Real Italian Crusty Bread

Many food lovers have been on the bread journey. Tried this recipe and that, tried different yeasts, sourdough starters, making their own 'mother'. How to get the perfect crumb, perfect elasticity, perfect crust. Organic flour, bread flour, fresh ground wheat or soaked and sprouted wheat. So many variables.


This is a great place to stop and breathe and enjoy yourself. Can't mess this up. At all. It's impossible. And you end up with the most beautiful, crackled crusted, elastic Italian bread with gaping holes in the crumb...just pure bread joy. You've gotta try this bread. It isn't the easiest bread but for sure it's the best I've had. Lets do it.

At about 8pm, In a mixing bowl put 3 cups bread flour, 1/4 teaspoon dry yeast, and 2 teaspoons salt. Mix that up. And yes, 1/4 teaspoon is all. In fact you could make 10 loaves from the yeast in one packet.

Add 1 5/8 cups warmish water. Actually doesn't have to be warm, but since its cold here I use warm to get it started using your fingers kind of toss the flour to wet it, and after turning the bowl around a couple of times it should be a kind of wet goop. If there are dry spots just sprinkle a tad more water. Now cover with plastic wrap and put in a cold oven and leave it for 12-14 hours.

After first rising - 14 hours

Next day, between 8 and noon, check the dough. It should have tiny bubbles all over the top. Heavily flour a countertop and scrape out the dough.

Sprinkle with flour so it doesn't stick to the world.  Then with a scraper fold the dough in thirds like a piece of paper, cover with that piece of plastic and let rest 15 min. 

Rest covered 15 min.

Heavily flour a cotton towel

Meanwhile take a tea towel, or a cotton napkin, and the tighter the weave the better (never terry cloth), and rub flour into it. Lots of flour. Cover at least the area the bread will sit on when you move it onto this towel in the  next step.
After the 15 minutes, remove plastic wrap, flour it so you can handle it, and fairly quickly pick it up, and tuck the edges under all around kind of making a ball of socks. Set it on the cloth, cover with plastic again and another towel as well, and let rise 2 hours.

Form a boule (turn inside out)

90 minutes into rising though, put the oven rack on the very bottom level, turn on to 450, and put your oven-safe pot and lid inside. Make sure the lid is oven safe too. It'll get to heat for those last 30 minutes and be ready to make that wonderful crust.

Now it's been two hours of rising. Using two oven mitts, remove the pot to a hot pad on the counter, and with a mitt remove the lid (I always forget that the lid is scorching too).

With a scraper, kind of scrape the dough gently up from the towel, because its attached itself notwithstanding the cup and a half of flour you rubbed in, but just around the sides. Then put your hand under the towel, pick up the dough and flop it over into the pot. Try to aim well. If it sticks to the sides just don't worry about it. With the mitts, put the lid back on and all in the oven.

 

Bake 30 minutes. Then remove the Lid and bake another 20-30 minutes or until nice and brown. When done, with the mitts on, remove lid and dump the bread out on a cooking rack. Rap on the bottom. it sounds hollow when done. It'll pop and crackle and just sing wonderful serenades of bread love to you. Resist the temptation to cut into it right away. It needs to sit for 15 min or so and then it's fair game.




Hope you try this. It's so empowering to be able to make something this wonderful. Enjoy!

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Here's a quick time line for your bread:
-8pm Day 1  Mix dough, cover w/plastic, place in cold oven
-8-10am Day 2 Dump dough on floured surface, rest 5 min, fold and make a ball, cover with plastic and let rest 15 min.
-Flour a smooth cotton towel heavily
-After the short rest, remove plastic, form a boule, place on towel, cover with plastic and another towel, rise 2 hours.
-After 1 1/2 hours, place oven rack on lowest rung, heat oven to 450 with pot and lid inside.
-After 30 more minutes, dump bread upside down into pot, cover, bake 30 min.
-Remove lid and bake 20-30 min more or until browned.
-Flip out on a cooling rack to cool.

Quick Beer Bread

I don't like beer under normal conditions. I've tried. The Sicilian likes beer. Maybe that comes from the old European problem of no clean water, so they drank beer...maybe not.

Beer though, when added to the ingredients listed below and slathered in fresh butter, is transformed into a beautiful fermented, yeasty, satisfying something wonderful. This is worth going and buying a six pack of some funny named lager. Bicycle. Fat Tire. Red Shoe. Ok the last one isn't a real beer, I don't think. Sounds good though.

Do this though, and today. You'll thank me.

Quick Beer Bread

3 cups flour
3 tbsp packed brown sugar
1 tbsp baking Powder
1 tsp salt
1 12 oz room temp beer
4 tbsp melted butter

Mix the dry ingredients. (Remember my grandma? Cooking isn't hard. Just follow the general rules. Mix the dry stuff first.)

Add beer and stir 20 times to combine. Not a lot. Just enough to moisten.

Rachael Ray Oven Lovin 9 X 5 Nonstick Loaf Pan (Google Affiliate Ad)

Put in a 9" buttered loaf pan.

Pour melted butter over the top.

Bake at 375 35-40 min.

Try not to burn yourself after it comes out. It really will still be good if you let it cool a bit.

