Recipe Notes: Classic Italian Bread

5 November 2018

Recipe from Bread Illustrated, America's Test Kitchen, 2016, p. 55.

One of my favorite store-bought breads (though the competition to get on that list is not very stiff) is a loaf of Italian sandwich bread. For a mass-produced bread it has a nice flavor, good chewy crumb, and a thin crisp crust. It makes good sandwiches though I detest the fragile cellophane wrapper. Bread Illustrated has a recipe for an Italian loaf. Does it measure up to the mass-produced loaf?

The dry ingredients—flour, yeast, salt—were whisked together in the bowl of the stand mixer. The wet ingredients—mild lager beer, water, extra-virgin olive oil—were whisked together in a measuring cup; beer is the primary liquid. Using low speed and a dough hook, the liquid ingredients were slowly added to the dry. After the ingredients were mixed the speed was increased and the dough kneaded until smooth, elastic, and it cleared the sides of the bowl. It was formed into a ball and rose until doubled. This took 2½ hours on a cool day, a little longer than expected. The dough was shaped (detailed instructions are in the recipe) into a long loaf. It was wet and sticky but easily handled with the aid of a little bench flour. It was moved to a pizza peel (lacking a peel, the bottom of a baking sheet sufficed), and left to rise. The loaf was scored, misted with water, and moved to a pizza stone in a 450° oven and baked until done, about 25 minutes. The loaf was shorter than in the recipe to accommodate the size of our stone. Total time, excluding cooling, was 4 hours 20 minutes, most of which was hands off. 

Classic Italian bread is good, with a nice chewy crumb, thin crisp crust, and gentle tang. It was easy to make with just a few ingredients, simple mixing protocol, and most of the work being done by the stand mixer. It worked well for sandwiches, the main use I have for bread, and toasted well. Why use store bought when it easy to make your own?