Ok, so I cheated and made this bread a few weeks ago. It turned out much better then. For make up, I did the boule with the cross on top as in the Greek Celebration Bread on pg. 114. I admit, I have a hard time shaping the boule. It seems I get more side to side spread than upward rising, though the spring when baking does make up for some of the lack of rise. I guess I’m not getting enough surface tension when shaping.
I froze the biga and had enough to make two recipes (Peter Reinhart uses three types of pre-ferments, sometimes call starters for his breads – the biga is the Italian version). I placed the biga in the refrigerator overnight to let it thaw slowly and then set it out for an hour to come to room temperature. The first batch I made with barely a half teaspoon of rosemary as it is a heavily oiled herb and can easily overwhelm any dish. Since my sister-in-law in highly allergic to rosemary, I used dried thyme from the garden in this recipe; about a teaspoon. To add something different I took a small white onion and cut thin slivers to place in the empty spaces.
For some reason, this time it took forever to get any color on the bread. It’s much more pale in colour than last time.
It was a hit a few weeks ago and I hope a hit tomorrow!
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