Papa Louie perfected this Italian bread through much trial and error after not being able to find anything good in his local stores. Follow it close and it will be better than most you have ever had.
This recipe will make one small loaf of Italian bread. Scale up as needed.
3/4 cup of milk and water in a 50/50 mix at room temperature
1 1/4 teaspoon of active yeast
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp sugar
2 cups of bread flour
1 egg yolk for egg wash
Corn meal
Pizza stone or cookie sheet
Before starting, dissolve yeast in 2 tbsp of warm water no hotter than 110 degrees F. Set aside to bloom.
Pour milk/water and olive oil into a mixing bowl. Add in salt, sugar and flour. Before mixing, make a “well” in the middle of the pile of flour and add in the yeast solution.
Mix and knead the dough for 10 minutes by hand or in dough mixer. Dough should be firm but not stiff. If it gets sticky, dust your hands with flour and keep kneading. Ball up the dough and set in a bowl rubbed with olive oil. Cover bowl with a dry cloth and set aside for dough to rise. Dough will double in size, which should take about an hour. This is the first proofing stage.
If you don’t have time to do this all at once, you can cover the kneaded dough tightly in plastic wrap before the initial proofing and set in refrigerator overnight. Pick back up where you left off the next day and let the dough come to room temperature and double in size as described above. The rest is the same.
Next, you’ll need a cutting board or other surface dusted with flour. Punch down the dough and shape into a long loaf that looks like Italian bread. Get out your pizza stone or cookie sheet that you’ll cook the bread on and dust generously with corn meal. The corn meal will help keep the bottom of the bread from burning. If you don’t have it, dust with flour.
Transfer the shaped loaf to the cooking stone or sheet and score the top with a knife. Cover with a dry cloth and leave for 45 minutes to rise again. This is the second proofing stage.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
When dough is ready and oven is hot, remove the cloth and put the loaf in the oven on the cooking stone/sheet. After 10 minutes of bake time, slide out the oven rack and brush the loaf with egg wash made from one egg yolk mixed with a tbsp of warm water. At this point you can also sprinkle with sesame seeds if you like. Return to oven and bake for an additional 20 minutes or until golden brown.
The true test for doneness is a hollow sound when you flick the underside of the bread. When done, you must put the bread on a cooling rack and let stand for at least 10 minutes. If you cut into the bread before it cools, you won’t be happy. Be patient and enjoy.
Hint: Try adding herbs like rosemary, basil or fennel or even minced garlic into the dough during the initial mixing process for added flavor. However, these flavors will easily overwhelm the mild Italian bread, so don’t overdo it.