I recently saw a loaf of bread that stopped me in my tracks. It was a loaf that seemed to have all the qualities of a great loaf: taste, texture, nutrition. And above all, beauty. Beauty, after all, is half the reason I bake. (Haven't you ever done something just because it is amazing?)
That bread turned out to be Crystal bread, a traditional bread from the Catalan region of Spain that is sometimes referred to as “glass bread”. The exterior of this loaf is plain—dark and crusty—and not exactly a show-stopper. But wait. Hidden inside, hidden like crystals under a crust so crisp it looks fried, is a wonderfully beautiful crumb. The gluten fibers are laid out in glassy, translucent meshes. Is it bread, I thought, or is it treasure?
Claudio Perrando
They are both. And that's what attracted me. I began to ask questions: What magic makes Pan de Cristal possible? Will the recipe require days of attention, special flour or mystical hands to transform four simple ingredients?
Luckily I found the answers.
Unlocking the Pan de Cristal mystery
When I explore something new, I always start with architecture. In terms of baking, what I mean is that I look within the bread for the structural components and the ratios of the components. I also consider the method – mixing, fermenting and roasting – and come up with a list of questions. You've seen me do this before by chocolate bread hacks to twist traditional favourites.
- What is the best type of flour?
- What is the ideal hydration in baker's percentages?
- How is yeast made?
- How is it fermented?
This is where I land.
The hydration will have to be extremely high, around 100%. baker's percentages (ie, equal weights of flour and water). Compare this to baguettes (in the 65% to 75% range) or ciabatta (about 80%), and you might be worried. I don't blame you. As designed, the dough will look more like dough than bread.
For drying, I choose commercial yeast. Sourdough culture acidity is not the flavor profile I want. Let's keep it simple: malted wheat, a well-baked crust, a little olive oil. Plus, I have time goals: I'd like to make this bread in a single afternoon. No preference and a little commercial yeast will speed up the process.
Then there is fermentation. The dough will need time and folding to develop the strength needed for the final proof. I'm not sure how much of each, but I know we're chasing miracles here. This brings me to the crux of the challenge: how will it be possible to push this wet dough to the edge of its rise without collapsing?
Here's how: Bread flour.
Kristen dough
Sometimes baking requires a superhero. Bread flour, strong enough to hold tons of water and withstand a long final proof without collapsing, is the caped hero we need. For all intents and purposes it might work, but I'd have to tone down the hydration, sacrificing a key requirement for Pan de Cristal's signature open texture.
Bread flour is also integral to creating a soft, silky and workable dough despite the high hydration.
Putting my recipe to the test
Early efforts involved yeast preferences and a lot of mechanical mixing. While the bread I made was delicious, the crumb wasn't much better than my ciabatta. Back to the drawing board.
First, I had to fix the most defining characteristic of this loaf: the holes. Since a long process with extensive mixing didn't produce what I wanted, I went in the opposite direction: less mixing and a shorter process. My guess was that the excess force as a result of development (mixing, folding, or time being contributing factors) or fermentation, made my crumb texture too homogenous, not open.
After some tinkering with adjustments to mixing, number of folds, length of fermentation, and final rise, I found myself getting close. The holes began to open, creating a collage of glassy, translucent bubbles, all connected within a network of random threads. The crust got thinner and crisper as I pushed the final rise further and further. As my cutting board gripped the piles of loaves, I began cutting them open like a parlor trick, shocking my family with the incredible results.
But instead of taking a bow afterwards, “Wow, Dad, that's amazing,” let's give credit where it's due. Please stand, a round of applause for the bread flour – strong, springy, ready for all the water and fermentation we can throw at it – the real star of this show.
So if you want to see this transformation in action, give it a shot recipe a rotation. Mix the dough just before noon, fold it in a few times between errands, zoom meetings, making dinner, and life, and you'll have a hero on the table by dinnertime. Follow the applause!
Kristen dough
Notes on your successful Pan de Cristal baking
In testing, tasting and sharing Pan de Cristal's many loaves, here are a few things I found helpful.
- Dough temperature. Aim for one dough temperature around 74°F to 76°F and make sure your dough doesn't get too hot or cold during fermentation or final rise. Extremes will affect the structure producing an over or under active dough.
- Postpone the final test. Watch your dough, not the clock. If, after two hours of the final proof, you do not see any large bubbles forming on the surface of the loaves, add another 30 to 60 minutes. As with all sourdough breads, the final proof will vary with season and ambient conditions.
- Gentle treatment. Divide, transfer and load loaves like they might explode. Be gentle and disturb as little as possible to leave their fluffy texture intact. To avoid any deflation, I borrow a trick from Claudio Perrando and leave them parchment for their final rise. Then, for baking, I slide the entire sheet of parchment onto my baking stone using a cookie sheet like a shell. (The cookie sheet has become a favorite tool in my kitchen.)
- Add water. If, after a few tests, your texture isn't as open as you'd like, try adding a small amount of extra water, 25g to 50g during mixing, to make a smoother, more fully hydrated dough. .
- Throw a sheep. In testing I found loaves that were over-firmed during folding were less open when baked. Finding the sweet spot between strength and weakness can take time: mix, fold, bake and repeat. You will get there.
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Just keep folding. On the other hand, if your batter doesn't exactly match my video above, or if you think it's better suited for pancakes than pancakes, move on. Unless there is an error with your flour or water measurements, and as long as you use great flour, the dough will definitely come together.
If you do this Crystal bread, please let us know — tag your photos #bakeoftheweek and maybe even give @kingarthurbaking a shout out. Happy baking!
