Can you even say you had a meal if there was no bread involved? Every time I think about bread, it brings me back to the rare moments as a kid when my family would venture to a local Italian eatery and a warm basket of gluten-loaded loaves would make their way to the table. Slathered in butter or doused in olive oil, filling up on bread before dinner was almost a rite of passage.
It would be easy to go on a long diatribe about all the breads to try around the world, but if you just stick to Italy, there’s a cornucopia of carbs to choose from. Whether it’s ciabatta, which is perfect for sandwiches like the luscious lampredotto in Florence or toasted and topped with tomatoes for bountiful bruschetta. Or focaccia, that can be used for paninis, slathered on top with cheese, or simply sprinkled with rosemary. For people traveling to Puglia, they’ll want to dip into friselle, a twice-baked bread that lasts longer than most. Or there’s Pane di Laterza with its crunchy exterior and spongey insides. Pane di Matera is another classic with giant bulbous crusts and a soft middle. The breads of Italy vary from region to region and are reason enough to traverse the whole country on a taste test.
For me, bread is a staple. It’s the first thing I try on any new menu, and it’s my favorite thing to taste in any new country. My journey to discovering bread’s secrets has been long in the making, but it wasn’t until a riverboat trip in the Alsace region of France, that it finally clicked.
The journey was slow, moseying down abandoned merchant canals through wine and cheese regions that hugged the line of France and Germany. Each small town gave way to craftsmen specializing in one-of-a-kind produce, dairy products, and of course, breads.
Arriving in the town of Lutzelbourg, France, we woke up early and stepped off the riverboat to explore as the sun cracked the horizon. A few steps off the canal, the immediate smell of freshly baked bread wafted over the streets and we followed our noses to the Mecca of baguettes. We walked inside Boulangerie Patisserie Ruby, where we met a 5th generation bread maker, rolling 300 baguettes per day in the same way his great-great-grandfather did before him. As he rolled and baked, the man told us that his generation might be the last as his children had no interest in carrying on the tradition.
All I could see were hundreds of years of perfect breadmaking and expertise about to fall off a cliff. And it clicked in my head: this is something I want to do. No, it’s something I need to do.
Arriving home, my quest to figure out bread started and stopped and started again. I went to cooking school to learn basic skills. I took bread-making classes to experiment with flours. I tinkered at home, growing my own starter. It took me years, toying with recipes, working with temperatures, kneading difficult doughs, and failing over and over again to mimic the breads that I loved.
Everything changed when I was gifted a 65-year-old starter from a pizzaiolo in Los Angeles and was told to feed it well. The secrets to bread unfolded before me. You’ll never make bread the exact same way as someone else. The secret to making bread is to make it your own. Develop your own recipe and douse your love-filled loaves in olive oil, butter, or whichever topping you choose. Time and patience, nature and nurture. The true secret to making bread is to harness the thousands of years in tradition and using it as a launchpad to start a tradition of your own.
SOURDOUGH BREAD RECIPE
By Paul Feinstein
Serves 4-6
Ingredients:
100 grams of whole wheat flour
100 grams of 00 flour
200 grams of all-purpose flour
1.35 cups of water
10 grams of salt
1.25 cups of sourdough starter
Method:
Mix flour, salt, and water in large mixing bowl. Add sourdough starter to bowl.
Mix until it roughly comes together and dump it onto a non-floured, clean surface.
Knead the dough until it all comes together and stops sticking to the surface. The dough should feel silky and smooth.
Tip: do not add more flour. Use a bench scraper and continue to knead, scraping the dough off the surface when it sticks – 15-20 minutes.
Place the dough into a mixing bowl and cover it with a towel. Let proof for 3 hours.
Coax the dough out of the bowl onto a clean surface.
Stretch the dough from one side and fold it into the middle. Repeat this step, turning the dough each time until you’ve folded four sides into the middle. Do this gently so you don’t let out all the air that you’ve built up in the first proofing session.
Once you’ve folded the dough, brush it with a light coat of all-purpose flour, using your hands to get flour all over the dough. This is so it won’t stick to the breadbasket in the next step.
Gently place the dough, upside down into a basket, often called a bread banneton or proofing basket. The folds that you made in step 8 should be facing up and the smooth top of the dough should be in the bottom of the basket.
Cover the basket with a towel and proof for 3-4 hours.
30 minutes before you’re done proofing, pre-heat oven to 400-450 degrees with a covered Dutch Oven inside.
Gently coax the dough out of the banneton onto parchment paper.
Score the top of the dough using a knife or sharp blade. You can make any design you want in the bread, but make fast, sharp cuts.
Place dough/parchment paper inside of pre-heated Dutch Oven and cover with the lid.
Place Dutch Oven back into your oven and bake for 25-30 minutes.
You can check on your bread, and if it’s not fully cooked, remove the lid and bake for an extra 10 minutes until it’s golden brown.
Once it’s golden brown check the inner temperature. It should be 190-200 degrees Fahrenheit.
Take the bread out of the oven and let cool for 40-45 minutes and then eat!
Extra Tip: go to @lacucinaitalianausa Instagram account and in the Highlights you'll find Paul preparing the bread!