How to Make Authentic Italian Bread for Sandwiches and Pizza

This content aims at helping you make authentic Italian loaves to be eaten with different types of sauces, and providing some tips on using them with grated cheese, molasses, or both. There is something genuinely magical worry about the fragrance of any fresh bread when it fills the house. When the shape is that of an typical Italian loaf, with crust both outside and inside minute crispery and smooth warm bread interior, experience becomes even more exceptional. These are the breads that underlie a thousand carefree bites: a sandwich made by piling cured meats and cheeses is never wrong and the best pizza most people have ever tasted.

Get away from those tasteless, packaged loaves you buy from supermarkets. We'll show you how to make classic Italian bread at home in your own kitchen, whether it's still night or already daytime. In this post, I will delve into the roots and characteristics of famous breads like ciabatta and focaccia, provide whole complete recipes from start to finish, as well explain how uses it to make one helluva good pizza and sandwich. So roll up your sleeves and let's start making some classic Italian bread!

Table of Contents

• The Soul of Italian Cuisine: Not Just Flour and Water
• Focaccia: A Love Affair in Olive Oil
• Home Made Focaccia Bread At Last
• Making Sandwiches with Focaccia
• So, if you want to pick the most essential word, that's it - "ciabatta."
• Authentic Ciabatta Recipe
• The Foundation of Excellence: Pizza Dough at Home
• PCI. The finest homemade pizza Dough
• Start baking on your journey

The Soul of Italian Cuisine: Not Just Flour and Water

Making Italian bread is an art--more over, it's a tradition. It's about simple, high-quality materials plus lots of time and knowledge. What sets classic Italian from most others are the following four simple things: flour, water, salt, and yeast. And yet it's all about how you mix these components together - how much moisture they have, how much time goes by before fermentation starts or finishes and above all how gently (or not) someone handles them.

A high-hydration dough, for example, gives the porous, chewy crumb of ciabatta that is perfect for sopping up olive oil or sandwich spread. A long, cool fermentation brings out layers of complex, nuanced flavors hardly approachable in fast doughs. Each of these basic recipes begins with an explanation of these principles and ways to apply them.

Focaccia: A Love Affair in Olive Oil

Focaccia, one of Italy's most well-loved and versatile breads, began in Liguria. This oven-baked bread, flat and round or rectangular, not only has the notable signature dimples but these serve to make small little saucers for the olive oil and knobs of coarse sea salt. While on the outside it is slightly crisp, on the inside there is a good chewy texture. It is a wonderful snack on its own, or enjoy it with a bowl of soup, or put your idea of something off-beat between slices and there you have wonderful sandwich.

Home Made Focaccia Bread At Last

This formula essentially is beyond question fairly flexible--which makes it a good place for someone to start baking bread. The trick is to use a very must be wet and sticky dough with plenty of Bertolli extra-virgin olive oil.

Yield: one 9-by-13-inch loaf

Prep time: 20 mins.

Rising time: 2 hours

Bake time: 20 to 25 mins.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups (500 g) all-purpose or bread flour
• 2 tsp. (10 g) fine sea salt
• 2 1/4 tsp. (7 g) active dry yeast
• 2 cups (475 ml) lukewarm water
• 1/4 cup (60 ml) extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for greasing
• Flaky sea salt, for sprinkling
• Optional toppings: fresh rosemary, sliced olives, cherry tomatoes, finely sliced garlic

Method:

