Italian Bread

1. 1

   Remove the biga from the refrigerator 1 hour before making the dough.

2. 2

   Cut it into about 10 small pieces with a pastry scraper or serrated knife.

3. 3

   Cover with a towel or plastic wrap and let sit for 1 hour to take off the chill.

4. 4

   Stir together the flour, salt, sugar, yeast, and malt powder in a 4-quart bowl (or in the bowl of an electric mixer).

5. 5

   Add the biga pieces, olive oil, and 3/4 cup water and stir together (or mix on low speed with the paddle attachment) until a ball forms, adjusting the water or flour according to need.

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   The dough should be slightly sticky and soft, but not batterlike or very sticky.

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   If the dough feels tough and stiff, add more water to soften (it is better to have the dough too soft than too stiff at this point).

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   Sprinkle flour on the counter, transfer the dough to the counter, and begin kneading (or mixing on medium speed with the dough hook).

9. 9

   Knead (or mix) for about 10 minutes, adding flour as needed, until the dough is tacky, but not sticky, and supple.

10. 10

    The dough should pass the windowpane test (page 58) and register 77 to 81F.

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    Lightly oil a large bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling it to coat it with the oil.

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    Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.

13. 13

    Ferment at room temperature for approximately 2 hours, or until the dough doubles in size.

14. 14

    Gently divide the dough into 2 equal pieces of about 18 ounces each, or into 9 pieces of about 4 ounces each (for torpedo rolls).

15. 15

    Carefully form the pieces into batards, as shown on page 73, or rolls, as shown on page 82, degassing the dough as little possible.

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    Lightly dust with a sprinkle of flour, cover with a towel or plastic wrap, and let rest for 5 minutes.

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    Then complete the shaping, extending the loaves to about 12 inches in length or shaping the torpedo rolls as shown on page 80.

18. 18

    Line a sheet pan with baking parchment and dust with semolina flour or cornmeal.

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    Place the loaves on the pan and lightly mist with spray oil.

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    Cover loosely with plastic wrap.

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    Proof at room temperature for about 1 hour, or until the loaves or rolls have grown to about 1 1/2 times their original size.

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    Prepare the oven for hearth baking as described on pages 9194, making sure to have an empty steam pan in place.

23. 23

    Preheat the oven to 500F.

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    Score the breads with 2 parallel, diagonal slashes or 1 long slash (see page 90).

25. 25

    Rolls can be baked directly on the sheet pan.

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    For loaves, generously dust a peel or the back of a sheet pan with semolina flour or cornmeal and very gently transfer the loaves to the peel or pan.

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    Transfer the dough to the baking stone (or bake on the sheet pan).

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    Pour 1 cup hot water into the steam pan and close the door.

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    After 30 seconds, spray the walls of the oven with water and close the door.

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    Repeat once more after another 30 seconds.

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    After the final spray, lower the oven setting to 450F (or 400F, see Commentary) and bake until done, rotating 180 degrees, if necessary, for even baking.

32. 32

    It should take about 20 minutes for loaves and 15 minutes for rolls.

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    The loaves and rolls should be golden brown and register at least 200F at the center.

34. 34

    Transfer the rolls or loaves to a cooling rack and cool for at least 1 hour before slicing or serving.

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    Enriched, standard dough; indirect method; commercial yeast

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    Day 1: 3 to 4 hours biga

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    Day 2: 1 hour to de-chill biga; 12 to 15 minutes mixing; 3 1/2 hours fermentation, shaping, and proofing; 20 to 30 minutes baking

38. 38

    If you prefer a crustier loaf, lower the oven temperature to 400F after the steaming and increase the baking time.

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    This will thicken the crust and give it more crunch.

40. 40

    The use of diastatic barley malt powder produces better color because it will accelerate the enzyme activity and thus promote sugar breakout from the starch.

41. 41

    You can also use nondiastatic barley malt syrup, which will contribute flavor more than color, or make this bread without any malt, since there is some malt already added to most brands of bread flour (the pre-ferment will contribute some enzymes of its own).

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    Both powder and syrup can be purchased through King Arthur Flour (see Resources, page 287).

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    Breadsticks never go out of favor and may be peaking at an all-time popularity.

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    I have seen sophisticated equipment designed for nothing else but making hundreds of thousands of breadsticks each day: long, thin ones; short, stubby ones; soft ones; or crisp ones.

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    Grissini, originating in Turin and the Piedmont region of Italy, have become synonymous with crisp, thin Italian breadsticks, much as ciabatta has become generic for rustic bread (there is also a thicker, softer type of breadstick called francesina.)

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    But breadsticks are international in scope and, frankly, can be made from pretty much any bread dough.

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    The question is, do you want them soft or crisp, long or short?

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    For soft breadsticks, you can use any of the white bread formulas (pages 265269), the kaiser formula (opposite), or English muffin dough (page 157).

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    Also, French (page 168), Vienna (page 261), or Italian (page 172) bread, baked hot and fast, makes fine breadsticks.

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    For crisp sticks, use bagel dough (page 115), lavash dough (page 178), or Italian bread dough.

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    To drive off the moisture for crisp breadsticks, bake them for a long time at low temperatures, 325 to 350F, until dry and crisp.

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    For soft breadsticks, bake hotter, at 400 to 425F, until the sticks turn golden brown, then immediately remove them from the oven.

53. 53

    They soften as they cool.

54. 54

    There are two ways to shape breadsticks.

55. 55

    One is to roll out each individual stick, rolling them like strands to the desired length, laying them out on a pan, proofing, and then baking.

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    This is great when you want each stick to be unique and distinctive, but it is time-consuming to make a lot of them.

57. 57

    When making a large quantity of bread sticks, Ive had great success with the following method.

58. 58

    Italian Bread %

59. 59

    Biga: 160%

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    Bread flour: 100%

61. 61

    Salt: 3.6%

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    Sugar: 4.4%

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    Instant yeast: .98%

64. 64

    Diastatic malt powder: 1.5%

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    Oil: 4.4%

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    Water (approx.

67. 67

    ): 57.8%

68. 68

    Total: 332.7%

69. 69

    Roll out the dough to the desired thickness, and then cut off individual sticks with a pizza cutter (rolling blade).

70. 70

    To seed the breadsticks, you can either roll each unbaked breadstick on a wet towel and then in a bed of seeds, which is great for total seed immersion, or, you can brush or mist the pan of breadsticks with water and then sprinkle the seeds over the top just before baking them.

71. 71

    Sesame or poppy seeds are the most commonly used, but I like a blend of those with a sprinkling of sea salt, paprika, and granulated garlic (or garlic salt), with a touch of coarsely ground black pepper.

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    You can also add fennel, caraway, cumin, or aniseeds, but they are intense and a few seeds go a long way.

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    These everything toppings are becoming more and more popular on bagels, cracker breads, and now on those ubiquitous, addictive breadsticks turning up in bread baskets all over the world.

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    You can then either lay the sticks out on a baking parchmentlined sheet pan or individually stretch them further before laying them out, rolling them into swizzle twists, ovals, or curling them into distinctive shapes.

* Per serving · 4 servings · Values may vary.