperature, when the crust browns so thoroughly that it is just beginning to blacken in places, the whole wheat begins to caramelize. The flavors that result are out of this world—a sweet, chewy tangle of wheat, coffee, dark chocolate, and caramel.”
He has a recipe for something similar to Lariano Bread and he calls the whole wheat sourdough Truccio Saré. According to him, that name means nothing in any language because he made it up!
Quoting him from his cookbook, “[…] When I came up with the truccio formula a few years ago, I wanted to give it a beautiful name. I had previously sold a loaf called the casreccio—which means “homemade.” […] so I took “casareccio” and dropped the ca, kept the saré and ccio parts, and reversed them. I also felt that the new loaf looked a bit like a torpedo. (In the bakery, the truccio is an oblong shape.) So I add a t for good measure. The end product was truccio saré, which I hope you will agree has a nice ring to it.”
The Lariano Style Bread is sourdough bread that is made with a mix of whole wheat and all-purpose flour. As expected it takes a little time to make. What is interesting here is the use of a sourdough starter to make a biga which is very firm and like bread dough itself. The other thing is that the bread is baked until the crust is really dark and almost burnt in places.
I have a trusty resident sourdough starter in my fridge. It’s a 100% hydration starter and always bubbles up on demand no matter how much I neglect it. So that’s what I used for the biga. I also didn’t bake my boule too dark because we’re not fans of “Almost burnt” crusts. Otherwise I stuck pretty much to the recipe. As is my practice, I went with volume measurements. If you prefer weight measurements please check Elizabeth’s recipe.
I also found that the times given for the fermentoation of the biga and dough a bit on the higher side. This is probably because it’s very hot here right now. I’m at present, living with 35C temperatures. So my biga was ready in about 8 to 10 hours instead of the 24 hours suggested. So also, the first rise took about 1 1/4 hours and the second rise took about 40 minutes.
Normally, most recipes for sourdough bread would suggest using a pre-heated Dutch Oven or cast iron pot. I have been reading about using a cold pot and people say there’s hardly any difference in the bread. I don’t particularly enjoy juggling a very Dutch Oven, risen dough that could collapse easily and an even hotter oven. So for the first time, I tried baking my bread without pre-heating my Dutch Oven. It worked perfectly as you can see. I’m never again going to bother with pre-heating my Dutch Oven for sourdough bread.
I found my bread did not have a very open crumb and was slightly dense. None of this took away from the bread though. Jim Lahey says this bread is great for soaking up sauce and soups, sandwiches and for eating with soft, slightly stinky cheeses. I don’t know about the stinky cheese as I don’t like those. Otherwise, I would agree with him.
Lariano Style Bread
Ingredients
For the Biga :
- 1/2 cup water at room temperature
- 2 tsp active starter
- 1 cup all purpose flour
For the Final Dough :
- All of the Biga
- 1 1/4 cups water at room temperature
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 tsp fine salt
- Rice flour for dusting the brotform/ bannet
Instructions
Make the Biga:
- In a small bowl, mix the water and starter with your hand or a whisk. Add the flour and knead till well incorporated. This Biga is stiffer than one usually sees. Cover the bowl with cling wrap and let it rise until almost tripled. This can take from 10 hours to 24 hours depending on ambient temperature.
Make the bread dough :
- In a large mixing bowl, mix together the Biga and water with your hand or a whisk till it dissolves. Add the flours, salt and the water and mix together with a wooden spoon until the flour is just incorporated. Cover loosely and let it rest for 20 minutes.
- Every 30 minutes, stretch-and-fold the dough over itself from all four "sides" until you have done this 6 times (over 3 hours). At this point, the dough is ready to shape.
- Line a banneton or bowl with a tea towel, and sprinkle it generously with the rice flour. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface, and shape it into a tight ball. Place the dough, seam side up, into the prepared banneton/bowl, and cover with oiled cling wrap. Let rise until doubled. Depending on ambient temperature, this takes between 1 1/4 hours to 3 hours.
- Once the dough has doubled in size, remove the Dutch oven from the oven and remove the lid. Place a piece of parchment paper lined plate over the dough, and flip the dough over so that the bowl is upside down. Remove the bowl and the towel. Lift the dough, parchment and all, and place the dough into the Dutch oven. You can use a pre-heated Dutch Oven but this time I worked with a cold Dutch Oven.
- Slash the dough in a triangle pattern, cover with the lid, and place the pan in the oven. Bake at 230C (450F) for 35 minutes with the lid on. Remove the lid , and bake for another 10 to 15 minutes, until the loaf is done and the crust is dark brown.
- Cool the loaf on a wire rack for at least an hour.
The Bread Baking Babes are –
Bread Baking Babe Bibliothécaire – Katie
Blog from OUR kitchen – Elizabeth
My Kitchen In Half Cups – Tanna
Karen’s Kitchen Stories – Karen
The Bread Baking Babes (BBB) is a closed group, but you’re most welcome to bake with us as a Bread Baking Buddy. Here’s how it works.
Elizabeth is this month’s Kitchen of the Month. Bake the Lariano Style Bread and post it on your blog before the 28th of this month. Make sure you mention the Bread Baking Babes and link to her BBB post in your own post. Then e-mail her with your name and the link to the post, or leave a comment on her blog post with this information. She will do a Buddy round-up for this month on her blog and send you a BBB badge to add to your post on your blog.
I'm Aparna and My Diverse Kitchen is my ovo-lacto vegetarian food blog where you'll find recipes, food stories & photography. I've been blogging since 2007 and believe the kitchen, and the dining table (by extension) is really the heart of a home. 
Wow, I think the crumb looks amazing! Beautiful crust color, and I love hearing that the cold pot method worked so well, because I don’t like dealing with hot pots and plopping dough into them either.