Tag: bread

Like James Beard’s Pizza Caccia Nanza

This is another recipe with a “Very good!” note in Jerri’s handwriting, which explains why we have been making and eating Pizza Caccia Nanza for many years. Beard credits the recipe to Edward Giobbi’s book, Italian Family Cooking. It is a garlic bread that is not overpowered by the garlic or the rosemary, the two primary spices. You might think of it as focaccia with fewer calories.

Jerri made the first adjustment to Beard’s recipe: She doubled the ingredients, obviously believing that if you are going to make something that tastes good, it makes sense to make enough for leftovers. Together we have made other adjustments: We use a little more yeast to speed up the rise, use dried rosemary instead of fresh and reduce the amount of olive oil.

The result is a flavorful bread that tastes good warm or cold. It can be dipped into a red sauce or eaten plain. It goes well with a glass of wine before dinner. Since the dough rises twice, it takes a little longer to make Pizza Caccia Nanza than some breads, but on the other hand you don’t need to let the bread rise once you put it in the pans.

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups water
1/4 tsp. sugar
2 tsp. yeast
5 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
4 cloves garlic
2 tsp. dried rosemary
3 – 4 T olive oil
Salt and pepper to sprinkle on the loaves

PROCEDURE:

Heat two cups of water to lukewarm. You can test it by shaking a drop on the inside of your wrist. If the water feels slightly warm, it is about right. Pour it into a large mixing bowl. Stir the sugar and yeast into the water and allow it to proof. When bubbles begin appearing on the surface of the water, stir in a cup of flour and allow the batter to sit three or four minutes. Then stir in the salt and another cup of flour.

Add the rest of the flour one cup at a time, stirring thoroughly between additions. After you have stirred in the fourth cup, stir in another half cup and keep adding flour in small amounts until you have a dough that comes off the sides of the bowl. This will normally be between four and three-quarters and five cups of flour.

You will begin kneading the dough, so scrub your hands like a surgeon.

Let the dough rest in the bowl for three or four minutes while you prepare your work surface by dusting it with flour. Turn the dough out of the bowl, using a spatula to scrape the bowl clean and to turn the dough until the surface is well floured. Knead the dough for six to eight minutes until it is soft and elastic.

Form the dough into a ball and let it rest while you grease the mixing bowl. Canola or olive oil spray works great for this. Put the dough into the bowl, turning it so the surface is coated with grease. Cover the bowl with a damp tea towel and put the bowl in a warm place to let the dough rise until it has doubled in bulk. This will take from an hour to an hour and a half, depending on how warm it is in your kitchen.

While the dough is rising for the second time, remove the paper and stem ends from the garlic cloves and stage the rosemary on a saucer. Slice the garlic into thin slivers and set them aside on another saucer.

Flour your work surface again and turn the risen dough out for a second kneading. Knead it for three or four minutes and form it once again into a ball. Make sure the bowl is still well greased and return the dough to the bowl. Cover it again with a damp towel and let it rise again until it has doubled in bulk. This will take less time than the first rise.

Preheat the oven to 400º.

To form the loaves, turn the dough out on the floured work surface and knead it for a minute or so. Divide the dough in half and make two balls. Use the palms of your hands to make two circular loaves about a half inch thick and ten inches in diameter. Generously grease two baking sheets with olive oil and put the loaves on the sheets.

Use a small knife to make indentations about one inch apart on top of the loaves. As you make the indentations, push a sliver of garlic into each one and sprinkle the rosemary over each loaf. When you have finished, dribble about a tablespoon of olive oil on each loaf and rub it gently over the surface.

Sprinkle with salt and grind some black pepper on each loaf.

Bake for twenty to twenty-five minutes until the loaves are golden brown. Remove the garlic slivers after the loaves have cooled a bit. Cut in wedges like a pizza to serve.

NOTES: Our round pizza pans work well for baking this bread. If you have a really large baking sheet and oven, you could of course put both loaves on that sheet. If you prefer a stronger garlic flavor, increase the number of garlic slivers you put on each loaf.

