Pane Toscano (Tuscan Bread)
This is a recipe called Pane Toscano, a traditional Tuscan recipe I found in my Bread Bible, The Village Baker by Joe Ortiz, reviewed here. It uses a porridge starter, which involves soaking or cooking flour or grains in water, then letting it stand for a specific length of time. I'd never used this technique before, but having had success with the sponge starters, I decided to try it. A sponge starter is similar to a porridge starter, but includes yeast and does not involve cooking. A sponge starter does some rising as it stands, but a porridge starter will likely not.
This one required the pouring of boiling water over flour, mixing it up, and letting it sit on its own covered with a damp towel for 15 to 24 hours, which required a whole lot of patience on both mine and my husband's part because we were excited to taste the new bread.
Due to my wonky sleep schedule, it sat for slightly over 24 hours. Mixing the dough was nothing unusual, but when I went to knead it I had a sticky mess even after adding an extra half cup of flour. The loaf is supposed to be irregularly shaped, which I was extremely grateful for because the dough stuck to everything, no matter how much flour I put on the counter or my hands. I would never have been able to get a smooth loaf out of that dough. The shaping was definitely something I had not encountered before, and did not go very smoothly (pardon the pun) because the dough was so sticky.
I baked it on a baking stone, which always makes the bread better, and it came out beautifully.
My husband is Italian, and was so excited for this traditional Italian bread as I have only been baking from French recipes despite his pleas for some bread from Italy. The crust is so golden and beautiful, and we sliced it to find a nice crust and the crumb is so moist and chewy. It tastes a little sweet as though there is added sugar, but the only ingredients are flour, water, and yeast.
This is the best loaf of bread I have ever eaten in my life. And I baked it myself! I am a happy woman.
This one required the pouring of boiling water over flour, mixing it up, and letting it sit on its own covered with a damp towel for 15 to 24 hours, which required a whole lot of patience on both mine and my husband's part because we were excited to taste the new bread.
Due to my wonky sleep schedule, it sat for slightly over 24 hours. Mixing the dough was nothing unusual, but when I went to knead it I had a sticky mess even after adding an extra half cup of flour. The loaf is supposed to be irregularly shaped, which I was extremely grateful for because the dough stuck to everything, no matter how much flour I put on the counter or my hands. I would never have been able to get a smooth loaf out of that dough. The shaping was definitely something I had not encountered before, and did not go very smoothly (pardon the pun) because the dough was so sticky.
I baked it on a baking stone, which always makes the bread better, and it came out beautifully.
My husband is Italian, and was so excited for this traditional Italian bread as I have only been baking from French recipes despite his pleas for some bread from Italy. The crust is so golden and beautiful, and we sliced it to find a nice crust and the crumb is so moist and chewy. It tastes a little sweet as though there is added sugar, but the only ingredients are flour, water, and yeast.
This is the best loaf of bread I have ever eaten in my life. And I baked it myself! I am a happy woman.
Photo Credit Katherine Elizabeth
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