Pan Rústico de Valle de Guadalupe

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large mixing bowl, glass or ceramic
• •Bench scraper
• •Two 9-inch round bannetons or towel-lined bowls
• •Heavy 5 to 7-quart Dutch oven with lid
• •Sharp lame or razor blade for scoring
• •Digital kitchen scale (do not measure flour by volume)
• •Wood-fired horno de leña if you have access to one

Instructions

1. 1

   Feed the masa madre

   Eight hours before you mix the dough, feed your starter. Combine 50 grams of mature masa madre with 50 grams of bread flour and 50 grams of cool water in a glass jar. Stir, cover loosely, and leave on the counter at about 22°C. It is ready when it has doubled, smells faintly of green apple and yogurt, and floats when you drop a teaspoon in water. A tired starter makes a tired bread. No me vengas con atajos.

   The Molokan bakers of the Guadalupe valley have kept the same pata starter alive for over a hundred years. Treat yours the same way. Feed it. Name it if you have to. A starter is a living animal.
2. 2

   Mix the autolyse

   In a large bowl, whisk together the bread flour, whole wheat, and rye. Add 450 grams of the water (hold the rest back) and mix by hand until no dry flour remains. The dough will be shaggy and rough. Cover with a damp cloth and let it sit for one hour. This is the autolyse. The flour hydrates, the gluten begins to organize itself, and the bread that comes out four hours later will be silkier for it. Yaqui Valley wheat is high in protein and drinks more water than you think. Trust the dough.

3. 3

   Incorporate the starter and salt

   After the autolyse, pour the active masa madre on top of the dough along with the salt and the remaining 25 grams of water. If you are using the lime juice, add it now. The acid is a quiet trick the Molokan bakers in Francisco Zarco use to wake the dough and brighten the crumb. Pinch the starter into the dough with wet fingers until fully incorporated. The dough will tighten, then loosen again. This is normal. Cover and rest for 30 minutes.

4. 4

   Bulk ferment with folds

   Over the next four to five hours, perform four sets of stretch-and-folds spaced 30 minutes apart. Wet your hand, grab one side of the dough, pull it up, and fold it over the center. Rotate the bowl a quarter turn and repeat. Four folds per set. After the four sets, leave the dough alone for another two hours. By the end of bulk, it should have risen by about 50 percent, the surface domed and pillowy, with visible bubbles at the edges. La cocina no es decoracion, es trabajo. The dough tells you when it is ready, not the clock.

   Ambient temperature drives everything. In summer in Valle de Guadalupe, where the days hit 30°C, bulk might be done in five hours. In a cool kitchen, it can take eight. Watch the dough, not the timer.
5. 5

   Pre-shape and rest

   Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Divide it in half with a bench scraper. Pre-shape each half into a loose round by tucking the edges underneath and dragging the dough across the counter to build tension. Cover with a cloth and let them rest for 30 minutes. The dough relaxes and becomes easier to shape tight.

6. 6

   Final shape

   Flip one round over so the smooth side is down. Stretch the dough into a rough rectangle. Fold the top down, the sides in, and roll it tight from the bottom toward you, sealing the seam with the heel of your hand. Place seam-side up in a rice-flour-dusted banneton or a clean towel-lined bowl. Repeat with the second loaf. The tension in the surface is what gives you the bold ear when you score and bake.

7. 7

   Cold retard overnight

   Cover the bannetons and refrigerate for 12 to 16 hours. This long, cold second rise is non-negotiable. It is where the flavor deepens, where the crust develops its blistered character, and where the crumb earns the complexity that makes a Valle de Guadalupe sourdough taste like Valle de Guadalupe. Skip the cold retard and you have made a fine bread. You have not made this bread.

8. 8

   Prepare the oven

   If you have a wood-fired horno de leña, build a fire of oak or mesquite two hours before baking and let it burn down to embers. Sweep the embers to the side, brush the hearth clean, and let the temperature settle around 245°C / 475°F. For a home kitchen, place a Dutch oven or a heavy steel and a cast iron pan on the bottom rack and preheat at 250°C / 480°F for at least 45 minutes. The oven must be hot. Hot enough that you respect it.

9. 9

   Score and bake

   Turn one cold loaf out onto a piece of parchment dusted with cornmeal. Score the top with a sharp blade, one decisive curve from edge to edge, about a centimeter deep. Lower the loaf into the hot Dutch oven, cover, and bake for 20 minutes. Remove the lid and bake another 20 to 25 minutes, until the crust is deep mahogany and the loaf sounds hollow when you tap the bottom. For a horno de leña, slide directly onto the hearth, mist the chamber once with water, and close the door. Bake 40 to 45 minutes total, rotating once. Repeat with the second loaf.

10. 10

    Cool completely

    Transfer the loaves to a wire rack and let them cool for at least one hour before cutting. The bread is still cooking inside. Cut it warm and you collapse the crumb. Listen to the crust as it cools. It crackles. That is the sign of a long ferment and a hot oven doing what they are supposed to. Asi se hace y punto.

Chef Tips

• •If you cannot find Yaqui Valley flour, use a high-protein bread flour at 12 to 13 percent protein. King Arthur bread flour works. Bleached all-purpose flour does not. Yaqui wheat has body. Cheap flour has none.
• •The lime juice is optional but it is not a gimmick. The Molokan bakers in Francisco Zarco use it to wake a sluggish ferment in cool weather, and it sharpens the final tang. A tablespoon is enough. More than that and you push the dough toward sour.
• •A wood-fired horno de leña is the right oven for this bread, but a heavy Dutch oven preheated until it is dangerous to touch will get you 85 percent of the way there. The cast iron mimics the thermal mass and the lid traps the moisture the dough releases in the first 20 minutes. That is what gives you the blistered crust.
• •Do not overshape this dough. The Noroeste bread is rustic, not refined. A loose, slightly imperfect round with visible folds on the bottom is the right look. The Molokan loaves at the bakery in Guadalupe have wrinkled crusts and uneven ears. That is the bread.

Advance Preparation

• •The masa madre must be fed and active 8 hours before you mix the dough. If your starter has been in the refrigerator, plan two days ahead: feed it twice, 12 hours apart, before you build the levain.
• •The shaped loaves cold-retard in the refrigerator for 12 to 16 hours. You can stretch this to 24 hours for deeper flavor, but past that the dough loses strength.
• •Baked loaves keep well for three days at room temperature wrapped in a cotton cloth (never plastic, which softens the crust). They freeze well for up to a month, sliced and bagged.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 550g)