1. Proof the Yeast: In a small bowl, mix together lukewarm water and yeast. Leave for 5 to 10 mins until it becomes foamy on top. That way you will know the yeast is active and ready to go.
2. Mix the Dough: In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour and sea salt. Pour in the yeast mixture and 2 tbsp. of olive oil. Use a rubber spatula or a wooden spoon to mix until a shaggy, sticky dough forms--it will be pretty loose; don't mess with it, just scrape the dough down from around the edges of bowl to form a mass.
3. After allowing the dough to rise for its first rise, drizzle a bit of olive oil in a large clean bowl. Turn the dough in the oiled bowl so it gets lightly oiled too, and cover it with plastic wrap or a damp towel. Let this rise in warm place for 1 1/2- 2 hours until its size doubles from before [or else refrigerate overnight if you are up that late].
4. Prepare the Pan: Pour the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil into a 9x13-inch baking pan, spreading it to coat the bottom and sides evenly.
5. Second Rise: Now gently turn the risen dough into your prepared pan. Pour a little olive oil over your hands to keep them from sticking and then gently stretch or press out the dough so it fits the length of this pan. Do not force anything. When you let this sit and spring back, wait another 10 minutes before trying again. Cover the pan back up and leave dough to rise another 30-45 minutes.
6. (Bake and Top) Dimple: Preheat your oven to 425°F (220°C). Oil your fingertips once more; now pressing firmly into the dough, create deep dimples all over the surface of it. Drizzle with 2-3 tablespoons of good olive oil; then sprinkle on a little flaky sea salt and anything else you feel that would prove delicious. I use some slices fresh rosemary myself.
7. Bake the Focaccia: Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until the top is browned and crisped.
8. Cool: Once out of the oven, let the focaccia cool in the pan a few minutes then transfer it to a wire rack. It is best enjoyed warm although also wonderful at room temperature.

Making Sandwiches with Focaccia

Focaccia makes a fabulous sandwich bread. Slice the loaf horizontally and pack it with classic Italian foods such as prosciutto, very fresh mozzarella, ripe tomatoes rich greatly in flavor from their yellow-orange color turning red. The loaf's soft yet firm structure keeps anything like this from falling out or becoming scattered all over the table; and its taste benefits from a little extra virgin olive oil.

So, if you want to pick the most essential word, that's it - "ciabatta."

Ciabatta, which means "slipper" in Italian, is a word that describes an unapologetically misshapen, roughly flat loaf. Developed in the 1980s as an Italian response to the popularity of French baguettes, it has quickly become a global favourite. It is characterized by its extremely open and airy crumb, scattered with large irregular holes.

This is achieved through a very wet dough and a special pre-ferment called a "biga."

A perfect ciabatta has a chewy web-like interior, with a thin crust that shatters when you bite into it. This makes it the ultimate sandwich bread. And the pockets which make for perfect little boats to catch dressings and juice are one of its special. features.

Authentic Ciabatta Recipe

It's still the same ciabatta. If you want to be patient, then follow this recipe with a biga and you won't be sorry.

Makes: 2 loaves

Preparation time: 30 minutes, plus 12-16 hours for the biga

Rise time: 2-3 hours

Baking time: 20-25 minutes

For the Biga (Pre-ferment):

• 1 ½ cup (200g) bread flour
• ½ cup (120ml) water
• ? teaspoon instant yeast

For the Final Dough:

• All of the biga
• 2 ½ cups (325g) bread flour
• 1 ½ cups (355ml) lukewarm water
• 2 teaspoons (12g) salt
• 1 ½ teaspoons (5g) instant yeast

Instructions:

