Pão alentejano
The bread of the Alentejo, the farming region of southern Portugal, on which many of its dishes rest. It is a large round sourdough loaf of wheat flour, water and salt, with a thick crust and a dense, fine crumb. There are no big holes as in fashionable artisan breads — the dough is less slack and the crumb close, moist and springy. That is why the bread stays fresh for a long time, and when stale becomes the basis of açorda and migas. Its hallmark is the “cabeça”, or “head” — a small knob of dough on top of the loaf.
Your own work in that: 30 min.
- Feeding the starter 480 min
- Autolyse 30 min
- Mixing 15 min
- Bulk ferment with folds 240 min
- Shaping 15 min
- Proving 90 min
- Baking 45 min
- Cooling 120 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneFeed the starter
Feed the starter 6–8 hours ahead so it is at its peak when you mix: doubled, full of bubbles and pleasantly sour.
Ingredients: 150 g active wheat sourdough starter
Doubled and bubbly — ready.Autolyse
Mix the flour with 300 ml of the water until no dry flour remains, cover and leave 30 minutes. The flour hydrates and the gluten starts forming on its own.
Ingredients: 500 g strong white bread flour · 320 ml water · 11 g salt · 2 tbsp flour for dusting
Add starter and salt
Add the starter, salt and the rest of the water. Knead 10–12 minutes until smooth and springy. It should be clearly less slack than dough for an open-crumb bread.
Ingredients: 500 g strong white bread flour · 320 ml water · 11 g salt · 2 tbsp flour for dusting
Bulk ferment with folds
Cover and leave at room temperature (22–24°C) for 4 hours. In the first two hours fold it 3 times, every 30 minutes, stretching the edges over the middle. The dough should grow by about half.
Ingredients: 500 g strong white bread flour · 320 ml water · 11 g salt · 2 tbsp flour for dusting
Shape a loaf with a knob
Tear off a walnut-sized piece of dough. Shape the rest into a tight round loaf, tensioning the skin. Set the small piece in the centre and press it in firmly with your thumb. Place the loaf knob down in a floured basket.
Ingredients: 500 g strong white bread flour · 320 ml water · 11 g salt · 2 tbsp flour for dusting
The “cabeça” — a knob of dough on top of the loaf.Prove and heat the oven
Cover the basket and leave 1½ hours. After 45 minutes heat the oven to 250°C with a cast-iron pot and lid inside — the pot needs about 45 minutes to heat through. The loaf is ready when a fingertip dent springs back slowly.
Ingredients: 500 g strong white bread flour · 320 ml water · 11 g salt · 2 tbsp flour for dusting
Bake covered, then uncovered
Tip the loaf into the hot pot knob up, cover and bake 20 minutes. Remove the lid, lower to 220°C and bake another 20–25 minutes, until the crust is dark brown and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped underneath.
Ingredients: 500 g strong white bread flour · 320 ml water · 11 g salt · 2 tbsp flour for dusting
A dark crust and a hollow sound — done.Cool completely
Cool the bread on a rack at least 2 hours before slicing. The crumb keeps setting as it cools, and sliced too soon it will be gummy.
Ingredients: 500 g strong white bread flour · 320 ml water · 11 g salt · 2 tbsp flour for dusting
Before you start
Stale bread in the kitchen
Stale pão alentejano is the basis of açorda — a bread soup with garlic, coriander, olive oil and poached egg — and of migas, bread fried with lard and garlic.
Slower in the fridge
Instead of proving 1½ hours, you can put the shaped loaf in the fridge overnight. Bake straight from the fridge — the flavour is more sour and the cold loaf is easier to tip into the pot.
Storage
Wrapped in a linen cloth, pão alentejano stays good for 4–5 days. Do not keep it in the fridge, where it stales faster.
