pane siciliano

Year of Bread: Pane Siciliano (Semolina Bread)

Leave a comment

I’m a little obsessed with semolina right now. It’s been steadily making its way into my regular kitchen rotation over the past few months. David Leibovitz’s fresh pasta dough recipe with a healthy dose of semolina was a complete revelation in my pasta-making endeavors. Discovering semolina-based gnocchi alla Romana made a huge dent in my previous understanding of Italian food. And of course, semolina makes a great coating for baking surfaces when baking bread.

pane siciliano

I know I say it every few weeks about a new bread recipe, but Pane Siciliano might just be my new favorite. It’s simple and clean-tasting, but with a complex, interesting flavor. It had a decently long shelf life for a homemade, relatively lean bread. The last remnants on my 3-loaf batch ended up as a small batch of roasted garlic croutons, which I had vague plans to use as a soup topping. They ended up as an afternoon snack. 10/10 would snack again.

pane siciliano

 

Pane Siciliano

From Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice, yields 3 medium-sized loaves

Ingredients

  • 16oz  pâte fermentée
  • 8oz bread flour
  • 8oz semolina flour
  • 1 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 1/4 tsp instant yeast
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tbsp honey
  • 10-12 oz water, lukewarm
  • More semolina flour for dusting
  • Optional: Sesame seeds for topping (I love sesame seeds, but in my experience more end up on the cutting board/plate than in my mouth, so I usually omit these.)
  1. Day 1: Prep the pâte fermentée. See my post on French bread for instructions!
  2. Day 2: Bring pâte fermentée to room temperature for about an hour before making dough. Cut it into 8-10 pieces and leave covered while warming up.
  3. Mix the dough: Combine the flours, salt and yeast in a mixing bowl, then work in the pâte fermentée pieces. In a separate bowl, whisk together the oil and 10 oz water, then drizzle over the flour-pâte mixture until ingredients come together into a loose ball. Add remaining water if dough is too dry.
  4. Knead the dough: Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 8-10 minutes, or until dough is smooth and pliable. It should pass the windowpane test.
  5. Let rise dough at room temperature for 2 hours, or until dough doubles in size.
  6. Shape loaves: Divide the dough into 3 equal pieces, careful to degas as little as possible. Shape as for baguettes into 24-inch lengths, then coil ends in to form an S shape. Place shaped loaves on a pan dusted with semolina flour, then mist with oil and cover loosely with plastic wrap.
  7. Let loaves rise again for 90 minutes while you preheat the oven to 500°F. Remember to place a steam pan in the bottom of the oven. If you’d like to bake them the next day and extend the dough’s maturation (recommended by Reinhart), you can place them in the fridge before rising. Then next day, let them rise for at least 2 hours before baking.
  8. Bake the loaves: Immediately before baking, mist loaves with water and sprinkle on sesame seeds. Place pan in oven with 1/2 cup of hot water in the steam pan. Mist the oven walls with water in 30 second intervals 3 times. Lower heat to 450°F for 15 minutes, then rotate pan and bake for another 10-15 minutes. Finished loaves will be golden brown and sound hollow when tapped on bottom.
  9. Let loaves rest for at least an hour before slicing and eating.

 

pain de campagne

Pain de Campagne (In Epi Format!)

Leave a comment

Anybody who’s ever gone into the Ferry Building in San Francisco will recognize the shape of this bread as one of the more popular ones at Acme Baking Co. It’s meant to look like a sheaf of wheat (clever clever), but I like it because it breaks apart into easy portions. Pain de campagne (or “country bread”) is a solid bread, straightforwardly simple and perfect for dipping in olive oil, slathering in butter, or sopping up sauces.

pain de campagne dough

Reinhart’s recipe is ever so slightly enriched with a little olive oil, so it doesn’t dry out as quickly as French bread. It has a touch of rye flour to make the flavor profile a little more interesting and complex. You can shape it practically any way you want, from simple loaves to rings to this fun epi. Pain de Campagne is a fun variation for when you want to make a loaf of bread that’s more interesting than plain-Jeanne French bread, but still want something versatile and accessible to everyone at the table. Except for your gluten-intolerant friends. Sorry, guys.

pain de campagne epi

Pain de Campagne

  • 3 cups pâte fermentée*
  • 1 3/4 cups unbleached bread flour
  • 1/3 cup rye flour**
  • 3/4 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp instant yeast
  • 3/4 cup lukewarm water
  • Semolina flour for dusting

*Make pâte fermentée at least the night (or up to three days) before you plan to bake the bread. For the recipe, check out my post on French Bread.

