Rustic Italian Bread
There are bread recipes, and then there are bread recipes. This is one of the latter. The bread’s taste, texture, crust and even recipe, strike the perfect balance between complex and simple. It is something in between sandwich bread and a rustic country loaf. This recipe has a lot of steps, but it is pretty much fool-proof. You will end up with something tasty, if not pretty!
This bread’s secret is the pre-ferment (or biga) you make the night before and place in the fridge. The pre-ferment gives the bread its flavor and helps out the texture. Using a pre-ferment gives you many of the benefits of a sourdough, but is a ton easier.
The recipe may look a little complicated at first, but really it is pretty easy. Here is a quick overview:
- Mix the pre-ferment - flour, yeast and water, together in a bowl with a spoon
- Refrigerate the pre-ferment over night
- Mix the pre-ferment together with remaining items for the dough (salt, water, flour and yeast)
- Let the dough rise for 2-3 hours, turning every hour
- Shape into a loaf, and let rise for an hour
- Bake!
Here are some good things to have for this recipe, but you can live without:
- A plastic bench scrapper - These are about $2 at Sur La Table or other kitchen stores. You can get away with a large spatula.
- Parchment paper - Parchment paper is non-stick, silicon coated paper, that is oven safe and make it easy to transfer to loaf to the oven.
- Pizza stone - Helps get you a great crust. Unglazed quarry stones from Home Depot could also work. If you don’t have either of these, just use a baking sheet.
Rustic Italian Bread
This recipe is from Cook’s Illustrated, an amazing magazine. I have added my notes, but it is their recipe and they deserve all the credit.
Notes:
This recipe requires a standing mixer to make the dough, a spray-bottle filled with water for spritzing, a rectangular baking stone, and an instant-read thermometer for gauging doneness. It also requires a bit of patience—the biga, which gives the bread flavor, must be made 11 to 27 hours before the dough is made.
Ingredients:
Biga
- 11 ounces bread flour (2 cups)
- 1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
- 8 ounces water (1 cup), room temperature
Dough
- 16 1/2 ounces bread flour (3 cups)
- 1 teaspoon instant yeast
- 10.7 ounces water (1 1/3 cups), room temperature
- 2 teaspoons table salt
Directions:
For the biga:
Combine flour, yeast, and water in bowl of standing mixer fitted with dough hook. Knead on lowest speed (stir on KitchenAid) until it forms a shaggy dough, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer biga to medium bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and let stand at room temperature until beginning to bubble and rise, about 3 hours. Refrigerate biga at least 8 hours or up to 24 hours.
For the dough:
- Remove the biga from refrigerator and it let stand at room temperature while making dough.
- To make the dough, combine flour, yeast, and water in bowl of the standing mixer fitted with dough hook. Knead the dough on lowest speed until rough dough is formed, about 3 minutes.
- Turn the mixer off and, without removing the dough hook or bowl from the mixer, cover the bowl loosely with plastic wrap. Let the dough rest for 20 minutes. (This allows protein in the dough to relax, making for a stronger dough that can rise higher, with a better crust)
- Remove the plastic wrap over the dough, and add the biga and salt to bowl. Continue to knead on the lowest speed until ingredients are incorporated (dough should clear the sides of the bowl but should stick to the very bottom), about 4 minutes.
- Increase the mixer speed to low (speed 2 on a KitchenAid) and continue until the dough forms a more cohesive ball, about 1 minute.
- Transfer the dough to a large bowl (at least 3 times the size of the dough) and cover it tightly with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise in a cool, draft-free spot away from direct sunlight, until slightly risen and puffy, about 1 hour.
- Remove the plastic wrap and turn the dough following illustrations below on Turning the Dough. Replace the plastic wrap and let the dough rise 1 hour. Turn dough again, replace plastic wrap, and let dough rise 1 hour longer.
- Dust the work surface liberally with flour. Hold the bowl with the dough at an angle over the floured surface. Gently scrape the dough out of the bowl and onto the work surface (the side of the dough that was against bowl should now be facing up).
- If you want two smaller loaves, split the dough into two equal halves. Use a knife or bench scraper.
- Dust the dough and your hands liberally with flour and, using minimal pressure, push dough into a rough 8- to 10-inch square. If you are making two loaves, shape each piece into a smaller rectangle.
- Shape the dough following the illustrations below on Shaping the Loaf, and transfer it to a large sheet parchment paper. Dust loaf liberally with flour and cover loosely with plastic wrap; let loaf rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
- Meanwhile, adjust the oven rack to the lower-middle position, and place a baking stone on the rack. Pre-heat the oven to 500 degrees.
- Using a single-edged razor blade, or sharp chef’s knife, cut a slit 1/2 inch deep lengthwise along top of loaf, starting and stopping about 1 1/2 inches from the ends. Lightly spray the loaf with water. Slide parchment sheet with loaf onto baker’s peel or upside-down baking sheet, then slide parchment with loaf onto hot baking stone in oven. If you are not using a baking stone or tile, simply place the baking sheet in the oven.
- Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce oven temperature to 400 degrees and quickly spin loaf around half way using the edges of the parchment paper.
