Rustic Italian Bread

Name: Rustic Italian Bread
Yield: Makes 1 large loaf, about 2 1/2 pounds
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 11 ounces, bread flour (2 cups); 1/4 teaspoon, instant yeast; 8 ounces, water (1 cup), room temperature; 16 1/2 ounces, bread flour (3 cups), plus extra for dusting hands and work surface; 1 teaspoon, instant yeast; 10.7 ounces, water (1 1/3 cups), room temperature; 2 teaspoons, table salt

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Appears in Cook's Illustrated January/February 2003

Desserts or Baked Goods

Italian

Breads

We set out to turn four basic ingredients—flour, water, yeast, and salt—into a chewy, crusty bread that would put supermarket loaves to shame.

SERVESMakes 1 large loaf, about 2 1/2 pounds

TIME1½ hours, plus 15 hours rising and 20 minute resting

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS

For a rustic Italian bread recipe with a chewy but tender crumb, crusty but not tough, we used bread flour, which gave our bread height and a thick crust. Biga (a traditional Italian pre-ferment) mixed the day before gave the bread a wheaty...

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