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Ingredients
- 2 1/3 cups pancetta, diced and fried crispy
- 3 cups bread flour
- ½ teaspoon table salt
- ¼ teaspoon instant or other active dry yeast
- ¼ teaspoon or to taste hot red pepper flakes (optional)
- 1 ½ cups cool (55-65 degree) water
- Wheat bran, cornmeal, or additional flour for dusting
Details
Servings 20
Preparation
Step 1
1. Cook the pancetta or bacon in a heavy skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until crisp and golden, about 10 minutes. Reserve 1 tablespoon of the fat. Drain the pancetta on paper towels and let cool.
2. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, pancetta, salt, yeast, and red pepper flakes, if you’re using them. Add the water and reserved rendered fat and, using a wooden spoon or your hand, mix until you have a wet, sticky dough, about 30 seconds. Cover the bowl and let sit at room temperature until the surface is dotted with bubbles and the dough is more than doubled in size, 12 to 18 hours.
3. When the first rise is complete, generously dust a work surface with flour. Use a bowl scraper or rubber spatula to scrape the dough out of the bowl in one piece. Using lightly floured hands or a bowl scraper or spatula, life the edges of the dough in toward the center. Nudge and tuck in the edges of the dough to make it round.
4. Place a tea towel on your work surface and generously dust it with wheat bran, cornmeal, or flour. Gently place the dough on the towel, seam side down. If the dough is tacky, dust the top lightly with wheat bran, cornmeal, or flour. Fold the ends of the tea towel loosely over the dough to cover it and place it in a warm, draft free spot to rise for 1 to 2 hours.
FOR LOAF:
Half an hour before the end of the second rise, preheat the oven to 475 degrees, with a rack in the lower third, and place a covered heavy pot in the center of the rack. Using pot holders, carefully remove the preheated pot from the oven and uncover it. Unfold the tea towel and quickly but gently invert the dough into the pot, seam side up. Cover the pot and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and continue baking until the bread is a deep chestnut color but not burnt, 15 to 30 minutes more. Use a heatproof spatula or pot holders to carefully life the bread out of the pot and place it on a rack to cool thoroughly.
FOR ROLLS:
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Oil a baking pan. Transfer the dough onto a generously floured work surface. Cut the dough mound into four strips and break each strip into five equal pieces. Each piece should weigh about 80 grams. Round each piece into a roll shaped ball. Place the balls on the pan in even rows. Bake for about 40 minutes, until the rolls are dark brown. Place them on a rack and allow them to cool completely.
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