– Recipe by Nico Melas Febres, Owner/Baker Mill Song Bakery, Harrisonburg
Ingredients
450 grams fresh-milled Shenandoah Valley T-80 flour (or 70/30 blend AP flour/white bread flour)
50 grams whole wheat bread flour
366 grams warm water
12 grams salt
active sourdough starter, fed twice (see below)*
This recipe requires feeding your starter twice:
First feed
30 grams T-80 flour
30 grams water
2 grams active starter
let sit overnight
Second feed
using all the dough from overnight feed, add to:
61 grams T-80 flour (or 70/30 blend)
61 grams 115℉ water
let sit in a warm place until bubbly and foamy (approximately 3 hours)
Equipment Needed
kitchen scale, dough scraper, rice flour for dusting, tea towel or couche, pizza stone*, aluminum pan, bread peel, lame or razor blade, spray bottle
INSTRUCTIONS
*Notes*
This recipe is recommended for intermediate to advanced bakers. This recipe requires an active sourdough starter. Depending on the size of your pizza stone, you may have to bake the bolillos in batches
At the two-hour mark after the second starter feeding, mix flour and water in a large bowl and let sit, lightly covered, in a warm place. When the starter is bubbly, add to flour and water mixture and mix until evenly incorporated. Let sit, lightly covered, for 20 minutes and then mix in salt. Do a set of stretch and folds. Let dough sit in a warm place for 3.5-4 hours, stretching and folding the dough every 45 minutes until it has almost doubled in size.
Turn dough out onto a work surface. Using your dough scraper, divide dough into 250-gram pieces (you should have roughly 5). Stretch and fold each piece of dough to build tension and then preshape into balls. Let dough rest (approx. 10 minutes) while you flour your couche or tea towel with rice flour. On a lightly-floured work surface, shape dough pieces into miniature batards: stretch dough out into a circle, then pinch each end toward the center. Roll dough away from you, into a tightly tapered tube. Pinch ends toward center and then pinch ends again to form the traditional bolillo points. Transfer your bolillos, seam side up, to your couche or tea towel (if using a towel, make an accordian pleat and place bolillos in each valley). Let dough proof until it passes the spring back test: lightly press your finger against the dough, and if dough springs back immediately, they are not ready and are under-proofed. If dough does not spring back at all then loaves are over-proofed and will not rise fully. But if it springs back slowly the dough is ready (approx. 30 minutes).
While bolillos are proofing, place pizza stone in oven on the center rack with the aluminum sheet on the rack below, then preheat oven to 525℉. Once proofed, flip bolillos, seam side down, onto baking peel. Score bolillos in one long, deep half-moon score. Pour a cup of water onto the aluminum baking sheet to create steam. Transfer your bolillo to the pizza stone, spray the sides of the oven with your spray bottle and bake 15-20 minutes. Finished bolillos should be light in color with a light, sub roll-like crust.