**Allergic to rye? You can substitute whole-wheat flour instead.

  1. Prepare the starter: Dechill the pâte fermentée before making the dough. Cut it into 8-10 pieces and cover, then sit for at least an hour.
  2. Make the dough: Stir together the dry ingredients, then knead in the pâte fermentée. Add water and stir until everything comes together into a coarse ball. Add a bit of water or flour if the dough feels too dry or wet — it should be soft and pliable, but not sticky
  3. Kneading: Turn the dough onto a floured counter and knead for 8-10 minutes. It should pass the windowpane test and register 77-81F when it’s done. Return to a clean, lightly oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap.
  4. Let rise for about 2 hours, or until the dough has doubled.
  5. Shaping the loaves: Gently turn the dough out onto a floured surface, trying to deflate it as much as possible. Divide the dough into 3 equal pieces (use a sharp knife or pastry cutter to cut it cleanly and avoid degassing). Shape the dough into boules, baguettes or epis.
    1. To shape epis: shape into a baguette and place the dough on a sheet pan, covered in parchment that has been dusted in semolina flour. Then use a sharp pair of scissors to make angled cuts into the bread, alternating sides, without cutting all the way through. Fan the sections out into the “sheaf of wheat” shape. Mine were not as gorgeous as some bakeries, but it out worked okay.
  6. Let the dough rise for about 1 hour. It will rise to 1.5x its original size. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 500F.
  7. Transfer the loaves to the oven, leaving them on the sheet pan if shaped into epis. Then pour the hot half cup of water into the steam pan and shut the oven. After 30 seconds, open the door and mist the walls of the oven with water (or sprinkle some in with your hand). Repeat twice more, then turn the oven down to 450°F.
  8. Bake for 10 minutes, then turn pan and continue to bake for 10-20 minutes, or until loaf is golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped.
  9. Let cool for at least an hour before slicing (or in this case, tearing apart) and eating.

 

lavash crackers

Year of Bread: Lavash Crackers

Leave a comment

I’ll be honest — this hasn’t been my favorite recipe in The Bread Baker’s Apprentice. It isn’t even my favorite cracker recipe. That honor goes to Smitten Kitchen’s flatbreads with honey, thyme and sea salt, which I have made twice in rapid succession and are so addictive that I’m slightly afraid to make them again. But in the interest of forging ahead through the book, I’m including my take on Reinhart’s recipe for your reading pleasure.

lavash crackers

Why Are Crackers in a Bread Book?

The dough used for these crackers is actually pretty versatile. It’s a simple formula that makes a soft, stretchy dough that rolls out well. Rolled very thin, the dough bakes up quickly into thick, crunchy crackers. Rolled a little thicker and slightly underbaked, they end up as something like a lavash wrap (perfect if you’re in the habit of making wraps instead of sandwiches for lunch). And if you cut the dough into circles and bake it at very high temperatures (500°F), they’ll puff up into a nice pita bread. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the texture and flavor of these reminded me of pita chips (and would be awesome with hummus).

lavash cracker dough

Lavash Cracker Toppings

Since crackers often end up getting dipped into all sorts of good stuff, they don’t necessarily need a ton of extra flavor on their own. If you’re planning on pairing these with a dip or a spread, you keep your toppings to a simple sprinkle of sea salt on top right before you bake them.

I threw a bunch of different things on top of my batch of crackers to see what worked best. I used fresh black pepper, thyme, sesame seeds, and hot paprika, all with a bit of sea salt. Much of the chunkier toppings ended up falling off pretty quickly. However, I really loved the hot paprika and sea salt. The next time I bake this cracker recipe (or another one), I’ll probably repeat that combo for the whole batch. Whatever you end up choosing, keep in mind that a little goes a long way flavor-wise, especially for spicier ingredients, since the flavor of the cracker itself is pretty neutral.

image_18724878821_o

Lavash Crackers Recipe

Yields 1 sheet pan of crackers. Adapted from Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice.

