Filone is a type of Italian yeast bread made with semolina flour, giving it a chewy crust and a dense, moist interior crumb. It’s often sprinkled with sesame seeds and traditionally made with a wild yeast preference called biga. The loaf should have a darker-than-usual crust that is crunchy but chewy, with a moist and dense interior.
Filone, pronounced “fill-oh-nee,” is a type of Italian yeast bread. The word filone means “line” in Italian, and filone is a long, relatively thin loaf of bread. The vein originated in Tuscany and Calabria, but is now found throughout the country. It’s made with semolina flour, which gives it a chewy crust and a dense, moist interior crumb. Sesame seeds are often sprinkled on the crust.
Semolina flour, the flour used for this bread, is finely ground durum wheat. European grits are different from what is marketed as grits in North America, which are more similar to cornmeal in texture. Suitable substitutes for semolina from Italy are fancy or extra fancy durum wheat flour.
The traditional Tuscan bread from which the loaf developed was without salt. Current recipes usually call for salt, but less than normal for many breads. Another distinguishing feature of the traditional loaf is the use of a wild yeast preference, or culture, called a biga, as part of the leavening agent.
Biga is similar to sourdough starter, but is slightly sweeter and is often described as having nutty or fruity undertones. Like a sourdough starter, biga is stored for periodic use and needs to be split and tossed with new flour to stay active. Many recipes call for both biga and yeast. The flavor and texture of the bread are the result of the use of the biga and a long period of fermentation or leavening. Cooks without access to a biga starter can achieve nearly the same effect by using a poolish, a very moist mix of some of the flour, yeast, and water from the recipe’s total, which is allowed to rise overnight.
The loaf is shaped into long narrow loaves before the last rise and rolled in sesame seeds if they are used. The oven is hotter than that used for many types of bread, usually 400 to 450 degrees F (204 to 232 degrees C.) Not all recipes call for the oven to steam during the baking period, but the best recreate the conditions in traditional wood-fired brick or stone ovens and ensure the crust develops properly.
An authentic loaf loaf should have a darker-than-usual crust that is crunchy but chewy. The inside should be moist and dense with a silky texture. The loaves develop a network of irregular and differently sized holes inside. The loaf is ideal for open-faced sandwiches, dipping in olive oil, or serving with sauces.
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