Italian Loaf Rustica

"My sister-in-law made this for a "sister's luncheon" and it was so delicious I had to make it myself. The recipe is as written, but next time, I'm going to use a little less sausage to reduce some of the bulk. Prep time includes rising and rest time for loaf."
 
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photo by DrGaellon photo by DrGaellon
photo by DrGaellon
photo by foodiefool4u photo by foodiefool4u
photo by foodiefool4u photo by foodiefool4u
Ready In:
1hr 30mins
Ingredients:
15
Serves:
8
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ingredients

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directions

  • Crumble sausage into large skillet (if sausage comes in casing, remove and discard casing).Add onion and garlic and sauté, stirring occasionally, until sausage is browned. Drain off fat; set sausage mixture aside to cool.
  • In large bowl, combine 1/2 cup all purpose flour, the whole-wheat flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt, and yeast. Stir in water and butter; mix will. Stir in remaining 1 cup flour to form a soft dough. Cover dough in bowl and let rest 10 minutes.
  • Grease 9- or 10-inch spring form pan. Stir down dough. With buttered fingers, press about 2/3 dough in bottom of greased pan. Add cheese and peppers to sausage mixture; spoon into center of dough. With spoon, spread and press filling toward edge of pan. leaving a 1/2=inch rim of dough at side. Drop remaining dough by tablespoonfuls over filling. With back of spoon or buttered fingers, carefully spread dough to cover and enclose filling (top will be rough). Cover loaf loosely with cloth. Let rise in warm place, away from drafts, until dough is double in size--20 to 30 minutes.
  • Heat oven to 400°F Brush top of dough with beaten egg; sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake at 25 to 30 minutes or until bread pulls away from side of pan and loaf is golden brown. Cool 5 minutes. Loosen loaf from pan with knife; remove side of pan. To serve, cut into wedges; refrigerate leftovers.

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Reviews

  1. I have been making this for well over 20 years. It’s super easy and turns out delicious every time! One of my husband’s favorites.
     
  2. We've been making this recipe for years. It always comes out wonderful!
     
  3. This was tasty, but I found myself wanting some tomato in there, too... maybe a 1/2 cup of chunky tomato sauce spread over the bottom before adding the filling. The dough is VERY wet and shaggy and hard to work with - it sticks to everything. The rising time is short because of the massive amount of yeast (1.25 oz = about 4 packets worth); it might be better with one packet of yeast and a couple hours for the first rise; slower rises have more time for flavor development. I didn't have a 10" springform, so I used a 9" cake pan. This led to two problems: I couldn't fit all the filling in, and the bottom stuck to the pan and tore when I was trying to remove it, despite greasing and applying cornmeal to the pan. Even though the outside stuck to the pan, the center of the base on the inside was still wet and doughy. I enjoyed the flavors, though, and might play with it to make it work better. Made for Pick-A-Chef Fall 2009.
     
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RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

I live out in the Piney Woods of East Texas and cook mostly on the weekends, as that's when my darling husband is home and the kids and grandkids often come. I have chickens and guineas, which means fresh eggs but not fresh chicken because I couldn't bear to kill them!
 
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