I “kneaded” something simple and not too stressful this morning so I decided on this Italian bread. (Adding steam to the baking makes it crusty.)

I don’t know if it is experience, laziness or trying to be quiet, but I recently tend to hand-knead my doughs rather than use the stand mixer dough hook. I like to feel the dough come together and would rather slightly under-knead than over-knead. (The bakes tend to come out better.)

I almost always use weights rather than volumes to measure ingredients, but there is some controversy regarding how much a cup of AP flour weighs. Opinions vary from 120g/c to 150g/c which is enormous. I fluffed, scooped and leveled the flour and ended up adding about 3 1/2 cups then more as needed to knead. I probably ended up with the 500g or 4c as noted in the recipe.

Also Crusty Italian Bread v2.1 will likely have double the amount of salt. While QC hasn’t tested it yet, Dede feels it could use it. I also switched the whole egg/water egg wash to egg yolk/milk. I liked the shine and color on the pretzels I made earlier this week so I decided to go with it again. Probably the right move. It is beautiful.

Crusty Italian Bread

INGREDIENTS
• 314 g (1⅓ c) warm water
• 7 g (2¼ tsp) yeast
• 16 g (1 Tbl) brown sugar
• 12 g (2 tsp) salt
• 21 g (1½ tsp) olive oil
• 500 g (~4 c) AP flour
• 1 egg yolk for wash
• 1 Tbl sesame seeds (if desired)

METHOD

1. Combine warm water, yeast, and brown sugar in a stand mixer bowl, stir and let stand ~8-10 minutes until it begins activate
2. Add olive oil and salt, mix well.
3. Gradually add the flour and mix with a Danish Dough Whisk until the sides and bottom of the bowl come clean.
4. Knead knead by had for ~8 minutes until the dough is soft, smooth and not sticky. The dough should weigh ~865g
5. Cover the dough and let rise until doubled, ~30 minutes.
6. Punch it down, shape into an oval and book-fold into a boule
7. Tension by rolling back and forth with a cupped hand. Pinch seams and continue to tension to blend.
8. Cover the loaf with a damp cloth and let it rise until doubled, ~20 min. Over-proofing will cause the loaves to flatten.
9. Preheat oven to 375ᵒF degrees.
10. Brush top of loaf with an egg wash (whisked 1 egg yolk and 1 Tbl milk)
11. Sprinkle top of loaf with sesame seeds (if desired)
12. Score with a few, quick, cuts diagonally across the loaf.
13. Pour 1 cup of hot water in a shallow pan on the rack underneath the bread in the oven.
14. After 20 minutes put an oven-safe digital thermometer into the loaf.
15. Continue baking for an additional 5-10 minutes (internal temp reaches 190ᵒF) or until the loaf turn golden brown and produces a hollow sound when tapped.
16. Remove from the oven and cool on racks.