Il pane di Giovanna
During the 2020 coronavirus lockdown, most everyone began baking bread, including myself. Gina, my sister, and I would spend hours in the kitchen figuring out the proper consistency for our dough and trying to use our muscle memory to remember what our Nonna and Grandpa taught us. Of course we failed many times, we would mix salt and sugar up, add too much flour, and our bread would come out burnt or too dense! After about 7 months of experimenting with flour, yeast, and water I was able to nail down my family recipe for bread by making it my own.
The most important lesson I have learned with baking and cooking is that no matter the recipe, always attempt to add your own creativity and don't be afraid to break away from the rules. For example, my Nonna's bread recipe includes an egg, however every time I would use an egg, the dough would turn out too yellow and not rise properly. So, I simply decided to eliminate the egg and instead add more olive oil to the mix.
The next barrier I had to cross was the mixer. I saw many times my Nonna combine and mix the dough in an electric mixer. I thought to myself, "The reason my bread isn't rising is because I am not kneading the dough properly!" Of course, what I did not realize was that before my Nonna had the mixer, she kneaded probably 100 pounds of dough by hand every day for the restaurant, so the mixer was not the issue. I then began to add more yeast and let the dough rise for a longer period of time--then the dough began to rise!
Il pane bianco (makes two small loaves, one big loaf, or two pizza doughs)
INGREDIENTS
2 cups of warm-hot water
2 tbsp of yeast
1 tsp of sugar
2 tbsp salt
2 tbsp of olive oil
~5 c. of bread flour (preferably King Arthur bread flour)
HOW TO
1) Add water, yeast, and sugar to a mixing bowl and combine. Let mixture sit for around 5 minutes; this will allow the yeast to activate so that the bread can properly rise. 2) Add salt and 1tbsp of olive oil and mix until salt is fully dissolved. 3) Start adding flour 1 cup at a time and mix (either by hand or with a mixer). After all the flour has been added, knead the dough for around 5 minutes. Add the remainder of the olive oil into the dough and knead. The consistency should be sticky, yet all the flour should be incorporated into a ball. 4) Add some olive oil into a clean mixing bowl and transfer dough into that bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and a towel (this will prevent air from drying out the dough). Let sit for an hour in a warm environment for the dough to rise. 5) Re-knead the dough and let sit again. After the second time of kneading, you can knead the dough every 12 hours. You can repeat this process as many times as you'd like for 24-48 hours to make the dough as fluffy as you'd like. In my opinion, letting it sit and rise and kneading it for a full day is enough! 6) Baking loaves of bread: Bake the loaves for around 40-50 minutes (or until golden brown and if you tap it the bread sounds hollow) at 400F. Making pizza: spread dough onto pan and top with whatever you want, bake for 13-15 min at 475-500F or until the bottom is golden. Then ENJOY!
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