Filone

A long plain loaf shaped by rolling, slashed once down its length.

Vegan.

Ingredients

• 500 g strong white flour
• 320 ml water
• 5 g dried yeast
• 10 g salt

Method

1. Mix the flour, water and yeast and rest 30 minutes before adding the salt. Knead 10 minutes.
2. Prove 2 hours, folding once at the hour.
3. Tip onto a lightly floured surface and press into a rectangle. Fold the top third down and the bottom third up, then ROLL IT UP TIGHTLY from the long side, sealing the seam with the heel of your hand as you go.
4. That rolling is the shaping: it puts tension into the surface, and a loaf with no tension spreads sideways in the oven instead of rising.
5. Roll it under your palms to lengthen it to about 40 cm, tapering the ends.
6. Prove seam down on floured cloth for 1 hour.
7. Slash it ONCE down the length, almost end to end, at a shallow angle. One long cut rather than several diagonal ones is what makes a filone rather than a baguette.
8. Bake at 230C with steam for 25 minutes, until it sounds hollow underneath.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Italy · All recipes