Traditional Italian Bread

Not much is more appetizing than the smell of bread baking in the oven. This recipe is from our Nonna and is simple to make. Serve this bread with any Italian dish like:
Orecchiette Pasta with Pancetta    • Orecchiette Pasta with Pancetta  
Homemade Tomato Sauce    • Homemade Tomato Sauce (Sunday Gravy)  
Traditional Italian Meatballs    • Traditional Italian Meatballs  

Traditional Italian Bread
(Makes 2 loaves)

Ingredients
1 package active dry yeast
2 cups warm water
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
5½ cups bread flour

Directions
In the bowl of a stand mixer with a dough hook, dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Add the sugar, salt, olive oil and 3 cups of the four. Beat on medium speed for 3 minutes. Stir in the remaining flour to form a soft dough. Use up to an additional ¼ cup flour if too wet. Allow the machine to knead the dough at low-medium speed for 8 minutes.

Turn onto a floured surface and knead the dough until smooth and elastic. Place in a bowl greased with olive oil, turning once to grease the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1½ hours.

Place a pizza stone on the middle rack of the oven (Can use an inverted baking sheet if you don’t have a stone).
Place a metal pan on the bottom rack to preheat also.
Preheat oven to 425° for at least an hour. The stone must be heated through.

Punch the dough down gently. Turn onto a floured surface and divide the dough in half. Shape each portion into a loaf. Place each loaf seam side down on a greased baking sheet. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes.

With a sharp knife, make three shallow cuts across the top of each loaf.
Place dough in the oven on top of the pizza stone and pour hot water into the metal pan to create steam.
Bake 20-30 minutes or until golden brown and they sound hollow when tapped. Place onto wire racks to cool.


Italian recipe, simple and easy