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๐ Since I'm in Italy, let's bake Italian.
Published 10 months agoย โขย 3 min read
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Since I'm in Italy, let's bake Italian.
I'm in southern Italy right now with a group of fine The Perfect Loaf readers who signed up to explore bakeries, pizzerias, and more with TASTE and I.
Since I'm in for a few weeks of Italian bread, gelato, and pizza, I thought maybe you'd like to taste a bit of Italy, too?
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Today's newsletter features a collection of my favorite Italian sourdough breads and pizza, which I know you'll love.
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Oh!
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And if you'd like to follow along with me every step of the way, and watch as I undoubtedly eat too much pizza, I'll post often to my Instagram stories.โ
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I'll also be sure to share more about our baking adventures at The Perfect Loaf, too. Stay tuned.
On the second day of my Italian baking tour, I'm leading a workshop where we make these friselle with local flour and ingredients.
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Right now, I've been loving these with sungolds + basic straight from the garden.
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They're so easy and fun to make, and since we're probably going to make quite a few, they'll keep well the entire trip for us to snack on all along the way ๐
Not all focaccia in southern Italy has potatoes in the dough, but I'll tell you, the magical tuber gives this focaccia an otherworldly texture. Think chewy meets softness.
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If you have any straggler tomatoes lying around, get them on top!
Last week, I talked about The Baker's Corner, the newly-named membership here at The Perfect Loaf. Want to come talk about your bakes, ask questions, and nerd out about sourdough?
In many of your recipes, I see "Water 1" and "Water 2" listed in the ingredients; what are these?
In many of my recipes, I have a Water 1 and Water 2, which is just the water in the recipe split into two additions (usually 95% and 5%, respectively).
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I hold back Water 2 and add it later in the recipe to ensure I don't overhydrate the dough (you can always leave out Water 2) and to fine-tune the dough's hydration during mixing.
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But also, holding back some water during mixing, also called "bassinage," makes mixing easier because you can develop the dough's gluten more effectively with less water, then slowly stream in that Water 2 later once the dough is stronger.
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I'm packing a bit of my sourdough starter to go with me on the trip to Italy for the baking workshop, but my main starter will be stored safely for when I return. โ
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Maurizio Leo
Want to make bakery-quality sourdough bread from home? Subscribe for the best sourdough guides and recipes to take your bread from ordinary to incredible.
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