- Continue to bake until deep golden brown and instant-read thermometer inserted into center of loaf registers 210 degrees. For one large loaf this will be about 35 minutes longer. For two smaller loaves this will be closer to 30 minutes.
- When the bread is done, transfer it to a wire rack and discard the parchment paper. Now the toughest part, cool the loaf to room temperature, about 2 hours.
(I traced the illustration from the recipe… I can’t draw this good!)
Turning the dough:
Slide plastic bench scraper under one side of dough; gently lift and fold one third of dough toward center.
Repeat step 1 with opposite side of dough.
Finally, fold dough in half, perpendicular to first folds. Dough shape should be a rough square.
Shaping the dough:
After delicately pushing dough into 8- to 10-inch square, fold top left corner diagonally to middle. 
Repeat step 2 with top right -corner
Begin to gently roll dough from top to bottom. 
Continue rolling until dough forms a rough log.
Roll dough onto its seam and, sliding hands underneath each end, transfer dough to parchment paper.
Gently shape dough into 16-inch football shape by tucking bottom edges underneath.
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March 6th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
I just may have to try this out this weekend!
March 6th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
Very nice pic instructions and great looking bread :-)
March 11th, 2008 at 9:32 am
i made it
it has been excellent
i really liked it
March 21st, 2008 at 9:13 am
I made this bread yesterday. A bit time consuming but worth every minute. I will be making this on a regular basis according to my Husband - The Bread King
He and I both loved it, the crust, flavor & richness was the best bread yet.Thanks for the recipe!
March 22nd, 2008 at 10:33 am
I am so happy it worked. It definitely takes a bit of time to make but it usually ends up being worth the effort.
March 28th, 2008 at 10:43 am
Looks like a marvelous bread recipe which I will definitely bake.
Your diagrams are clear and so easy to understand.
Great job and will be checking out the rest of your blog.
Thanks,
Tony
March 28th, 2008 at 11:27 am
Thanks Tony, This is one of my favorite recipes for bread, so I am happy to be able to share it.
April 14th, 2008 at 6:25 am
Absolutely the best bread recipe. Thanks for sharing.
As soon as my wife and I had our first bites, we realized that it tasted similar to some fancy named square rolls/buns we bought at Sam’s Club. They where about 4″ square and there were 6 in a bag for about $5.00.
I am going to try to make these using this recipe. I don’t think this recipe will make a dozen, but probably 8-10.
When I do the folding, I’ll sart with a square, then fold each corner into the center, turn over put on parchment for final rise. Cooking time may be a bit less as well.
April 14th, 2008 at 6:32 am
Hi Bob, I am happy this worked for you. That sounds like a good plan. When shaping just make sure you pull the outside “skin” of the roll tight. Here are some tips on shaping rolls: http://www.taunton.com/finecooking/articles/shaping-dinner-rolls.aspx
I am going to have to give this a try too!
July 12th, 2008 at 5:02 pm
Your bread is beautiful! I can almost taste it. But not quite, so I’m definitely going to have to try this recipe. I found your blog via your beautiful cauliflower photo on TasteSpotting (cool post - thanks for the ‘behind the scenes’ picture) and am looking forward to reading more - but of course I had to follow the bread photo link first. : )
July 29th, 2008 at 10:02 am
Can you please tell me if you oiled the bowls that you had the dough and biga rise in?
August 5th, 2008 at 11:08 am
I think if you oiled the pan you probably wouldn’t be able to strech the dough during turning but this is just a guess.
I am trying this with my bread machine on dough setting since I don’t have a standing mixer. It seemed to work well though the machine was grunting a bit after I put the biga in. I am on the first hour so I am crossing my fingers.
September 9th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
I would strongly suggest that anyone planning to make this use the weight rather than the volume measurements. There are 2 systems of volume measurement: the scoop, tap and level method and the spoon and level method. If you use the former you’ll be getting approx 5 oz of flour per cup while the latter is only 4oz. That’s a pretty big difference when you’re making bread.
September 11th, 2008 at 10:06 pm
I completely agree Jennifer! Weighing ingredients is not only more accurate, but I have found it to be quicker too… and you can’t lose count!
September 18th, 2008 at 9:22 am
I have made 360 loaves of Italian bread and only One came out beautiful with air holes and a crispy crust. I’ve since read that weighing everything is the key. I picked up a professional baking cookbook from a culinary school and it’s all about weighing. Makes sense. I am going to make the biga tonight from your recipe and the bread on Saturday. I can’t wait!!
I will send the results.
September 23rd, 2008 at 11:26 am
Ok - I made the bread this past weekend. The Biga was beautiful and bubbled perfectly. I followed the directions on spot until I came to the last forming of the loaves. I think I over kneaded as there were not a lot of air holes in the bread. It tasted wonderful but not as light as I wanted. I ran to the library and researched. I did over knead it at the end. Also, I think the dough was way too wet and needed a little more flour, that also could of made it to heavy. Anyway - I will try again. I will never give up on my quest for the perfect home made italian bread.
Thank you for the recipe.
