Sadly, here in Brazil, Italian bread as I know and love it doesn't exist. The bread here is crusty on the outside and empty on the inside. It's yummy, but not the same to me! So, about a year ago I put bread on my list of things that I wanted to learn to make myself....right next to a NY style pizza, tortillas, bagels, and English muffins. Are you noticing a carb trend? There are other items too though, including homemade cookie dough ice cream, which I haven't gotten to yet! So about a year ago set out to learn to make the best Italian loaf out there, and it's been a lot of fun and really a lot easier than I thought! I never thought I'd get into this, but desperate cravings call for desperate cooking! Many-a-loaf later I got it down! This first one is the classic Italian loaf, with a hint of a taste of olive oil.
And I've played around with my faithful recipe and made great variations! Rye, whole wheat, 3 seeds, cinnamon raisin,
I was even asked to make a bunch of loaves and spreads for our friends' wedding! It was a lot of work, but a lot of fun!
If you've never given baking a loaf of bread a try, you really should! It's easy, fun, yummy, and impressive....it also makes a great item to bring when you're invited for a meal. Here's my favorite recipe and a few tips:Rustic Italian Bread (I found this on Food.com and it has never failed me!)
1 Put in your bread machine: 3 cps flour, 2 tb oil, 3/4 tea salt, 2 tea sugar, 2 tea yeast and 1 cp warm water (for mine, I put the wet ingredients in first)
2 Set on dough setting.
3 Always follow your machines instructions, when mixing open it and keep check on the dough. Dough should be in a nice round soft sticky to the touch ball. If it is not add more water, or add flour which ever is needed.
4 Remove when signal beeps and cycle is done.
5 Preheat oven to 375
6 Grease and sprinkle cornflour or cornmeal onto a baking sheet.
7 Punch dough down and form into a long or oval loaf.
8 Cover and let rise for 25 more minutes.
9 It should be doubled again by this time.
10 Uncover and slash the top with a sharp knife or razor.
11 Brush all over with the beaten egg white.
12 Bake 25 minutes to 35 minutes, until hollow sounding when tapped on bottom.
13 Cool.
1 Put in your bread machine: 3 cps flour, 2 tb oil, 3/4 tea salt, 2 tea sugar, 2 tea yeast and 1 cp warm water (for mine, I put the wet ingredients in first)
2 Set on dough setting.
3 Always follow your machines instructions, when mixing open it and keep check on the dough. Dough should be in a nice round soft sticky to the touch ball. If it is not add more water, or add flour which ever is needed.
4 Remove when signal beeps and cycle is done.
5 Preheat oven to 375
6 Grease and sprinkle cornflour or cornmeal onto a baking sheet.
7 Punch dough down and form into a long or oval loaf.
8 Cover and let rise for 25 more minutes.
9 It should be doubled again by this time.
10 Uncover and slash the top with a sharp knife or razor.
11 Brush all over with the beaten egg white.
12 Bake 25 minutes to 35 minutes, until hollow sounding when tapped on bottom.
13 Cool.
Tips:
Use a pizza pan with holes in it
Put lots of egg white - don't skimp!!
Put on LOTS of seeds - way more than I put on that first sesame loaf. LOAD it up to make it look more professional like the picture where I'm holding the loaf on a pan. Rosemary, thyme, basil, and parm. cheese all together make a great topping too!
Make sure the oven's the right temp before putting in the bread
Don't under bake the bread, wait for it to be golden and very hollow sounding.
If the bread is cooking too fast underneath, put an empty cookie sheet on the rack below the bread so the heat hits the bottom a little more indirectly - or maybe that's just for my strange Brazilian oven.
To change the recipe up, switch the olive oil for vegetable oil and put on different kinds of seeds.
Have fun!
1 comment:
mmmmmmm looks great! Maybe you can demonstrate for me when you come to visit in a few weeks!!
Post a Comment