Community Pick
Fabulous Crusty Italian Loaf
"'Pane Crostoso'--The Best sandwich bread. Delicious and surprisingly easy to make; just like the crusty loaves that you would purchase at your favorite Italian bakery (in my opinion). Adapted from "Cucina di Calabria" a cookbook of Calabrian recipes by Mary Amabile Palmer. This is also great with pasta (for dipping in the sauce!) or the second day as bruschetta or crostini. For bread machine, simply use machine to mix the dough and bring it through its first rise, then follow instructions for shaping loaves. Variation for making rolls follows at end of recipe. Preparation time includes rise time."
photo by Fairy Nuff
- Ready In:
- 3hrs 40mins
- Ingredients:
- 8
- Yields:
-
2 loaves
ingredients
- 1 (1/4 ounce) package active dry yeast or 2 1/2 teaspoons yeast
- 1 1⁄4 cups warm water (test as with a baby's bottle)
- 3 cups unbleached flour or 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- cornmeal
- 1 egg yolk
directions
- In a small bowl, dissolve yeast with a quarter cup of the lukewarm water. Pour yeast into a large bowl. Mix in flour, sugar, salt, and remaining lukewarm water and mix in until dough starts to form. If too sticky, add a bit more flour.
- Turn out onto flat surface and knead for 6-8 minutes or until smooth and elastic. Put dough into an oiled bowl, turn to coat, cover with a thick towel, and let rise in a warm place, free from draft, until doubled in size, or about 1.5-2 hours.
- For bread machine, just use to mix and do the first rising of the dough, then remove to shape into loaves and do second rise, following instructions below.
- Preheat oven to 425°F.
- Remove dough onto a floured surface. Punch down and shape into 2 oblong loaves about a foot long each. If you own a baking stone or unglazed ceramic tiles, dust lightly with cornmeal and put into preheated oven. Put loaves on a peel (large wooden spatula), also lightly dusted with cornmeal, or on a cookie sheet sprinkled with cornmeal. Cover and let rise again for 40 minutes. Loaves will about double in width.
- In a small dish, add egg yolk and 1 tablespoon of water. Slit tops of risen bread 3 or 4 times, making slits that are a quarter of an inch deep. With a brush, paint tops with egg wash. If on a peel, slide loaves onto stone or tile; otherwise put cookie sheet in oven.
- Bake for 10 minutes at 425°F Then lower heat to 400F and bake for an additional 30-35 minutes, until golden and baked through. To check if it's done, thump the bottom of each loaf; if it sounds hollow, it's done.
- Note: Although the original recipe has you bake it at a higher temperature for the first 10 minutes and then lower the temperature, I was able to bake it continuously at 400F for 40 minutes total and mine turned out perfectly. I am including both here so that you can decide, depending on your oven.
- Don't wait to let it cool; eat it when it's hot! Delicious!
- Tip: For crustier bread, put a shallow baking pan filled with boiling hot water on bottom shelf of oven.
- Variation: To make rolls, preheat oven to 400°F After dough rises, remove to a floured surface. Punch down dough and shape into 12-14 rolls. Place on cookie sheet sprinkled with cornmeal. Let rise for 20 minutes. Slit each roll once and paint tops with egg wash. Bake for 18-22 minutes or until golden and baked through.
Questions & Replies
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Does the Tbsp of oil go in the dough or is it for the bowl? -
Probably a stupid question but with baking I know it's a science. Can this recipe be doubled as is or would amounts need adjusted? I assume you've made more than just two loafs or if so, do you just do batches? -
Hi there! I just took the bread out of the oven. When I took it out of a warmed oven for the second rise, it looked great but THEN fell??!! Any ideas why? ps: I'm new to baking bread in Central Florida where the humidity is very high. This recipe works better than my other as it is a lighter-not as dense as in the past.
Reviews
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I'm not sure if my low stars are justified because part of me thinks surely I did something wrong... though I'm definitely not a novice baker. Other people on here seem to have the best of luck with this but I found that I had to deviate far from the recipe just to get it workable/edible. 3 cups of flour was sticky gloop in my mixer. I had to add close to a whole other cup just to make it into a ball. Just when I thought I was back on track, I sliced the slits in the bread and the whole thing fell flat as a pita. ?! I had let it rise in a warm kitchen for exactly the times indicated (100 minutes for the first proof, 40 minutes for the second proof) so no idea what happened there. And how does this recipe make two loaves - are they intended for two individual sandwiches? Because I made this into one loaf and it wasn't even enough for four people if they really like bread with their meal. Won't use again. -
My husband is a connessouir of crusty Italian bread, having been raised in an Italian neighborhood with at least four Italian bakeries all vying for the title of "best bread" and even he said that this bread was "pretty good for homemade." I made it even easier by mixing and kneading in my Kitchen Aide stand mixer withthe dough hook (follow the directions that come with the mixer). dissolved the yeast in 1/4 cup warm water (105 degrees) and 1 tsp sugar to make sure it was good. The egg wash gave it a nice brown color, and the water in the oven helped make it very crusty. The loaves baked faster than the recommended time - 10 minutes at 425 and about 17 at 400. -
Made this from start to finish in the bread machine. Turned out great. I like to start with warm/hot water add the yeast, sugar and let it foam. Then add the oil and pour into the bread machine followed by all other dry ingredients. Used the french bread 2lb setting. Thanks for more easy bread! -
this really was SO easy and fast, i couldn't believe it. i ate the majority of one of the loaves (with some olive oil) shortly after it came out of the oven. it was wonderfully crusty on the outside and so soft and tender on the inside. yum! this was my first time using my baking stone (i just bought it the other day ) and i am definitely pleased with the results. however, i'm thinking i might need to buy a thermometer for my oven, as the loaves baked in about 25 minutes total (10 min at 425 and another 15 min at 400). -
In my opinion, there are far, far too many recipes out there with "fabulous" or "amazing" or "outstanding" in their names. This recipe is one of the few that truly merits it. Great technique notes, great results, and it didn't take all day, either! Strong and crispy crust, even rising throughout with small and even holes, decently moist inside without being soggy. I'm going to use this one as my basic bread recipe from now on, and do a little experimentation with refrigerating as Wendy did, freezing, different washes, etc. A few observations and notes on where I deviated from the recipe: first, the amount of salt isn't listed. I used two teaspoons and it worked out fine. Second, I didn't start preheating my oven at the time I formed the loaves -- 40 minutes is much more than necessary; I started half an hour after I put the loaves to rise, and that worked out fine. I used a pizza stone which, oops, wasn't quite wide enough...okay, so the loaves have a bit of a bend in 'em. I couldn't find my pastry brush so I skipped the egg wash and just sprinkled the tops with cold water -- maybe another time I'll try a salt water mist like some books recommend. I baked for ten minutes at 425, after which it took only 20 more minutes for the loaves to be done -- maybe next time I'll try them at 400 all the way. Thanks for a great recipe!!!!
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RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
I'm a married graduate student. Lately I haven't had as much time to cook as I would like...