Like Italian Feather Bread

We bought our copy of Beard on Bread over forty years ago and it still occupies a position of honor among our cookbooks. Beard’s recipe for “Italian Feather Bread” is one of our favorites. It is easy to make, attractive to serve and delicious to eat, especially within three or four hours after baking. The loaves begin drying out after a couple of days, but then the slices are wonderful for French Toast.

For the first few years I followed Beard’s instructions exactly, and we liked the results. As I learned more about baking I reduced the amount of yeast a little, extended the kneading time a bit, lowered the oven temperature and shortened the baking time. Finally I decided to try shaping the loaves a little differently, slashing them as if I were making French bread and baking them in our French bread pan. Jerri and I agreed that this should be our final version.

We still use Beard’s name for the bread, but our guests think of it as a good French bread. I no longer make French bread, but I do make baguettes, which are a kind of true French bread.

INGREDIENTS:

4 tsp. active dry yeast
1 T granulated sugar
1 cup warm water (100° to 105°)
3/4 cup hot water
1/3 cup butter
2 tsp. salt
5 to 6 cups all-purpose flour
White of one egg

PROCEDURE:

As usual when making bread, scrub your hands like a surgeon.

Heat a cup of water as if you were warming milk for a baby. A drop on the inside of your wrist should feel warm but not hot. Put the water into a large bowl. Stir the sugar and yeast into the water and allow it to begin proofing. When you see a few bubbles rising to the surface, you know that the yeast is working.

Heat three-fourths of a cup of water in the microwave or over very low heat on the cooktop. Cut the butter into small pieces and melt them in the water. Let the water and butter cool to lukewarm and stir in the salt. Stir a cup of flour into the yeast liquid, then add the lukewarm water, salt and butter and beat until you have a smooth liquid. Add the next three cups of the flour a cup at a time, stirring after each addition to mix the batter thoroughly.

At this point begin adding the flour a half cup at a time until the dough begins to come away from the sides of the bowl. Using a spatula, scrape the dough out of the bowl onto a generously floured work surface. Dust your hands with flour, then turn the dough with the spatula or a baker’s scraper while pressing it down with your free hand until the dough is coated with flour and no longer sticks to your hand.

Knead the dough for three or four minutes, dusting the work surface with small amounts of flour if necessary, until you have a tender, smooth elastic dough. Do not knead it too long. Let it rest a few minutes while you prepare a two-loaf French bread pan by greasing it lightly.

Use a baker’s scraper or large knife to divide the dough in half. Roll each half into something resembling a rectangle with lobed edges about eight or nine inches wide and fourteen to fifteen inches long. Form two long loaves by rolling up the dough, pinching the ends as you roll them up. Done right you will have a loaf that is a bit thicker in the middle. Pinch and tuck the ends to make a good seal.

Place the loaves seam side down in the pan, cover them with a damp kitchen towel and allow them to rise until doubled in size in a warm, draft-free place. This can take anywhere from half an hour to an hour or even a little more, depending on how warm it is in your kitchen.

When the loaves have nearly doubled in size, preheat the oven to 400º and beat the egg white with a teaspoon of cold water. When the oven is hot, paint the tops of the loaves with the egg wash and use a razor blade or very sharp knife to make three or four diagonal slashes in the tops of the loaves.

Put the pan on the center shelf in the oven and bake the bread for thirty to forty minutes until the loaves are golden brown and sound hollow when tapped. Better, yet, use an instant-read thermometer to check for doneness after thirty minutes. The loaves are done when the interior temperature is about 195º.

Remove the bread from the oven and cool the loaves on a rack for at least twenty minutes before slicing.

NOTES: This recipe is a good one for someone who has never made a loaf of homemade bread. If you are unsure of how to knead dough, you might want to visit Wikihow.com for an excellent tutorial on how to do it, complete with photos and videos.

You can bake this bread on an ordinary baking sheet if you don’t have a French bread pan. Beard’s original instructions call for greasing the sheet and dusting it with cornmeal. The loaves will not be shaped like French bread and you may have to bake them a little longer, but the bread will taste fine in any case.