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They look great Melissa. I wonder if the difference in hydration you read is a difference in the protein that European flours have compared to North American with the European having less protein and thus taking less water than N. American.
Thank you, Benny. I think you are right. This morning I listened again to the Spanish video that I linked to at the end of the blog post. The guy says his flour has 12% protein. He’s the source of the cool analogy of the dough being like an “accordion” when you transfer it to the parchment paper 
Hello! I am so excited to give this bread a try as I have been working on my starter. It’s been in the fridge and I’ve fed it once a week but haven’t had time to make my first loaf with it yet. I do have a couple of questions about this recipe:
I am disabled, so cannot knead by hand. I can handle dough a bit (like for folding, shaping, etc.), but I find using my stand mixer is a lifesaver. Although it’s mentioned you can use a stand mixer here, I would appreciate directions on how to use it during each step so I’m not messing up.
I don’t have a baking stone, but rather a large Le Creuset. If I were to shape it in more of a round, could I use that I wonder? I do have a cast iron skillet I can use for the steam.
If this is too many changes, you think, I can certainly find another recipe but airy, crunchy, sourdough-y bread is just what I’m after!
Thank you thank you!
Kristy
Here is a video of the process for the 108% hydration test bake – using a stand mixer instead of the Rubaud mixing.
I mixed the flour and water in a stand mixer, unhooked the dough hook and left it covered to autolyse, added the additional ingredients and again used the stand mixer to work everything in, then transferred the dough to another container for the folding. I think if you wanted you could even do brief stand mixings instead of folding (like 10 seconds on low speed).
(The bassinage was only part of the process when the hydration was over 100%.)
I think you could use a dutch oven for this especially if you halve the recipe or go in two rounds. That said it would be a lot of maneuvering of a 500F heavy container. The steam tends to be superior in these enclosed vessels, so that is a plus.
Do you have an aluminum or steel baking sheet that is not non-stick?
In this video (in Spanish) the baker preheats a shallow and wide roasting pan. It’s lacking the thermal mass of a baking stone or baking steel, but he gets it very hot and it has a wide flat surface.
Similarly for some of my recipes (the stromboli I think) I tested using an upside down aluminum baking sheet as a “stone” and the results were pretty good if you really get the preheat going.
I’d love to hear how it goes. Congrats on getting your starter going!
I cannot wait to try this recipe…
Why the high salt %age?
thanks in advance
hester
There is the Italian version - Coccodrillo - which I have made with a 110-113% hydration. I made a batch once to take to a dinner party at a friend’s house when the high temperature “blew” the electronics cooling fan in my oven. I haven’t made it since but perhaps this summer I will try it using the BBQ:-)
By the way,this bread was first described by Carol Field in “The Italian Baker” (1985) but her yeast- based recipe incorporates some durum flour. I found that it settled out during the preparation of the starter. Therefore, I just use strong bread flour.
I used 12% bread flour and tried the 90% hydration and the Rubaud slap-turn method, but found the dough was too sticky to really do the coil folds as shown. Nonetheless using the Rubaud slap fold and turn method every 30 min and some attempts at the cols, it came out great, or looks like it will. Haven’t yet cut into it but doing great with the oven spring. should I go lower on the hydration? I did a two hour autolyse. Have been baking with same sourdough since 1978 and usually do French Pain au levain with 80% hydration and 3:2 bread flour to Ojo Rio whole wheat and a tiny bit of rye.
@hester I’m not sure why, but a good number of recipes I analyzed had a lot of salt. I brought the amount down, but kept it higher than normal. My hunch is that it’s partly a flavor preference and partly how salt tightens gluten a little, giving a feel of a dryer dough.
@Palynologist Thanks for the info about coccodrillo bread. Bread baking definitely brings to mind the phrase, “…and there is no new thing under the sun.”
Your coccodrillo bread looks amazing. I’m sorry it messed up your oven. I’ve been warned by an appliance repair person to never use the self cleaning feature on my oven for that reason – the heat is too much for the electronics.
@wilentz Awesome! It sounds like you adapted your gluten development approach to accommodate the different flour. How did the bread come out? Was it manageable enough to shape (cut and transfer)?
Thanks Melissa! This all makes sense and I think I can do the folding at intervals.
I do have an aluminum baking sheet (Nordic Ware, which can withstand 500 degrees). It looks like I can cook the bread on that as well per the Spanish video!
I do have a cast iron skillet as well—sounds like maybe I can put some water in it and place it on the rack above the bread for steam?
Thanks!
I made this today, what a wonderful bread! I will be making it again and again. It is perfect for stuffing too! So light and airy. 
Here is the Pan De Cristal that I made. I used fresh yeast and oil for pan was camelina oil. I would have had higher is I used I square brownie pan for bulk Fermentation instead rectangle brownie pan.
While the loose dough came together easily, simply plopping the proofed blob onto the baking sheet and cutting in half resulted in two thick pieces of flatbread after baking rather than anything resembling loaves…A different recipe for this same bread includes a “book” fold in thirds before proofing and baking-maybe that would have helped salvage this for me?
There are a few options to reduce spread of the dough before baking.
As you noted, you can shape it by folding in thirds or even just over itself in half.
You can try using a little less water in the dough – do this especially if you’re using a weaker flour.
Do (even) more gluten development on the dough, though there are limits to how much strength you can get from any dough.
Try fermenting the dough a little less extensively as this can sometimes drive floppiness.
