Italian Bread

Dee514's Note:

This is a versatile recipe that makes a lovely loaf of bread. It can also be made into rolls instead of loaves, and the addition of roasted garlic or spices makes it a wonderful taste treat. Makes 2 loaves or 6 rolls

• Total Time: 1 hrs 15 mins
• Prep Time: 45 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 6

Yield: 2.0 Loaves

• 5 ½-6 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 5 teaspoons active dry yeast (2 packages )
• 1 tablespoon butter or 1 tablespoon margarine , softened
• 1 ¾ cups very warm water (120 -130 F)
• cornmeal
• peanut oil or light olive oil
• 1 egg white
• 1 tablespoon cold water

Directions:

1. In large bowl thoroughly mix 1 1/2 cups flour, sugar, salt and undissolved yeast.
2. Add butter.
3. Gradually add warm water to dry ingredients and beat 2 minutes with mixer at medium speed, scraping bowl occasionally.
4. Add 3/4 cup flour.
5. Beat at high speed for 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally.
6. Stir in enough additional flour to make a stiff dough.
7. Turn dough onto a lightly floured board and knead until smooth and elastic (about 8-10 minutes).
8. Cover dough with plastic wrap and then a towel and let it rest for 20 minutes.
9. To make loaves: Divide dough in half.
10. Roll each half into a 15x10 inch rectangle.
11. Starting at wide side, roll up tightly; pinch seam to seal.
12. Taper ends by rolling gently back and forth.
13. To make rolls: Divide dough into 6 equal pieces.
14. Roll each piece into a rectangle 8x5 inches.
15. Starting with wide side, roll up tightly; pinch seam to seal.
16. Taper ends.
17. Place the shaped dough seam side down on greased baking sheets sprinkled with cornmeal.
18. Brush dough with oil.
19. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerate 2-24 hours.
20. When ready to bake, remove from refrigerator and uncover carefully.
21. Let dough stand at room temperature for 10 minutes.
22. Make 3 or 4 diagonal slits in dough with a sharp knife or razor blade.
23. Bake at 425°F for 15 minutes for rolls, 20 minutes for loaves.
24. Remove from oven and brush with egg white beaten with cold water.
25. Return to oven; bake 5-10 minutes longer, or until golden.
26. **Note: I sometimes add 1/2 to 1 teaspoon (adjust amounts to your preferences) of dried oregano OR basil OR rosemary to the dry ingredients.
27. Sometimes I also add 1 bulb (head) of roasted garlic cloves to the dry ingredients.
28. To roast garlic: Peel as much of the outer skin away as possible, leaving the cloves unpeeled and the head intact (optional: trim the tips of the cloves off to expose the"meat" to the oil).
29. Place head (s) in covered casserole or on a piece of heavy aluminum foil.
30. Drizzle with olive oil, and bake covered at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes (mine takes over an hour in a terra-cotta garlic baker), or until cloves are soft and can be squeezed easily out of their skins.
31. Let roasted garlic cool before adding to the flour for the bread.

Reviews

[spatchcock]

TERRIFIC BREAD! And I'm a big bread snob! this was amazing--great crust. A few things I did: 1) I didn't let it rise in the fridge, since my fridge was way too packed to allow two loaves of bread to rise in it. :lol: Next time, I'd like to see how it might rise with the lower temp in the fridge and will plan ahead to have fewer things in my fridge then. 2) I put a pan of water in the oven to humidify it when I started to preheat it to 425. 3) I baked this on my pizza stone. in order to do this, I had to "bend" the bread into a U-shape. (See picture!) This bread would look more authentic if it were a straight baguette shape, but I was constrained by my pizza stone. this was a great recipe, Dee!!! thank you for posting--I'll definitely make this more than one time! UPDATE: I have made this bread probably 7 or 8 times since my first review in June 2004, but felt the need to update this time. I did do the refrigerator slow rise this time for 6 hours, and it was ready in time for my 3:30 easter dinner (I had to get up early!) Also, I bought some cheap straight razors at the grocery store and found that my slashes were SOOOOO much better than with my sharpest knife....a good tip I picked up from another cooking site. Anyway,this is a terrific recipe and seems to be no-fail for all I've put it through in my varied attempts. Thanks again, Dee!

[Canby Cook]

This was so easy... and so good! I followed the directions as is, except that I used "quick rise yeast", which meant that within an hour and a half (give or take) from start to finish, I had bread! I did not put the dough in the fridge. Really good! Thanks for sharing!!!

[Marg (CaymanDesigns)]

DELICIOUS!! I made two loaves, one to go with our dinner of Cheese Stuffed Shells, and Caesar salad and one to give to a friend for his birthday. After dinner I didn't want to give the second loaf away!!! :) It had a lovely crisp crust with a soft, chewy interior. I served it with Parmesan and Garlic Dipping Oil and it was the PERFECT accompaniment. The only thing I did differently was I used olive oil instead of peanut oil and I used my usual bulk yeast, 2 Tbls. of it. Make sure you watch the bread after adding the egg white. Mine browned FAST. The corn meal on the pan started smoking and burning by the end too but it didn't affect the bread. One other note, the prep time *doesn't* include rise time so make sure you figure that into your plans. An excellent recipe. I will be making this again! Thanks!