The Martin Cooking

Crescent Moon Bread: Pataquetas

Patequetas are the traditional bread of Valencia dating back to the 17th century. The bread is shaped into chubby crescent moons and is comparable to ciabatta. It's baked in a steamy oven that makes the outsides crusty, a little chewy and the insides soft and airy.

Ingredients
For the ferment:

• 100 ml water
• 50 g /1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 12.5 g fresh yeast/5g or 1 ½ teaspoons Instant yeast/6.25g or 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar

For the bread dough:

• 450 g/3 cups bread flour (you can substitute with all-purpose flour), plus extra for dusting the work surface and bread
• 200 ml tepid water
• 10 g/1 ¾ teaspoon fine sea salt

Instructions

1.     Make the Ferment:
2.     In a large mixing bowl stir the yeast into the water in your mixing bowl, then add the flour and sugar and mix well. Cover with plastic film. Refrigerate overnight or up to 48 hours.
3.     Make the Bread Dough:
4.     Take the ferment out of the refrigerator and let sit on the counter 1/2 t0 1 hour.
5.     Mix in the bread flour and water, turn the dough out onto a work surface and knead the dough 10 minutes. Knead in the salt and continue kneading until smooth and elastic. Alternately you can use your stand mixer fitted with the dough hook or your bread machine.
6.     Divide the dough into 150 gram pieces for a medium size roll or 100 grams for a smaller roll and form them into balls. Let the rest with a clean kitchen towel over them for about 20 minutes.
7.     Flatten them with the palm of your hand and using a sharp knife make a cut into the center and gently pull the pieces apart to form a fat, roundish crescent moon. Make another shallow cut to the side lengthwise.
8.     Dust a kitchen cloth with flour and cover them. Let them rest until they double in size about 1 hour.
9.     Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
10.     Carefully place a pan on the bottom rack and fill with boiling water. Bake the 100 gram size for about 22 minutes and the larger 150 gram size for 30 minutes. Cool on wire racks.