Crusty bread to serve with pasta

I’ve been told that I don’t do enough bread recipes, which is a valid point, since I make bread several times a week. Most times, when I make bread, it is soft, moist and steamy inside. But Saturday I wanted a good crusty Italian style bread to go with the pasta dinner I fixed for my neighbors. 

The secret to that is placing a large wide fry pan full of hot water on the bottom shelf of the oven, to make lots of steam. This bread turned out perfect. It was moist and tender inside, and had a nice chewy crust, perfect for an Italian style dinner. Here’s what I did.

3 cups of bread flour

1 cup of white whole wheat flour

2 cups of lukewarm water

2 tbs. olive oil

1 tsp. salt

1 tbs. honey

2 tbs. yeast

Extra virgin olive oil

Corn meal

1 wide flat fry pan full of hot water

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 410º. Since you want to get the yeast all fired up for this bread, place one cup of flour, along with the honey, salt and two tablespoons of olive oil in a mixing bowl. Add the water, and blend with the dough hooks. Let this rest until it becomes very frothy, as the yeast has a party.

Add the remaining two cups of bread flour and the white whole wheat flour to the slurry. Bring the dough together with the dough hooks. Adjust with additional flour or water, so you have a somewhat wet dough. Knead the dough for a minute, and then place it in a bowl. Pour a couple tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil over the top of the dough, and roll the dough in the oil to completely coat it. Set that  in a warm place to rise. 

Once the dough has risen to about double its size, knead it again, and shape it into a log. Set that on a cast iron fajita pan, that has been sprinkled with corn meal. Let it rise again, until it has doubled into a nice large loaf.

Place the pan of hot water on the bottom rack of the oven. Set the bread on the shelf above the water. Let this bake until the loaf is a nice caramel color, about a half hour. Take the loaf off the cast iron pan, and set it back in the oven to finish for another five minutes. 

Set the bread on a rack to cool, and you are ready to serve.

Serving

That night I served a Sicilian style dinner with pork meatballs made with imported Italian Provolone cheese, fried eggplant, and spaghetti with a simple tomato basil sauce. Along with that, we had lots of this bread, a big salad, and assorted olives. My neighbor brought over a red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting for dessert. We had lots of wine with this great diner.