How to Make Italian Bread in Under Two Hours Using Just Four Ingredients
Welcome to the eighth instalment of my series where I test out recipes from an obscure 1990s Italian cookbook. This time, I tested a bread recipe from the ‘Cakes, Biscuits, & Breads’ section: Pagnotta:
I had equal feelings of excitement and apprehension towards this recipe, as the bakes from this cookbook have so far been a hit or a miss- the most disappointing of them being the almond biscuits from the third instalment. Having followed plenty of bread recipes over the years, however, I can confidently say that this is one of the easiest and fastest I’ve ever tried.
Now, this bread is by no means artisanal, and pales – literally – in comparison to a fermented sourdough or a slow-rise focaccia, but it’s still a fantastic alternative to a standard shop bought loaf, one which you can make in the morning and have ready by lunchtime.
Still, I made some changes to the original recipe…
- The recipe calls for 15g of fresh yeast, which can be difficult to find, depending on where you live. Instead, I used 7g of instant yeast.
- The yeast is also to be activated in warm water and sugar after waiting 20 minutes but it only took 5 minutes for me. The timing, therefore, really depends on the temperature of your kitchen.
The recipe suggested using plain flour but I would always recommend strong flour for bread as its higher protein content gives greater rise and structure. It’s also recommended that the flour be sifted but I skipped this step as I thought it unnecessary.
- I converted the cup measurements into grams – which I’ve done with all of the recipes so far – for greater accuracy.
- The recipe simply called for ‘oil’ but didn’t specify the type – I used extra-virgin.
The baking directions were odd – putting the dough into a cold oven and heating it to a ‘moderately hot’ temperature. In hindsight, I think this would have resulted in an even paler loaf than the one I ended up with. I preheated the oven to 190 c [fan] before placing the bread inside for about 40 minutes.
Overall, the crust was quite soft and pale, but the texture and taste of the bread was amazing, especially when toasted and topped with some tomatoes for bruschetta. The aubergine dip from the first instalment of the series would be another great accompaniment but you could also simply enjoy it with a slathering of salted butter.
FINAL RECIPE RATING: 7/10
Many are understandably put off by making their own bread because of the time and effort it can take, but this recipe is refreshingly quick and simple. I invite you to give my revised version a go:
Pagnotta – Easy Italian Bread Recipe
Ingredients
- 350 ml lukewarm water divided
- 7 g fast action yeast
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- 440 g strong white flour plus extra to dust
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Measure 125ml of the lukewarm water into a measuring jug with the yeast and the sugar. Stir well and set aside until foamy. Depending on the climate of your kitchen, this could take anywhere between 5-20 minutes. [see note]
- In a large bowl, combine the flour and salt and create a well in the centre. Add the yeast mixture, olive oil, and the rest of the lukewarm water [225ml] before mixing well with your hands to combine.
- Cover the bowl with some cling film or a damp tea towel and leave to rise for about 30 minutes, or until the dough has doubled in size. [see blog post photographs and notes for reference]
- Towards the end of the rise, preheat the oven to 210℃ gas/190℃ fan and line a large oven tray with greaseproof paper.
- Deflate the dough with the back of your hand and turn out onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead for about 5 minutes or until smooth and elastic.
- Shape into a tight round and place onto the prepared tray. Slash the top with a very sharp knife or a bread lame to create a 1 inch deep cut. [see photo]
- Bake in the preheated oven for around 35-40 minutes or until a lovely golden brown.
- Toast and top with tomatoes for bruschetta for a truly Italian lunch, or just each freshly cut with a slathering of salted butter.
Notes
- If there is no layer of foam on top of the yeast mixture after 20 minutes, this could be down to the temperature of your water or the expiration date of your yeast. Make sure the water feels like warm bath water but be careful it isn’t boiling hot or this will kill the yeast.
- Again, the rise time will be determined by the climate of your kitchen so keep an eye on how quickly your dough expands. If you live in a cold climate, you may have to leave it for an hour or longer.
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