Stirato | Italian Baguettes

This stirato, or Italian baguettes, is a super flavorful and airy bread that is so easy to make. 

Stirato is a form of ciabatta that is cut into lengths and then stretched just before baking. The term stirato actually means "ironed" in English. 

This is a no knead bread, with the first rise lasting up to 18 hours to develop flavor. The flavor definitely lives up to the hype, and the thin crispy crust just sings when you first pull it out of the oven.

It's incredibly easy to make, and the recipe is pretty foolproof. You can slice it crosswise for bruschetta or crostini, lengthwise for sandwiches, or use it for dipping in olive oil and balsamic.... or pizza sauce. It makes great garlic cheese bread too.

The bread is so-named by Jim Lahey, who perfected the no knead method of baking bread at his Sullivan Street Bakery in New York City. His innovation was later immortalized by Mark Bittman in the New York Times. 

I've also made this stirato with durum flour with great results. 

How to Make Stirato Bread:

First, mix flour, water, salt, and yeast in a bowl, cover it, and let it rise for about 12 hours. 

Next, turn the dough out onto a floured surface and shape it gently into a rectangle. Fold and roll the dough over itself into a log, and then cut the log into two pieces and let them rise. 

After that, once the dough rises, gently stretch the dough pieces out and place them on a piece of parchment for baking. 

Finally, place the parchment on a preheated baking stone and bake for about 20 to 30 minutes. 

I baked this bread on a baking stone and covered each loaf with the lid and the inverted bottom of this SuperStone /Covered Baker. While this is not how the baker was intended to be used, this hack worked great!

If you don't have the baker, I recommend either making sure there is plenty of steam in your oven, or covering the loaves with disposable aluminum pans or the lid of a roaster. The cover just needs to be around the same size as your baking stone.

If you don't have a baking stone, you can use a baking sheet covered with disposable aluminum pans. 

This stirato makes excellent crostini and bruschetta. You can stretch the bread out longer for smaller slices, or less so for fatter slices. 

You can easily freeze these loaves and recrisp them in the oven. 

They are perfect for submarine-style sandwiches, French bread-style pizzas, and for dipping in soups and stews. 

While I've been successful making and shaping all kinds of breads, I've struggled with French baguettes, particularly Julia Child's recipe in Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume II. The recipe is about 20 pages and I ended up with pancakes! 

The closest I came to success were the baguettes from Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan. Julia's guest baker was Danielle Forestier. At least they were round and not flat!! 

With this stirato, even though you don't necessarily have the perfectly slashed French loaves, you end up with pretty foolproof, airy, and totally flavorful bread. Plus, they made amazing little bruschetta toasts. 

The recipe for this bread has been adapted from My Bread: The Revolutionary No-Work, No-Knead Method by Jim Lahey.

For similar Italian style baguettes using a different method, check out these Pain à l’Ancienne Baguettes. 

Originally posted July, 2014 and updated, July, 2022. 

Stirato (Italian Baguettes) Recipe

Yield: 2 loaves

Author: Karen Kerr

Stirato is a form of ciabatta that is cut into lengths and then stretched just before baking. This is a no knead version, with the first rise lasting up to 18 hours to develop flavor. The flavor definitely lives up to the hype, and the thin crispy crust just sings when you first pull it out of the oven.

ingredients:

• 400 grams (3 cups) bread flour
• 1 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp instant yeast
• 300 g (1 1/2 C) cool water

instructions:

How to cook Stirato (Italian Baguettes) Recipe

1. In a medium bowl, mix all of the ingredients with a dough whisk, a large spoon, or your wet hand, until everything is moistened, about 30 seconds to a minute.
2. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit for 12 to 18 hours until totally bubbly and doubled in size.
3. Dust your counter with flour and scrape the dough out of the bowl in one piece.
4. Gently nudge the dough into the shape of a rectangle and then fold it over itself from each long side as if you were creating an envelope. With your hands, gently roll the dough out into a tube and then cut the dough in half, width-wise.
5. Place the dough pieces, seam side down, on a floured sheet pan sized piece of parchment and cover with oiled plastic wrap.
6. Place a baking stone on the center rack of your oven and place whatever cover you will be using on top of it (or set up your oven for steam). Preheat the oven to 475 degrees F.
7. When the dough has about doubled (30-45 minutes), pick up each piece and stretch it out to about 13 inches in length.
8. Remove the hot cover from the stone, and, using a peel or the back of a baking sheet, place the parchment with the dough onto the stone and place the hot cover/s over the loaves.
9. Bake for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake for another 10 to 20 minutes, until a golden brown.
10. Cool on a wire rack.

https://www.karenskitchenstories.com/2014/07/stirato-italian-baguettes.html

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