02/12/2021

Stirato: Italian-Style Baguette

Name: Stirato: Italian-Style Baguette
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 930 min
Ingredients: 400 g bread flour (plus extra for sprinkling); 1½ tsp salt; ½ tsp instant, fast-acting dried yeast; 300-350 g/ml water (see Recipe Note 1)

Stirato is a rustic, Italian-style baguette whose name means ‘stretched’. Made with just bread flour, salt, fast-acting yeast and water, it has a crispy crust and open crumb.

With this easy, no-knead recipe you’ll get great-tasting bread for very little effort. Just mix up the dough the night before you want to bake. In the morning, shape it, rest it for thirty minutes, stretch then bake.

My Stirato is based on that of no-knead bread guru Jim Lahey. However, with my version you won’t need the specialist baking equipment of the original.

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EASY, NO-KNEAD BREAD

If you’re a regular follower, then you’ll know that virtually all the bread I bake is no-knead. This is despite orthodox bread making saying that dough must be kneaded as this develops the gluten. And it’s gluten that gives structure to the loaf.

But I learned, many years ago now, that a wetter than normal dough plus long proving times also develop gluten. So much so, in fact, that it’s possible to make wonderful loaves with no kneading at all.

Although not particularly well known in the UK, the person lauded as being responsible for the popularity of no-knead loaves, including baking them in lidded pots, is Jim Lahey of the New York Sullivan Street Bakery. It was this method I adapted to create my own no-knead recipes for Sourdough bread and also my yeasted Crusty Homemade Bread.

But it was only recently that I bought Lahey’s book My Bread (paid link). You can also buy the Kindle edition here (paid link).

In there, Stirato Italian baguettes were the first recipe to catch my eye.

STIRATO

Lahey says that Stirato is the Italian version of the French baguette. Although I have my own Homemade Baguettes recipe, a more rustic, Italian version with no kneading sounded right up my street. Stirato means “stretched”. Further on you’ll see exactly why it has that name.

In his recipe aimed at home cooks, Lahey alters the method used in his New York bakery. Rather than baking the Stirato in special elongated pots, he uses a pizza stone and the base of a Römertopf French Bread Baker. But I think that equipment is still too specialized for most home cooks. Including me.

So I came up with my own method and have been extremely pleased with the results.

The crust turns out crisp and crunchy. On the inside, there’s an attractive open crumb that’s satisfyingly chewy. Perfect for tearing and eating alongside soups, salads, and all manner of foods. Or splitting and stuffing to make incredible sandwiches.

With my first batch of Stirato I made the simple but stunningly delicious sandwich above. Inspired by Sicilian pane cunzato, it had tomato, oregano, anchovy, olive oil, sheep’s milk cheese, chilli flakes and black pepper.

Ready to start making Stirato? Jump to Recipe

Want to see and understand the steps in more detail first?

Read on…

THE NIGHT BEFORE

When dough isn’t going to be kneaded, we need a long initial prove so that the gluten can develop. And when I say ‘long’ I mean a minimum of 12 hours. But some no-knead doughs are left for 24 or even 48 hours in the fridge.

For my Stirato 12-14 hours should be sufficient, depending on the room temperature. For practical purposes, this means I mix up the simple dough the evening before I’m going to bake.

I start by stirring together bread flour, salt, and fast-acting yeast. Then I pour in water, stirring vigorously with a spoon to create a very wet, loose mixture.

I use slightly more salt and yeast than the Lahey recipe but usually the same flour and water proportions. However, I’ve recently added a note to the recipe card for those who find a slightly less wet dough easier to work with.

Next you cover the bowl and leave overnight. If you want to extend this first rise even more (perhaps you don’t want to bake until the evening of the next day, or the room is particularly warm) then just pop the dough in the fridge.

IN THE MORNING

In the morning, the dough should be well risen and also have spread out (as is normal with wet doughs). It at will also be very bubbly.

If it isn’t then leave for longer.

SHAPING THE BREAD

Because the dough is so wet, the one piece of equipment I think is vital is a dough scraper. They can be had for just a few pounds and are essential for scraping dough from bowls and work surfaces as well as cutting. Besides a scraper, lots of extra flour for dusting will make shaping the dough easier.

I form the Stirato on a piece of baking paper rather than a work surface. This, and laying the paper on a large board, will help with transferring to a baking tray later.

The first step is to scrape the dough onto the floured paper. Then nudge it into a rectangle and sprinkle more flour over the top.