October 1st, 2008 at 4:26 pm
I guess this is an old blog and isn’t read anymore but I just want to share my success’es with this recipe. You have no idea how long I have been baking bricks and now that I use this recipe and my digital scale, every loaf is a success. I am so happy. I have baked 3 so far and each time the crust is beautiful and the inside is full of holes and the most important part - it tastes great.
This will be my last message on this blog as I have accomplished italian bread and will now move on to German Rye like my Grandmother used to have in Bavaria. I am searching for the rye sponge that takes a week to ferment.
Again, Thank you so much.
October 2nd, 2008 at 12:44 pm
Hi Barbara! I’m making the Italian loaf right now. I need a scale. But I carefully measured and my dough seems WAY too wet so I’m thinking not enough flour, dunno. Anwway, if you come back and see this and accomplish the German Rye, please share! I would LOVE to make a good Rye, I’m close but not close enough. Thanks
October 2nd, 2008 at 3:01 pm
HI,
i have a question about this dough.
is this original dough very sticky?
i followed this direction but the dough it’s kinnda hard for me to shape. please…how can i adjust it… i would like to try it again. thanks a lot.
October 7th, 2008 at 9:49 am
Hi Pamela,
I have the wild yeast brewing right now for the german rye. It’s on it’s 4th day and I’m seeing little bubbles. I found a artesian bread book at the library and copied the sour dough recipe that uses rye and pineapple juice. Interesting. We’ll see.
My first Italian loaf was very wet and hard to roll during the last stage but the second, I let the mixer knead while I added the water so the dough wasn’t as wet. When it poofs, it’s still kind of wiggly. but I wouln’t add more flour. Just sprinkle some on the counter and gently roll it on to it from the bowl.
I like this recipe but you do need to watch it every hour.
Good luck and I’ll post more on the rye bread.
October 21st, 2008 at 5:44 am
Hmmm… delicious! Thank you for sharing such a great recipe. I love the illustrations to explain how to turn the dough - they are so clear, and ’show’ what you mean. And while I’m here, congratulations on a great blog! I love your information on food photography as well - fantastic!
October 25th, 2008 at 11:03 am
Hi Barbara,
That sounds interesting, I have never heard of using pinapple juice. I have made a wild starter from just grapes before, yum. I loved the taste, texture and crust of the rustic italian loaf but there was definately WAY too much water. I made a double recipe then divided into 3rds and froze two. The first (fresh) one I baked spread like crazy. The first frozen one I baked didn’t look like it would rise then puffed up and looked like a football. I will check back to see about the rye bread, my mouth is watering.
October 27th, 2008 at 9:48 am
Hi Pamela,
The rye was way too heavy. I think I didn’t knead long enough - I should of used the mixer but I was afraid the motor would blow. I did use the wild yeast for white sour dough and it turned out nice.
I am back to baking this wonderful italian recipe that works everytime.
I haven’t given up on the rye. I have another sour rye brewing and hope to attempt again this weekend.
Thanks for writing and I’ll watch for your post.
I want to thank Luke for this recipe.
Cheers
November 2nd, 2008 at 5:56 pm
Hi Barbara, I just ran across this blog, found thru tastespotting. It’s yeastspotting, OMG bread heaven. As I was perusing thru along came this rye loaf. Maybe you need to knead less? I have this bread on my list for this week but I will also probably pull out the last frozen rustic italian loaf as I just made some goat cz and they are SO good together. …http://www.wildyeastblog.com/2008/09/21/47-rye/(hope posting a link is ok, sorry if not)
November 2nd, 2008 at 10:10 pm
Hi Barbara and Pamela, I think I am going to have to try a loaf of Rye bread now. I am going to try one of the ones from “The Bread Baker’s Apprentice”, it is a great book by Peter Reinhart. I will put a post on it and let everyone know. Thanks again for reporting back on your progress!
November 3rd, 2008 at 5:35 pm
Hi Luke and Pamela, (I like the yeastspotting page)
I am now trying a dark onion rye. I used a rye wild yeast starter. Set out for 2 days, added all the good stuff, honey, molasses and dryed onion. It smelled incredible. Now the recipe says to let it rise for 4 hours before forming. I ran home for lunch and it has only grown a little. I’m hoping by 5:00 it will be large enough to form a loaf. Then I’ll have to wait another 90 minutes for the boule to rise. I’m thinking i’ll put it in the fridge over night and take it out tomorrow morning and bake it at 5:00.
I hope this one isn’t as dense as the others. I think the problem is the rise time is very slow and I don’t have the patience. I’m trying to. I love good rye bread.
I’ll keep you posted and maybe take a picture if it turns out.
thank you.
November 12th, 2008 at 4:47 pm
The first time I made this loaf I mixed about 2tbsp of minced garlic in the dough, once cooked, I sliced it in half melted some butter on both sides covered one side with shredded Locatelli and the other side with smoked Gouda. threw it on the grill for about 10 minutes, and made an amazing garlic bread. This is one of the best breads that I’ve made. I did add about 50% more yeast to the Biga, it gives an even stronger flavor. Also, before rolling the rectangle of dough I have sprinkled raisins or sliced olives, to make an olive or raisin loaf. The only problem with this bread, is that every time I make it, it goes too fast.