Ingredients

  • 1.5 cups bread flour
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp instant yeast
  • 1/2 tbsp honey
  • 2 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 1/3 – 1/2 cup water, room temperature
  • Hot paprika and sea salt for topping
  1. Combine the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. In another bowl, whisk together honey, oil, and 1/3 cup water. Pour honey mixture into dry mixture and stir to combine. If the mixture is too dry, add the remaining portion of water.
  2. Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and knead for about 10 minutes. The dough should be firm, but stretchy and satiny to the touch. Form the dough into a ball and transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, then cover.
  3. Let ferment at room temperature for about 90 minutes, or until dough doubles  in size.
  4. Preheat the oven to 350°F.  Mist your work surface lightly with spray oil, then turn the dough out onto the surface. Dust the top of the dough very lightly with flour. Press the dough into a rectangle. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough out into a thin sheet, about 15×12 inches. If the dough doesn’t stay rolled out very well and tries to spring back, stop working on it and let the gluten relax for a few minutes, then continue. You can lift it up by one end (carefully) and wave it a little to help this process. When the dough reaches the desired thinness, let the dough relax for 5 minutes. Line a sheet pan with baking parchment and carefully transfer the dough to the parchment (it shouldn’t stick to the work surface). If the dough hangs over the edge of the pan, trim it with a sharp knife or scissors.
  5. Mist the top of the dough with water and sprinkle on any toppings that you’d like to add. If you want your crackers to be specific shapes (rectangles, long strips, and triangles are good options), cut them now. Don’t worry about separating the pieces — they’ll break apart easily after baking. Otherwise, you can break the cracker sheet apart into less uniform pieces (some might even call them “rustic” crackers) after it has cooled.
  6. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until crackers begin to brown evenly across the top. Note: Keep an eye on the crackers for the first few minutes in the oven — if you’ve got any air pockets, they’ll swell into big bubbles. You can attempt to keep them at bay by poking them with a sharp knife early on in the baking process, but the longer you wait the less you can do about it (hence the mega bubble in my batch, as seen below).
  7. After you take the crackers out of the oven, let them cool in the pan for about 10 minutes. Then just snap them apart or break them into shards and serve.lavash crackers bubble
kaiser roll

Year of Bread: Kaiser Rolls

2 Comments

If your only experience of Kaiser rolls thus far has been the prebagged kind you get at the grocery store, or soggy sandwiches on deli trays, these are going to change your mind about how awesome they are. Peter Reinhart’s Kaiser rolls are flavorful but neutral, with a chewy but not tough crust and a soft, light interior. They make the perfect canvas for many a sandwich, and the dough has just a bit of fat to keep the rolls from drying out too quickly.

The History of the Kaiser Roll and Other Interesting Things

Kaiser rolls were named in honor of the Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria in the 18th century, although they’ve probably been around in some form or another for longer than that. A fun fact (if you’re the type of person who puts history and/or linguistics in the “fun” category): kaiser is the German word for “Emperor,” and has been in use since the days of the Holy Roman Empire, back when years only had three digits. It’s derived from the imperial Roman title “Caesar,” taken from the cognomen of Julius Caesar. For Slavic languages, it’s also where the word tsar (or czar) comes from. That a word  can be carried across cultural and linguistic barriers over time, picking up new significance as it goes, is a fascinating indicator of the way humans share ideas. Caesar’s name endures down through the centuries and across many languages as a metonym for power. And that’s how we end up with a vaguely crown-shaped roll, named in honor of an Austrian emperor whose title was plucked from the name of a Roman politician who lived almost 2 millennia before him.

But I digress — back to the bread at hand.

kaiser roll crumb

Shaping Kaiser Rolls

I found that the trickiest part of the process was shaping the rolls. Kaiser rolls have a distinctive swirl to them, which professional bakers generally create with a specialized Kaiser roll cutter. Since I don’t have such a tool on hand in my rather minimalist kitchen, I opted to tie the rolls in knots. Unfortunately, the dough was soft and tacky enough that wherever it touched itself it stuck, so I essentially got one shot at creating the perfect knot for each roll. Most of my 6 rolls did not end up as picture-perfect swirls. The next time I make these, I may firm the dough up slightly more with a bit more flour, to make for easier shaping.

kaiser roll dough knot

Salami and Cheese Sandwich, aka the Very Best Thing to Do with Your Kaiser Roll

I fell in love with the Kaiser roll sandwich on a trip to Austria, although the sandwich itself wasn’t anything you couldn’t get anywhere else in the world. Maybe it was the high altitude of Innsbruck. Maybe it was my persistent jetlag. Or maybe it was just the fact that I hadn’t been able to get my stomach to behave after a beer-filled night in Munich the day before, followed by a long and insufferably winding bus ride through the Alps in the morning. But when I took a bite of the salami and provolone sandwich– selected haphazardly at a local grocery store– the fog lifted from my brain and my taste buds came alive. The bread was fresh and tender, the salami peppered and not too salty, and the cheese cool and creamy. It was simple but perfectly balanced. It was the best sandwich I had ever tasted.

