-
Rustic Italian Bread
- Sep 12, 2010 at 10:11 AM
- By
- Comments (8) Total Views (758) Everyone can see this journal post.
The Kitchen Witch is baking today!
Today, I thought that I would share my Rustic Italian Bread recipe. While I make bread all the time, I am a horrible kneader... yes, I know... kneading is very important to bread making. This is why I use a KitchenAid Mixer. I also use my microwave oven as a proofbox. So while I am getting my stuff together and letting KitchenAid do all the work, I put my Pyrex four cup measurer, that is half full of water, in the nuker for 10 minutes on high. I use both bread and regular flour, although just using regular flour works just fine. I add the 2 Tbs. of gluten to really get that proper Italian Bread texture. If you can't find it, don't worry. It's just bread....not rocket science!
So, let's get some stuff together and bake some bread!
1 cup Warm Water2 tsp. Yeast
2 Tbs. Olive Oil
1 cup Bread Flour
2 cups Flour
2 Tbs. Gluten
2 tsp. Sugar
3/4 tsp. Salt
Sprinkle the yeast into the water and let it do its thing for about 5 minutes. In a large bowl mix the flour, gluten, sugar and salt. Give it a good whisk to distribute all the stuff. In the bowl of the mixer with the beater attachment in place, pour in the water/yeast and oil. Mix into that about a cup of the flour mixture and let it incorporate well. I usually let it go a couple minutes. Then replace the beater with the hook, set the speed to 2 and slowly add the rest of the flour mixture.
Now, you know you got it right when the dough pulls away from the sides of the mixing bowl and leaves it very clean! LOL... Once this happens, I just let that baby go about 5 or six minutes. So while that is going on, oil a big bowl for the proofing process. When your dough has finished kneading, form it in a ball and toss it around the big proofing bowl, cover it with plastic wrap. This is when I put it in the warm, moist nuker!.... let it rise until double in size... usually 90 minutes, give or take!
Once risen, plop it out on a work surface, cover and let sit for 5 to 10 minutes. Shape it into whatever type of loaf you like. Personally, I like the whole artisan thing, but I use a loaf pan so it fits in the toaster! ROFLMAO. This can be accomplished by rolling it out into a rectangle, rolling it up and tucking in the ends. Drop it in the pan (that has been sprayed). Give it a couple slits with a very sharp knife. Now we have to proof it one more time. Cover it with plastic wrap spray with cooking spray and set in a warm place for about 25 minutes.
In the meantime, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Finishing touches.... make a quick egg wash, brush the top of the loaf and sprinkle it with sesame seeds. Pop it in the hot oven for 25-35 minutes. TADA! Let cool on a rack for a few minutes and then pop it out of the pan to finish cooling... be warned.... the aroma of this bread will have the scavengers circle the kitchen... mine has never made it past the first few hours...
Comments:
It sounds good darlin. Though I have to disagree, sometimes making bread IS rocket science! lol. At least it feels like it with my breadmaker. If I don't use one of the box mixes I totally mess it up!
Yum!! Thanks for the recipe!
can you make me one for xmas please?? i love to bake bread, but i dont have a mixer, guess i should buy one some day. your bread loks so good, hope mine turns out half as good. thanks
This looks delicious!!! I usually use a bread machine. SalemWitchChild, check allrecipes.com. I have several machine recipes that turn out beautifully that I found on that site.
LOL... thanks girls! Ms. Pattie ~ I love my mixer... and I wish we had smelliphoto, because it made the house smell so yummy! I have a well seasoned pizza stone I heat up to make them the freestyle loaves, but hubby wanted to be able to toast it... LOL.... Allrecipes.com rocks! I've found great recipes there!
Yeah I've tried many recipes from many different sites. They all turn out bad.
Oh, yum! I'm so glad it's cooling off so I can get back to experimenting with bread.
Already a member? Click here to log in
- beckie66
Message Friend Invite