Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking - Marcella Hazan [300]
5. Return the kneaded dough to the floured bowl, cover it with a damp towel, and let it rest until it has doubled in bulk again, about 3 more hours.
6. Thirty or more minutes before you are ready to bake, put the baking stone in the oven and preheat oven to 450°.
7. When the dough has again risen to double its bulk, take the dough out of the bowl, and slap it down very hard several times, until it is stretched out lengthwise. Reach for the far end of the dough, fold it a short distance toward you, push it away with the heel of your palm, flexing your wrist, fold it, and push it away again, gradually rolling it up and bringing it close to you. It will have a tapered, roll-like shape. Pick up the dough, holding it by one of the tapered ends, lift it high above the counter, and slap it down hard again several times, stretching it out in a lengthwise direction. Reach for the far end, and repeat the kneading motion with the heel of your palm and your wrist, bringing it close to you once more. Work the dough in this manner for 8 minutes.
8. Divide the dough in half, shaping each half into a thick, cigar-shaped roll, quite plump at the middle and tapered at the ends. Sprinkle the peel (or the suggested alternatives) thinly with cornmeal, making sure the meal is well distributed over the surface. Place both shaped loaves on the peel, cover with a damp towel, and let them rest 30 to 40 minutes.
9. With a sharp knife or a razor blade, make a single lengthwise slash 1 inch deep along the top of each loaf. Brush the upper surface of the dough with a pastry brush dipped in water. Slide the loaves from the peel onto the preheated baking stone. Bake for 12 minutes, then turn the oven down to 375° and bake for 45 minutes more. When done, transfer the loaves to a cooling rack, and let the bread cool completely before cutting and serving it.
Pane Integrale—Whole-Wheat Bread
THE ITALIAN adjective integrale shares the same root as “integrity” in English, and it is customarily applied to whatever can be described as whole and unmixed. When applied to bread it means whole-wheat bread, which is, however, as you will find here, not unmixed at all, but made only partly from whole wheat.
Use all the ingredients from the recipe for Olive Oil Bread, except for the following proportions of flour:
1 round loaf Italian whole-wheat bread
1¾ cups stone-ground fine whole-wheat flour, free of any coarse bits of bran or kernel
About 3¼ cups unbleached flour
Follow the exact procedure given in the recipe for Olive Oil Bread, using whole-wheat and white flour in the proportions given here. Instead of shaping the dough into 2 tapered loaves, form it into a slightly domed round loaf. When it has rested, cut a shallow cross on top. Brush with water and bake as directed in the basic recipe.
Pane di Grano Duro—Hard-Wheat Bread
THE GOLDEN FLOUR of hard or durum wheat is in the opinion of many, among them the late James Beard, the choicest of bread flours because of its high proportion of gluten. It makes a very fine-textured and fragrant bread, with a biscuity quality, that tastes even better when reheated and used a day after it is made.
Use all the ingredients from the recipe for Olive Oil Bread, substituting 5 cups fine hard-wheat flour for the unbleached white flour.
1 ring-shaped loaf hard-wheat bread
Follow the exact procedure given in the recipe for Olive Oil Bread. Instead of shaping the dough into 2 tapered loaves, form it into a doughnut-like large ring with a hole the center about 3½ inches in diameter. When it has rested, put in a row of small diagonal cuts all around the top of the ring. Brush with water and bake as directed in the basic recipe.
Apulia’s Olive Bread
AMONG THE SAVORY riches of regional Italian cooking, nothing can