Or maybe my memory is just overly-rosy. But regardless, I still love these sandwiches because they’re an easy lunch that’s cheap and packs well. I like to add a little hot mustard to keep it interesting.

kaiser salami and cheese sandwich

Kaiser Roll Recipe

Yields 6 large rolls. Adapted from Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice. I’ve omitted the diastatic barley malt powder as it can be difficult to find and the rolls bake up well without it, but the recipe remains largely the same otherwise.

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups (8 ounces) pâte fermentée
    • 2.5 ounces bread flour
    • 2.5 ounces AP flour
    • 1/2 tsp salt
    • 1/4 tsp instant yeast
    • 3-4 ounces of water, room temperature
  • 2 1/4 cups (10 ounces) bread flour
  • heaping 3/4 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp instant yeast
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 1/2 Tbsp oil
  • 5-6 ounces water, lukewarm (90-100°F)
  • Semolina flour for dusting
  1. Preparing the Pâte Fermentée: Stir together flour, salt, and yeast in a mixing bowl. Add 3/4 cup water and stir until a coarse ball forms. Adjust water or flour if the dough is too sticky or too stiff.
  2. Turn out onto a floured counter and knead for 5 minutes, or until it registers about 77-81°F and passes the windowpane test. Transfer to an oiled bowl, cover and let rise for about an hour. The dough should swell to 1.5x its original size.
  3. Knead lightly to degas, then return to covered bowl and refrigerate overnight, or up to 3 days.
  4. The Next Day: Remove the pâte fermentée from the fridge at least an hour before making the dough. Cut it into 8-10 pieces and cover while it’s coming to room temperature.
  5. Make the Dough: Mix together the flour, salt, and yeast in a large mixing bowl, then add the wet ingredients (start with the minimum amount of water). Stir until the ingredients form a ball, adding extra water if the mixture is too dry.
  6. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead for 10 minutes, or until dough is soft and tacky, but doesn’t stick to the kneading surface. It should register about 77-81°F and pass the windowpane test.
  7. Place dough in an oiled bowl and cover to ferment for 2 hours. The dough should double in size.
  8. Shape the Rolls: Divide the dough into 6 equal pieces and form them into round rolls. Cover with plastic wrap that has been sprayed with spray oil and let rest for 10 minutes. Proceed with shaping the rolls, placing them on a parchment-lined baking sheet that has been dusted with semolina flour as you finish each one.
    1. Knotting the rolls: To create the distinctive swirl of Kaiser rolls, roll one portion of the dough out into a long strand, about 8-9 inches. Tie a simple knot in the center of the dough, then tuck the loose ends into the middle of the roll (one end over the top and one up through the bottom).
  9. Proof the rolls for another hour, preheating the oven to 425°F when they’re close to ready.
  10. Bake the Rolls: Mist the rolls lightly with water immediately before baking. Place the pan in the oven and mist the oven walls too.  Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce temperature to 400°F and continue baking for another 15-20 minutes, or until rolls are golden brown.
  11. Transfer rolls to cooling rack and let cool for at least 30 minutes before serving.

kaiser roll dough sheet

 

italian bread

Year of Bread: Italian Bread

Leave a comment

Italian Bread vs. French Bread

What’s the difference between Italian Bread and French Bread, you say? That’s a good question. They’re not that different, but the nuts and bolts of it is that Italian bread uses a biga instead of pâte fermentée as a starter, and that Italian bread has just a bit of sugar and fat in it, unlike the bare-bones lean dough of French bread. Those changes mean that Italian bread ends up with a softer crust and a slightly sweeter taste than its Gallic counterpart.

italian bread biga

Baking with Biga

When it comes to baking bread, there are many different incarnations of the preferment. The pâte fermentée and the poolish are two I’ve used frequently in the past. Italian bread uses a biga, which is a relatively dry, bland starter. A biga, which is Italian in origin, doesn’t include salt. This means that less yeast is required to make it rise. Frankly, I’m not sure how much the ultimate taste is affected by different

Frankly, I’m not sure how much the ultimate taste is affected by different starters if all other variables are equal. Many of Reinhart’s recipes offer alternate instructions for using different starters for the same bread. Your choice might end up being based on tradition, and how much time you want to spend on a loaf of bread. Dry starters like biga require a bit more hands on time ( kneading), whereas wetter ones like soakers might require only a quick stir.

