Italian bread

Italian Bread

Preparation Time: 3 hours total

Ingredients:

2 cups bread flour
1 cup all purpose flour
1 Tablespoon salt
1 pkg dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup warm water
1 egg
2 Tablespoons olive oil

Cooking Instructions:

Dissolve yeast in 2 oz warm water with a pinch of sugar. Let sit until foamy, about 10 minutes.
Mix flours, salt, and remainder of sugar in mixer with dough hook on medium speed until well blended. Add egg, olive oil, activated yeast, and remainder of water all at once and mix on low speed for two minutes, or until ball forms, and sides of bowl are clean. Add a little flour at a time if dough is too wet.
If dough seems too dry, turn mixer off, add water one tablespoon at a time, mixing between adding, until dough is correct texture.

Place dough in an oiled bowl, cover, and let raise in a warm place until double in size. (About one hour) Turn out onto well floured surface and knead by hand for two minutes. When kneading bread, simply fold toward you and push forward. Turn dough one quarter turn and repeat.

Shape dough into loaf shape of your choice. Place on lightly floured baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, cover with plastic wrap and a towel and let raise again until double in size.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Uncover dough and bake in upper third of oven for about 30 minutes, or until it sounds hollow when tapped. If bread seems to be getting too dark, cover with foil and turn oven down to 350 degrees. If dough is not browning, move a little lower in oven.

Let cool on a rack for at least 15 minutes before cutting.

***Note:
Making bread is a trial and error process. There are many things that will effect your dough. Some of them are, altitude, weather, oven temperature, water. You will need to figure out what the perfect amount of water, oil, and oven temperature are as you go. Don't give up if your first loaf doesn't turn out exactly as planned. Try again. It will be worth it!!

Welcome!

Great cooking begins here!