What is an Italian baguette? An Italian baguette, known as stirato, is a rustic, high-hydration bread with a crackly crust and open, airy crumb. Unlike a French baguette, it requires no shaping or scoring. You stretch it by hand and bake it directly on a hot surface. The result is a lighter, more irregular loaf with incredible chew.
Stirato is one of my favorite breads to bake. It's Italian, it's rustic, and it requires zero shaping skills. You just stretch it. That's the whole move.
Think of it as a baguette that went to Italy and stopped caring about being perfect. Open crumb, crackly crust, chewy interior. Baked directly on a Baking Steel, it comes out better than anything you'd find at most bakeries.
I made this in class on Wednesday. The kitchen smelled unreal. Here's everything you need to make it at home.
What Is Stirato? Italy's Answer to the Baguette
Stirato means "stretched" in Italian. It's the Italian version of a baguette — same crackly crust, same chewy interior, but without the shaping or scoring. High hydration dough, around 70% water, gives it that open, airy crumb baguette lovers are after. You just pull it long and let the oven do the rest.
The Baking Steel is the key. The heat it transfers to the bottom of the loaf gives you that crackly, golden crust you can't get from a sheet tray.
Ingredients
- 500g (3¾ cups) bread flour
- 350g (1⅔ cups) water, 80°F
- 2g (½ tsp) active dry yeast
- 10g (1 tsp) sea salt
Instructions
Day 1 — Make the dough
Whisk flour and yeast together in a large bowl. Add the salt and whisk again. Slowly pour over the water and mix. Remove from bowl and knead for 2-3 minutes. Cover and rest for 24 hours at room temperature, or about 68-72°F.
Don't want to make the dough from scratch? Grab our 72-Hour Pizza Dough Mix — it works beautifully for stirato too.
24 hours later you are ready to shape. Alternatively, you can place the dough in the fridge for 2-3 more days for cold fermenting. This dough is good at 24 hours, better at 72.
Day 2 — Bake
Pull the dough out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature for a couple of hours. You'll see bubbles under the surface. The fridge step is only if you're cold fermenting.
Preheat your Baking Steel at 450°F for 45 minutes on the middle rack. Set an empty sheet pan on the bottom rack — you'll use it for steam.
Flour your work surface with a mix of flour and semolina. Turn the dough out and gently press into a rough rectangle, about 10x16 inches. Don't overthink the shape. Cut into 3 long strips with a bench scraper and let them rest 20 minutes.
To launch, slide the loaves onto the back of a sheet tray lined with parchment. Carefully transfer to the preheated steel — this dough is soft, move with intention. Start with two loaves if you need to.
Immediately pour ½ cup of water into the hot sheet pan on the bottom rack to create steam. Close the oven fast. Bake 20 minutes until deep golden brown. You can also toss in ice cubes to create steam.
Pull them out. Let them cool for at least 15 minutes if you can wait that long.
A Few Notes & Our Class Video
The higher the hydration, the more open the crumb. Don't add extra flour to make the dough easier to handle — that's the temptation, and it's the wrong move. Wet dough = better bread.
The Baking Steel is non-negotiable here. A sheet tray won't give you that bottom crust. The thermal mass of the steel is what makes stirato taste like it came out of a wood-fired oven.
This is also a great recipe if you want to understand how high-hydration doughs work before diving into sourdough.
About the Author
Andris Lagsdin is the founder of Baking Steel and the author of Baking with Steel. He invented the Baking Steel in 2012 after reading about thermal diffusivity in Modernist Cuisine. He's been teaching people to bake better bread and pizza ever since — out of his home kitchen in Ada, Michigan.
