From Langerstrom. His recipe makes 2 loaves and looks much bigger in his kitchen than the total weight of the flour here would suggest (only about 1 pound).
| 175 g | warm water |
| ¼ tsp | yeast |
| 225 g | all purpose flour |
Mix thoroughly in one of those big, plastic take-home jars with covers. Cover tightly (we're not making sourdough here). Ferment 6-24 hours.
| 180 g | warm water |
| 250 g | bread flour |
Perform autolysis by mixing at low speed. Allow ragged dough to sit in mixer for 30 minutes draped with a tea towel.
| 40 g | warm water |
| 5 g | yeast |
| 10 g | salt |
| — | the biga |
Mix on low for 3 minutes. As it comes together speed way up and mix for 5 minutes. Gluten is developed enough if, when dough hook raised, the dough doesn't shear off the hook. Rest covered in the bowl (off mixer) for 30 minutes.
Perform stretches and folds 4 or 5 times, 30 minutes apart.
Alternatively, instead of those subsequent stretches and folds, you could try wetting the surface well and performing lamination, then rolling into a ball. Finally, rest 60 minutes. (This is more of a note for the future.)
Flour surface and also dough to release from bowl sides. Be careful not to deflate dough here! Over turn carefully onto surface.
Flour liberally the (bottom, now top side of the) dough. Coerce into a square (do not deflate).
Flour a great sheet of parchment. Detach the dough carefully using a scraper from the surface, then cut in half. Carefully levitate the two halves onto the parchment paper without deforming them. Cut the parchent paper between the two halves. Cover with light tea towel and rest 30 minutes while preheating oven to 500°.
Prepare a baking stone on one rack and a steaming solution* underneath. Ready an enormous dome like an aluminum turkey roasting pan (or rectangular equivalent).
To bake, use a peel to install the tw loaves on your baking stone. Engage the steam, then tent the loaves with the dome.
Drop temperature to 480°. Bake for 12 minutes. It's possible to remove the dome and steaming solution. Bake 13-15 more minutes or until dark crust.
His loaves came out self-scored.
Cut horizontally. The crumb should be quite open. Makes better sandwiches than a baguette. Good also for topping slices with olive oil and flakey salt, etc.
Notes
* For example, I use a chaffer I heat during oven pre-heat. Just before I put what I'm baking into the oven, I put a rolled terry or other tough towel in the chaffer, then pour hot (microwaved) boiling water on the towel and put this "steaming apparatus" on a shelf underneath what I'm baking.