Recipie below Is taken from artisanbreadbaking.com, which disappeared on May 27, 2013, seems back now
As Percentages
My reading indicates that polish works as well as biga and easier to work with.
So...
I do everything in a kitchen aid stand mixer, the dough is always in the bowl and I kneed with the dough hook.
Sprinkle 1/8 tsp yeast on 100 grams of water. After a couple of minutes add 100 grams of white flour, stir to mix. Cover the bowl and let sit overnight. This is the preferment.
Add 250 grams of water and a scant 1/2 tsp of yeast to the bowl. Mix with the dough hook for a few seconds. Add 187 grams of white flour to the bowl and mix for a few minutes. Add 213 grams of semolina flour and 1/2 tablespoon of salt to the bowl and knees for whatever, probably 8 to 12 minutes. You may need to use a scraper to get dry flour up from the bottom of the bowl. Cover the bowl and let stand for an hour.
Turn the dough onto a lightly floured counter and fold it (4 or 5 folds) return to the bowl. Cover and let stand for an hour. I would typically repeat this step, but not really necessary.
Fold the dough into a ball. Coat liberally with white flour. Place it on a square of parchment paper. Cover with a kitchen towel and let stand (proof) for an hour. Turn the oven on to preheat to 425 (or maybe 450). Make sure you have a baking stone in the top shelf and a pan (cast iron or cookie sheet) in the lower shelf.
Get a kettle with a cup of water boiling. Slash the top of the bread with an X. People use a lame for this, but I find a seated bread knife actually works better for me.
Transfer the bread (and the parchment paper to the baking stone. Toss 2/3 cup of the boiling water into the pan below to create steam. Be careful not to burn yourself with this step.
Bake for about 45 minutes.
Altamura bread is an artisan bread from the very south of Italy, near the heel of the boot. It is famous in Italy as one of the finest and oldest types of bread in the country and is a protected name within the European Union. I developed this recipe from one in the Il Fornaio Baking Book, by Franco Galli. Just looking at the list of ingredients and the proportions will give most bakers a serious case of the “It’ll-Never-Works.” However, the semolina and the biga work with the flour to yield a dough that, while sticky, isn’t tenaciously so. In other words, it works.
Dough
These amounts are close to, but different from, the ones listed in the book. He had originally specified that you should make about a pound of biga, but since we need only a bit for our recipe, I cut it down considerably.
1. Mix all ingredients together, knead the dough by hand for 20 minutes, on a lightly floured surface. Let the dough rest for 1 or 2 minutes several times during kneading. You can use a large stand mixer to mix the dough. In this case, mix for 6 minutes.
2. Rub a large bowl with olive oil and place the dough in the bowl. Cover and let the dough rise for 1 hour. Fold the dough. Let rise for 45 minutes.
3. Shape the dough into a ball, but do not overwork the dough. See Shaping a Boule
4. Spread a thick layer of flour on the counter, place the ball of dough in it, rough side down, and let it rise, covered for 50-60 minutes.
5. Slash the dough in 5 places, 1/2 inch / 12 mm deep and 2 1/2 inches / 65 cm long.
6. Bake at 425 F / 220 C with steam for 40-50 minutes.