Anyone have a recipe?
1 loaf italian style bread cut into 1/2" thick slices
5 large ripe tomatoes
3 cloves garlic
Extra Virgin olive oil to taste
vinegar to taste
Kosher salt and fresh ground black peper.
Slice the tomatoes, crush and dice the garlic and put into a bowl. Drizzle in olive oil and vinegar to taste, season with salt and pepper and set aside for flavors to marry.
Take the sliced italian bread and brush it lightly with olive oil, season with salt.
Now, some people will tell you the secret to bruscetta is in the tomatoes, or the olive oil, or the vinegar. They're wrong. The secret to good bruscetta is in the toast. So here's the proper way to toast it.
It absolutely must be made over a charcoal fire, so get Old Fireball ready to go. When your charcoal is raging hot, clean off your grill top and lightly brush it with some olive oil on a paper towel.
Now, put the bread, oil and salt side down, over the fire. Watch it carefully so you don't burn it. As it cooks, carefully brush the other side of the bread with some oo and season that with salt as well.
When it's toasted all brown, crunchy, and wonderful pull it off the grill.
Now, you're ready to top the toast with the chopped tomato mixture and enjoy a simple yet marvelously tasty treat.
Bon apetito...
Regards,
L
PANE DI PASTA DURA (DURUM WHEAT BREAD)
Ingredients
For the biga -
1 1/2 cups cold water
1 tbsp. yeast
2 tsp. sugar
pinch salt
3 cups unbleached flour
For the dough -
1 1/2 cups cold water
2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup olive oil
3 cups durum flour (semolina flour or continental flour)
Directions
1. To make the biga, mix together the water, yeast, sugar and salt.
Beat in the flour, cover, and leave overnight.
2. To make the dough, mix together the water, sugar, salt and olive oil.
Gradually beat in the flour.
Tear the biga into small pieces and add to the dough.
3. Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic.
Shape as desired and place on floured baking sheets.
Cover and allow to rise 30-40 minutes.
4. Bake in an oven preheated 180oC oven, until golden.
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In traditional bread bakeries in rural Italy, bread for a new day is started with a bit of unsalted starter taken from yesterday's bread making. The starter is known as "biga", pronounced bee-ga.
No new dry, cake or wild yeast is added, just a cup or so of yesterday's biga.
Of course, since the concentration of yeast cells is lower than in a packet or more of purchased yeast, the bread takes longer to rise.
It simply takes longer for the yeast cells to multiply to the point that enough CO2 is released to raise the bread.
But the slow rise contributes to the very well developed, distinctive flavor of these country loaves.
Plus you can go away to work or whatever for the day and come back to bake it later on.