AUTHENTIC  ITALIAN  RECIPES

 FROM

 RISTORANTE  d'ANNAMARIA

Common Bread - version 1       

This is an ordinary everyday bread that you'll find at anyone's table .

Ingredients for 1 loaf of bread:

Bread flour (don't use all purpose flour)                2 pounds

Yeast (also called beer yeast)                                 1 ounce

Salt                                                                      as needed

very warm water (not hot)                                    as needed

NOTE:  The water needs to be warm enough to make the yeast and flour grow, but if it is too hot you will kill the yeast and it won't grow at all.

How to do it:

Place the flour on a smooth working surface creating a mound.

In a half cup of warm salted ( you can take a taste for saltiness) water, melt the yeast completely by stirring it around in the water.

Make an indentation in your flour mound so that it resembles a volcano.

Pour the water and melted yeast ino the center of the flour.

Start pulling flour from the edges of the flour crater and mixing it with the water and yeast.

Continue working the flour adding a little very warm water at a time until you have a very soft dough.

Kneed the dough energetically for 20 minutes.

Grease and flour a very large mixing bowl and place the dough in it.

Cover the bowl with a towel and leave it in a warm place for three hours.

The dough is going to double (maybe even more than double) so use a large enough bowl.

After three hours, lighly oil your hands, punch down the dough, remove it from the bowl, and form it to the desired shape. (long or round).

Place the loaf on a baking sheet or in a baking pan and bake in a pre-heated 375º oven until the outside of the loaf is a gloden brown and crunchy.

When you tap the loaf with a finger-nail it should sound hollow.