We then need to shape it into a long baguette.

This is best done by using your dough scraper to lift the long side facing you and fold it over towards the middle. Keep pushing it over so that the dough is rolled into a tube.

Don’t be afraid to sprinkle more flour at each step. This will really help with handling the dough.

Next, we cut the tube in half to give us two rather fat baguettes. These will be stretched into thinner, longer Stirato later.

But first the dough needs to have its second rise or prove. This should take around 30 minutes or until the depression left by a finger pressed into the dough slowly rather than quickly springs back. If it springs back immediately then leave to prove for longer.

While that’s happening, you’ll need to preheat your oven and a baking vessel.

STEAMY BREAD BAKING

My bread making method, adapted from Lahey, involves baking in a covered pot. The idea is to create a fiercely hot, steamy atmosphere which prevents a crust forming too soon. This helps the bread rise for longer.

I always bake my standard loaves in heavy oval or round casserole dishes such as Le Creuset.

But there’s no way long baguettes are going to fit into any of those. As mentioned above, in his bakery Lahey has special elongated pots in which to bake Stirato. In the book he uses a pizza stone and a special French bread maker.

However, I have neither of those so must improvise. For the base, I use a large baking tray. This goes into the oven to preheat. For a lid, I put, upturned on top, a deep roasting tin. This is also preheated. (Don’t worry if you don’t have a tin to use as a lid. You’ll still get good loaves).

But my homemade contraption isn’t a perfect fit so some steam is bound to escape. To counteract this, I create steam in the oven itself as per my French baguette and Brioche Bun recipes. I preheat another deep roasting tin on the bottom shelf of the oven. Then, immediately as the breads go in, I pour cold water into it and close the door.

This certainly creates a steamy atmosphere, so do be careful when opening the oven door. Keep hands and face clear as steam can come billowing out rather fast.

Note: use a baking tin and not a glass tray to create the steam as glass may break when you pour cold water in.

STRETCH & BAKE

To live up to their name of Stirato or ‘stretched’, there’s one more step to do before baking. Gently pull each piece of dough until around 28 cm long. Or a few centimetres shy of the length of your baking tray.

You might have noticed from the images that I draw an outline of the base of my tray on the baking paper. This is so I don’t too enthusiastically stretch the dough only to find it doesn’t fit the tray!

By the way, the dough is still very soft at this point. So, if you find you can’t lift it fully off the paper to stretch it, use your scraper to push and nudge it.

Then you’re ready to transfer the whole thing, paper and all, onto the preheated baking tray. This is where the board you placed underneath the paper comes in very handy. Simple pick it up and angle it so the paper plus breads slide off and onto the tray.

Pop on your improvised lid and place the whole thing in the oven. Pour water into the tin on the bottom shelf, shut the door and walk away for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, you can take the lid off and also remove the tin containing the water.

What you should have at this point are two nicely risen loaves with a crust just starting to form, as per the above photo. I then give the uncovered loaves ten minutes back in the oven at a slightly lower temperature.

Finally, I take the Stirato off the paper and bake directly on the oven shelf until they’re a dark golden brown.

This should take another 3-5 minutes. When done, their bottoms will sound hollow if you give them a tap. Put the baguettes on a rack to cool.

SERVING & STORING STIRATO

When cool enough to handle, feel free to tear into the bread, have a good sniff, then bite through the crispy crust and enjoy the chewy crumb. I think you might be surprised at just how tasty it is, considering the simple ingredients.

As many people are now discovering, a longer fermentation helps to create great flavour. Some also find this sort of bread much more digestible thanks to the relatively small amounts of commercial yeast.

I think Stirato is great eaten on its own with butter or olive oil. They’re also the perfect side to salads and soups: one of my batches was wonderful with an indulgent Cream of Chicken Soup. But it’s probably as a hearty sandwich where this easy, versatile bread comes into its own.

Robust enough to deal with generous fillings and big, bold flavours, I particularly loved the sandwich pictured above. Local spicy merguez sausage griddled with red onion, topped with chilli-garlic mayo and parsley. I could eat that again right now!

Stirato is best eaten on the day of making. But I often eat them the next day or they freeze very well. You can also use them toasted to make bruschetta or crostini.

The wet dough may not be the easiest to work with, but you’ll get the hang of it once you’ve made Stirato a couple of times. And the rewards are so worth it!

HAVE YOU MADE STIRATO?

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