Italian Bread
1 loaf
Instructions
Instructions
1.
Whisk together the flour, salt, and yeast in a large bowl. Pour in the water and mix just enough to form a soft, sticky dough.
2.
Cover bowl and let rise until doubled. 45 minutes before complete, preheat the oven to 450.F. Place a pizza stone in the oven to heat, and place a basin of water in the bottom of the oven to provide steam. Be sure to add enough water so that it does not dry out before the loaf is done.
3.
Turn dough out only a lightly floured surface and fold into a ball, taking care not to overwork it. Score the top of the loaf and let rest while oven and stone heats.
4.
Sprinkle pizza stone with semolina and then place loaf on top. Bake until golden brown and cooked through.
Transfer loaf to cooling rack and let cool completely before slicing.
Comments
Made a double loaf. The consistency after rising was much looser than before and did not transfer well from the peel to the cast iron. Used a cast iron with the water pan adjacent (instead of under) the pan. I think that the steam rising into the ceramic pizza stone I used before caused the bottom to not cook correctly. This time, at 425.F, the bread was done at 45 minutes. The flavor isn't as developed as last time, despite a longer rise time. This may be because it rose in a warmer environment this time, but not sure - still good.
Cooking on a pizza stone, I had trouble getting the bottom harden and sound hollow. I had to bake an additional ~20 minutes, the last 10 of which were at 400.F and tented with foil to prevent burning too much. The bottom still didn't sound as hollow as I would like, but it is good enough. The bread itself has a nice crust and is nicely golden. Curiously, it smells of honey and has a rich, complex sour flavor I didn't expect from such an easy loaf. Will certainly make again.
Consistency is very loose but was manageable with well flowered hands and a bench scraper to manipulate. This rose very well, albeit asymmetrically (probably because of my uneven scoring). This bread couldn't be easier to make, and has a very nice, spongy texture as well.