Telera Cordobesa

Telera Cordobesa belongs to Córdoba, Andalucía: a broad candeal loaf with a pale, close-grained crumb, a crisp golden shell, and two deep diagonal cuts that open into the shape of a torero's montera. It is sturdy everyday bread, made for dipping into olive oil, carrying a sandwich, and becoming salmorejo cordobés once it has gone firm. A telera full of large holes may be handsome, but it is the wrong bread. This one should be dense, white, and even inside.

The method that decides it is the refinado, the repeated rolling and folding of a very stiff dough. That work presses out large pockets of air and aligns the gluten, giving candeal bread its fine crumb and clean bite. Don't soften the dough because it feels stubborn. Pésalo, no lo adivines, weigh it, don't guess. The rolling pin does the work that extra water would undo.

White candeal wheat flour gives the proper colour and firm, slightly sweet crumb. If you can't find it, use white bread flour with 11 to 12 percent protein. The loaf will be a little springier and less chalk-white, but the low hydration and careful refining still bring it close. My margin beside this bread says only, "no dejarla inflarse demasiado," don't let it swell too far. Proof it until plainly puffed, not doubled, cut it boldly, and it comes out. Siempre sale, si lo sigues.