A New Ingredient (or not): Diastatic Barley Malt Powder

Diastatic barley malt powder is an ingredient recommended by Reinhart as “yeast food.” It essentially accelerates the yeast’s growth and makes the dough have a richer taste and color in the end. Unfortunately, even in San Francisco, where you can find many strange and wonderful ingredients to cook with, I had a hard time finding this particular addition to my baking collection. Next time I’ll plan  ahead and buy it online, but this Italian bread recipe bakes up wonderfully without it anyway, so don’t worry if you have a hard time finding it.

italian bread cross section

The best thing about this Italian bread is its shelf life, especially compared to French bread. The olive oil keeps it soft and tasty for a few days longer than French bread, which is a long time in bread lifecycles, considering that French bread loses its luster in about 24 hours. Italian bread makes a wonderful base for garlic bread, especially after a day or two. When fresh, the long fermenting biga and touch of sugar make this bread amazingly tasty and it needs no adornment.

Italian Bread Recipe

Slightly adapted from Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice. Yields 2 1-lb loaves.

Biga Ingredients

  • 2.5 cups (11.25 ounces) unbleached bread flour
  • 1/2 tsp instant yeast
  • 6-7 ounces room temperature water

Italian Bread Ingredients

  • 18 ounces biga
  • 2.5 cups (11.25 ounces) unbleached bread flour
  • 1 2/3 tsp salt
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 1 tsp instant yeast
  • 1 tsp diastatic barley malt powder (optional)
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 6-8 ounces lukewarm water (90-100°F)
  • Semolina flour or cornmeal for dusting

Procedure

  1. Make the biga: Stir together flour and yeast in a mixing bowl, then add 7 ounces of water and stir until a coarse ball forms. If there is excess flour on the bottom of the bowl, add a little more water. Turn out onto a floured counter and knead for at least 5 minutes, adding flour as needed. The dough should be soft and tacky, but not sticky. The internal temperature should be at least 77°F, but not more than 81°F. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap, then let ferment at room temperature for 2-4 hours, or until doubled. After the biga is done rising, degas it by kneading lightly, then return to bowl and refrigerate overnight.
  2. Remove the biga from the refrigerator to dechill at least an hour before making the dough. Cut it into 8-10 pieces and cover with plastic wrap before letting it come to room temperature.
  3. Mix the Italian bread dough: Combine the flour, salt, sugar, malt powder (if you’re using it) and yeast together in a large mixing bowl. Add the cut up pieces of biga and knead them in a bit. They won’t integrate into the dough very easily yet, but that’s ok. Add the olive oil and lukewarm water, and mix until the dough forms a rough ball.
  4. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes. The consistency of the dough will be similar to French bread dough, but slightly softer and suppler.
  5. Shape the dough into a ball and return to a lightly oiled bowl for rising. Let rise for 2 hours at room temperature, or until dough has doubled in size.
  6. Shape the loaves: Divide the dough into 2 equal pieces, being careful not to degas the dough. Shape them into rough boules. Lightly dust with flour, then cover and let rest for 5 minutes. While the dough is resting, line a baking sheet with parchment and dust with semolina flour. Shape the boules a little more carefully– the outside should be smooth and tight.
  7. Let boules proof at room temperature for another hour, or until the loaves have swollen to about 1.5x their original size. Preheat the oven to 500°F when the loaves are close to done rising. If you’re using a baking stone, don’t forget to put it and a steam pan (I use a metal pie pan) in the oven when you start preheating.
  8. Bake the bread: If you’re baking the loaves directly on the sheet pan, simply score the loaves with an X or a square and place the pan in the oven. If you’re using a baking stone, carefully transfer the loaves one at a time to a peel or cutting board that’s well-dusted with semolina. Score the loaf and immediately slide it into the oven. Repeat with the second loaf. Pour a cup of hot water into the steam pan and close the door. After 30 seconds, open the door and spray the walls of the oven with water and close the door. Repeat the spraying process once more after 30 seconds, then lower the oven setting to 450°F. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until loaves are golden brown and sound hollow when tapped from bottom. Rotate loaves (or pan) 180° about halfway through baking to ensure even baking.
  9. Transfer your Italian bread to a cooling rack and let cool for at least an hour before slicing.