Food Thoughts from Italy: The Magic of Bread

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Written and Photos by Bob Zemmel, Owner of Alforno Trattoria

The Magic of Bread

At Alforno we bake bread 361 days a year. The exceptions are the four holidays when we are closed. The loaves that we serve on Monday were actually started on the previous Saturday. It is a three-day process with long fermentation periods with at least two overnights.

This method yields great, deeply flavored crusty artisanal bread.

But there is a shorter method that was taught to me by Charlie Van Over, our bread expert in Chester and author of “The Best Bread Ever,” available from Amazon or your local bookseller.

FOR TOOLS, ALL YOU NEED ARE:

• A food processor with a good motor.

• An instant read thermometer, about $6.00.

• A baking stone or a few half fire bricks to line your oven rack to create a hearth effect. Half thickness fire bricks are available at Westbrook Block’s retail division on Spencer Plain Road, Westbrook, CT or any masonry yard.

• A plastic spray bottle to spritz water into the oven to create steam at the start of the bake.

INGREDIENTS FOR BEST BEGINNER RESELTS ARE:

• A bag of King Arthur, Sir Lancelot, high gluten flour. You can use any flour, but this KA product yields the best crust and allows for the widest range of mistakes in technique. This is not the same as KA Bread Flour in the market. Sir Lancelot has a 14.2% gluten content which gives your final loaf a better web structure and, more importantly, is more forgiving in the range of time of your final proof. BTW, proof is bread baker talk for “rising.”

• A bag of SAF Instant Red Label Yeast is also foolproof. A 500-gram bag, which costs $5.95, will last a home baker a year if stored in the fridge. No messing around trying to see if the yeast is alive.

• Salt. Any kind will do. We use Diamond Crystal flake salt which gives excellent flavor with less sodium content.

Except for the food processor, everything is available on King Arthur’s website, www.KingArthurFlour.com, or at your local supermarket.

Check online ratings for a good food processor. Cuisinart created the market in America, but many companies have caught up and produce good moderately priced machines.

Charlie’s method takes about five minutes of working time (including clean up), a long rest period to allow the dough to proof, or ferment; a little rounding into a ball; another shorter proof, this time about 30-45 minutes at

room temp, and then into the preheated 475-degree oven, a few spritzes of water around the oven and that’s it!

Bake until the internal temperature of the bread reads 210 degrees and the crust has a dark brown color. Don’t think of it as burnt. The deep color adds to the flavor. Resist the temptation to cut and eat the bread hot. Allow the bread to rest until cool. This is one bread that tastes best at room temperature.

INGREDIENTS AND PROCEDURE FOR ONE LOAF:

2 level cups (about 10 ounces or about 300 grams) of flour 1 teaspoon (5 grams) SAF Instant yeast 1.5 teaspoons (7.5 grams) salt 1.5 cups (13 fluid ounces or 200 grams) of cool water

Mix the dry ingredients in the food processor bowl for 5 seconds or 10 pulses. With the processor on continuously, slowly add the water and process until a ball forms. Continue for another 20-30 seconds. Don’t worry if the dough ball is sticky. This is good. Put the dough ball into any covered container that will allow it to triple in size over the next 4-6 hours.

At this point you can store the dough ball in the fridge overnight for extra flavor or convenience. We call this “retardation” in bread talk.

On bake day: Preheat the oven to 475 degrees with the stone or bricks on your oven rack.

Remove the dough ball, using a little flour on your hands and work surface if necessary. Sprinkle a little flour on the top surface of the dough ball and create a few slashes of your own design on the top. These slashes in addition to being decorative help to create “oven lift” or a rapid rise in the hot oven. Spritz the oven to create steam. Slide the bread onto the stone.

Bake for 15 minutes and rotate the bread in the oven. Continue another 15-20 minutes or until the internal temperature reads 210 degrees and the crust is mahogany brown.

Remove and cool on a wire rack if you have one.

Alforno Trattoria • Bar • Pizza 1654 Boston Post Road, Old Saybrook, CT 860-399-4166 | www.Alforno.net