Italian Bread

[bluejeanz]

Originally Posted by BerryBaby

Occasionally, maybe butter, however, growing up in a Sicilian family we used the bread to clean the plate.

Oh, my! That sounded just like something I heard Rachael say, LOL. She used to say something about having 3 utensils at the table; a fork, a knife and a piece of bread.

[Food Network Fan]

Some Italians pick up olive oil wiping it from a plate instead of butter don't they?

[BerryBaby]

I'm sure they do. The olive oil for dipping is not an Italian thing. I believe it originated here in the states. Honestly, I don't care for olive oil on bread. Either with a little butter, or using it at the end of the meal, if I eat it at all. Not a huge bread fan.

[Food Network Fan]

When we went to the Italian section of Epcot that's how they did it. Not exactly authentic though I guess.

[bluejeanz]

We never had that growing up at home but I'll have to ask my mom if she remembers having it when she was a kid.

I do remember when I was very young going to visit my grandparents. They were poor and very thrifty when it came to food. Gramma used to bake homemade bread every week and my mom said the bread would get pretty stale by the end of the week and my grandmother would make something we called (translated as) "oil bread". To this day, it still makes my mouth water and I make it occasionally when I have homemade Italian bread; using any other kind (like packaged commercial breads) just doesn't cut it. She'd cut thick slices of bread, sprinkle it with a little water to 'freshen it up a little' pour a thin layer of olive oil over the top, let it soak in and then sprinkle it with salt and pepper. Mmm.....good!


There are at least two Italian-style restaurants I've eaten at here in the Cleveland area (Macaroni Grill and Carrabba's) who serve either a homemade loaf of bread or focaccia with a dipping sauce of extra virgin olive oil, crushed garlic and an assortment of dried herbs. It's actually so good, I recreated it at home and it's a big hit with the family when we have Italian food.....or any other food for that matter.

[BerryBaby]

I know they serve the olive oil at many restaurants. This has only become popular over the last few years around here. I still like it plain or with butter.

[Clove]

Originally Posted by BerryBaby

I know they serve the olive oil at many restaurants. This has only become popular over the last few years around here. I still like it plain or with butter.

That's the key.
Eat what you like, the way you like it.
What good is it to be authentic Italy Italian and not enjoy what you are eating?

[bakerman]

I have to say that this may well be the best bread that I have made. The crumb was soft and tender with nice structure, and the crust was thick and crunchy.

I followed the instructions with the exception being that I baked them on a pizza stone. After I formed the loaves I placed them on baking parchment just a bit larger than the bread allowing for rise, I then placed them on top of an inverted baking sheet. This morning I took them out of the fridge, and mine were ready in about 2 hours, I made sure that the crust did not dry out during this proofing.

The parchment made it easy to get the dough on my pizza paddle, and on to the Stone. I then slashed it and sprayed it down with water, and placed on the pizza stone, and tossed some ice cubes in to the cast iron pan that had been pre-heating for about 30 minutes with the stone.

Here are some pics of the final product, I thought they looked good, so I photographed them.


second loaf different cut


The interior.




MAC

[Food Network Fan]

Looks wonderful. I can almost smell it.

[bluejeanz]

Bakerman, my mouth is watering! Yum!

When we kids were growing up at home, my mom used to put a small container (shooter-size) on the table every night that contained olive oil, salt and pepper and she always had carrot and celery sticks to dip into it. Both sets of my grandparents were from Italy so I'm assuming this was a tradition passed down from them.