Friselle

Method

For the biga (starter dough)

Sprinkle yeast over water. Leave till dissolved. Stir in flour. Mix well with a spoon. Cover and leave 2 hours (or longer).

First rise

To the biga dough, add: 2 cups wholemeal flour, 1 cup durum flour, 1 cup warm water. Stir well. Cover, leave 3 hours or longer till well-risen.

Second rise

To the first-rise dough, add: 1 cup durum flour, 1 cup unbleached flour, 2 tsp salt, 1 cup warm water. Stir well, knead and leave, covered, to double. At least 2 hours.

To shape

Divide dough into 4 pieces. Roll each piece into a long sausage shape. Divide each sausage into 4. Roll each piece into a thinner sausage and shape into a ring, pressing the edges together. Cover with a dry cloth and leave to prove for half an hour. Preheat oven to 230C. Place some ice cubes in a bowl of water. Dip each risen ring into the iced water and transfer quickly to a baking tray. Bake for 15 minutes, then lower heat to 180C for a further 30 minutes. When cool, split open, reduce oven to 120C and dry the breads for 30 minutes (or an hour if you want especially long-keeping rusks).

For the soaking bath

Dip each bread piece into the bath for 1-2 minutes until crumb is very soft but the roll itself still has shape and the base is still crusty. Fill with your favourite savoury mixture. Special note: I only dried out 3-4 of the bread rolls and froze the rest after the initial baking to be thawed and used as fresh bread later. This is an especially delicious bread recipe and the rolls have a great crust.

Makes 16