Is 100% Hydration Pan de Cristal Bread - Worth the Hype? 🥖 💦

I like challenges! One of them is shifting my technical skills in baking. I always wanted to maximize the hydration level of my breads, so this time I chose water and flour 1:1, so 100% hydration. The matching recipe, the Catalonian Pan de Cristal, is incredibly tasty, bakes up well and stays fresh for an incredibly long time. --- #Recipe For the stiff starter we combine 120g flour 75g water 10g starter mix everything together and let it ferment on the counter top over night at room temperature. The next day we prepare our main dough. I'm using a mixer and I'm adding 1000g strong wheat flour (pizza, Manitoba flour, Panettone flour etc.) 700g cold water 205g stiff starter and slowly mix everything until it is combined and gluten starts forming (10 minutes) Than I slowly add 300g water in little portions every 1-2 minutes so they get absorbed by the dough. The mixer speed should go up to highest level during the additions of water. After 20 minutes I'm adding 24g salt 20g olives oil and mix it for another 2 minutes at maximum speed. Transfer the dough onto our countertop, do some coil folds and put it into a greased plastic container, put the lid on. Do coil folds every 30 minutes for the next 2 hours. Let it ferment until the dough has doubled or put it in the fridge to bake the next morning after 6 hours. Dump the dough on the floured counter top. Cut it with a dough scraper into the portions you like transfer it on to parchment paper and bake them on a baking steel (or stone) at 250°C / 482°F with or without fan turned on for 15-25 minutes until your preferred color. If the fan is turned on don't forget to rotate the bread rolls from time to time. Enjoy! --- 00:00 - Intro 00:52 - Stiff Starter 01:28 - Main Dough 03:40 - Slap & Fold 04:38 - 1st set of coil folds 05:06 - 2nd set of coil folds 05:31 - 3rd set of coil folds 05:52 - 4th set of coil folds 06:20 - Shaping 07:54 - Baking 09:18 - Cutting the bread 09:57 - Impressions 10:21 - Outro