1. Make the Biga (The Night Before): In a medium bowl combine biga ingredients and stir until somewhat combined. The dough will be stiff. Let sit overnight at room temperature, cover with plastic wrap. The biga will come to fruition when it has doubled in size and looks like a dome with yeasty smell.
2. Mix the Biga dough with the other final dough ingredients: In a bowl, dissolve yeast and salt together in a small quantity of water. Stir until well blended and refrigerate for 6 to 12 hours. By then it will have a smooth consistency. If it doesn't, however, add 1-2 tablespoons of cold water to get what looks like creamy mashed potatoes.
3. Knead the Dough: At high speed, knead for 15-20 minutes on the counter or by hand. The dough will be very soft and elastic, but stick somewhat to your fingers if you pull it away from the bowl. This high-speed kneading develops the gluten you need to trap air.
4. First Rise: Transfer the dough to a well-oiled large bowl or container. Cover and let rise for about 1.5 hours, or until it is puffy and filled with air bubbles. During this rise, stretch and fold the dough every 30 minutes to build structure. This means wetting your hands, grabbing one edge of the dough, stretching it up and then folding it over itself, more like food.
5. Shape the Loaves: Generously flour your work surface. Carefully ease the dough out of the bowl, trying not to pop the bubbles. It is fragile! Sprinkle more flour on top and use a floured bench scraper to divide dough into two halves. Gently stretch each half into a rough rectangle about 10 inches long.
6. Final Proof: Plop the shaped loaves onto heavily floured cloth (a "couche") or parchment paper. If using a cloth, make a fold between the loaves to help keep their shape. Dust more flour on top, lightly cover them, and let rise for 45-60 minutes. Therefore they won't rise much, but will look puffy.
7. If you want to bake your own ciabatta, first place a baking stone or steel in the oven and preheat to 230°C (450°F). Then put a metal pan on the bottom rack and punch down the dough. Carefully transfer the loaves to the hot baking stone. To form steam, pour a cup of hot water into the metal pan, and quickly close oven door. The steam produced helps give ciabatta its characteristic crust.
8. Bake: Bake for 20-25 minutes, until deeply golden brown and hollow when tapped.
9. Cooling: Let the ciabatta cool completely to room temperature on a wire rack before slicing. This is critical to establishing the interior crumb structure.

The Foundation of Excellence: Pizza Dough at Home

Although focaccia dough will make a thick-crust pizza, nothing comes quite close to a classic pizza dough. This achieves a crust that is crispy underneath and chewy within -- a strong enough support for your favorite toppings without becoming soggy. Often the key to really good pizza lies in a (slow cold) fermentation in the refrigerator; the dough takes on fantastic flavor this way.

PCI. The finest homemade pizza Dough

This recipe can either be made and used the same day, or left to rise in the fridge for up to three days better taste yields.

For 2 12-inch pizza crusts:

Preparation: 15 minutes (15 minutes same day, or 24 to 72 hours cold ferment)

Baking Time: 10-15 minutes

In gradient

• 1 ½ cups (355 ml) lukewarm water
• 3 ½ cups (500 g) "00" flour or all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons (10 g) fine sea salt
• 1 teaspoon (3.5 g) instant yeast
• 1 table spoon (15 ml) olive oil

Instructions:

1. In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the flour salt and yeast. Alternatively, pour in water and olive oil.
2. Knead: Mix until a dough forms. On a lightly floured surface, knead for 8-10 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic (or with a dough hook for 6-8 minutes).
3. Rise: Place the dough in a bowl greased with olive oil. Then cover the bowl and let rise at room temp about 1.5-2 hours till doubled in volume.
4. Cold Fermentation (Recommended): If you do cold fermentation you get a depth of flavor. Sicoctel the slow fermentation to ferment much longer -- about 25 hours.
5. Divide and Shape: Turn the dough out of the bowl (or refer it). If you cold-fermented, give make it t her it 3rin on hour at room temperature. Divide the dough in half. Inflated bake the dough gently out a 12-inch circle with the palms of your hands on a floured surface. Don't use a rolling pin -- it squashes out the air bubbles. Only work with your fingertips, shaping from the middle on out so you prosper thicker outer rim as crust than center.
6. Top and Bake: Transfer the shaped dough to a pizza peel dusted with cornmeal. Add pizza sauce, cheese, and toppings; then bake in a preheated oven at the uppermost temperature(ideally 500°F / 260°C) on shaped pizza stone or steel for details.about 10-12 minutes until crust is goldenrown, and cheese is bubbly.

Start baking on your journey

You may find the bread you remember from the Italian villages in the United States was disappointment to pulp taste buds this country's local ingredients just couldn't do justice with. But making such goodies at home sends to pieces mythology - that myth (and there's no reason to think it isn't true) for hunters who take study as their profession is part of living twilight's panorama across China on mountaintops shrouded in mist; communists march for miles each day in wet roads alongside Andorran villagers shrinking from the upward path but pressing up closer around when they see it's downhill; sentencesor paragraphsofseven to ten words sung through regardless one after another slowly losing coherence until words become all but mechanical noises--but with difficulty down or over them in succession so far.

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