If you can wait, and you can plan ahead, serve it with chili or stew. Or butter.
Enjoy!

Daily Bread

So many kinds of bread and so little time.

It's a journey we all are on. A journey to find the balance between our busy busy lives and the yearning for the old ways, the smell of fresh baked bread, knowing it was made with loving hands just for you with wholesome ingredients.

This might help. And a Kitchen Aid mixer helps too.

This recipe makes three, three nice brown loaves of French bread, or a dozen hamburger/ sandwich buns, or a dozen of the best hot dog bugs you've ever eaten. Did I mention that it's ready one hour from start to finish? Hot homemade bread in an hour? Yeah. That's the best part.

You need:
6-7 cups of flour -I like King Arthur bread flour
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 tbsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp yeast

Put 1/3 cup warm water in a small bowl with the yeast and stir. It should be warmer than body temp but not hot.

Put the coconut oil and sugar in the mixer bowl and squish together with a spoon. Pour a cup of boiling water over and stir to dissolve. Add another cup of cold water in the mixer bowl. Test to be sure it's not hot anymore and add the yeast mixture.

Dump in two cups of flour and start mixing on low with the bread hook. Add two more cups flour and start watching. Now add the salt.
Turn up the mixer and keep adding flour until it cleans the sides of the bowl. Turn up to medium hi and knead 8 minutes. Sprinkle with flour occasionally if needed to keep the dough from sticking to the bowl.
After 8 minutes pull the dough hook out and cover the bowl. Let rise 20 minutes. 

Chicago Metallic® Professional French Bread Pan, 2 Loaves, 16" x 8" (Google Affiliate Ad)

Cut for French Bread

Meanwhile rub coconut oil on the cookie sheet you'll bake on. When the bread is done, dump it out on the sheet and let rest 5 minutes. Then cut in thirds. Now you have to decide.
French bread?
Focaccia?
Buns?

Cutting for buns

For French bread, flour a counter and lay one section down. With your fingertips mottle the dough to spread out into a rectangle. Roll up longways to make the baguette, tuck the ends under and place on the sheet. Make three slits in the top and paint with an egg wash all over the surface and in the cracks. Sprinkle with sesame seeds if you like.

For hamburger buns cut each section in four. Take each piece and tuck the edges under to make a ball. Now we have to get rid of the seams. Laying the ball on its side, run the side of your hand like a saw against the counter, squishing the side with the seams to make a point. Then just poke the point into the bottom of the bun, place on sheet, paint with egg wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Same idea for the hot dog buns.

Place the sheet in a cold oven, turn to 170, and time 15 min. When it dings turn the oven to 400 and time 15 more minutes. Ding ding again and you remove the bread from the sheet, place on the rack and bake 5 min more. Done! And wow so yummy. Cool on a cooling rack. I know it'll be hard, but let it cool a few minutes before slicing into that golden crust.  Next experiment is going to be cloverleaf rolls with honey butter.  Might make it into Valentine's dinner!

Easy Italian Homeground Flour bread!

I DID IT!!! After much experimentation I did it. I've been trying to recreate the No Knead Bread recipe using all fresh ground flour for a year and finally did it. What is the trick? Time.

The original recipe is
3 cups bread flour
1/4 tsp yeast
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 5/8 cups warm water
Mix, let sit 12-18 hours and bake as in my other post.

I did two things Wednesday and both worked!
Loaf 1
Same recipe, but with 2 cups ground soft white wheat flour and one hard red wheat.
I set aside covered at 10 am Wednesday and baked it at 2 pm Thursday so set aside for 28 hours before rising etc. Was fantastic. The Sicilian said it had a strong wheat taste but truly I loved it, and didn't smell yeasty.

Loaf 2
Many fresh flour recipes have you treat the wheat with apple cider vinegar, so...
3 cups hard red wheat flour
1 5/8 cups warm water
2 tbsp ACV
Let sit 24 hours covered.
Pour off liquid (may be underneath but it's there)
Add 1/2 tsp yeast, 1 1/4 tsp salt and 1/3 cup flour and mix in. Set aside 12 hours covered or till you see it stringing when tip the bowl. I set it 18.
Then bake like the other post. I had to add more flour when I poured it out though. No biggie. Everyone voted it the winner.

Below are the three of the four recipes we tried. And ate. Brown holey is loaf 2. Brown denser is my quick wheat sandwich bread. Light holey is the no knead with white flour just for comparison. Oh and can't forget the golden homemade raw butter that is just unbelievable on it. Had some fresh ricotta from this morning on it too. Carb overload for sure but WOW!

Happy no kneading!!

Texas Homesteading

Homesteading. The movement.
Honey and I are dreaming and drooling over the possibility of being self sustaining. We move at the speed of snails but then jump in with both feet. Grinding wheat, making cheese, shopping for cows...makes for interesting dinner table conversation.
"How would we milk a cow only 36" tall?" "If we name the calf could we bear to butcher it?" "Is Momo brooding?"
It's really satisfying to create, and share our creations...so that's what I'm reviving this to do. Enjoy!

Homemade Pecorino Pepato cheese with home ground whole wheat bread.