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PANI REGIONALI E RUSTICI

Pane di Como
Como Bread

This is a spectacularly delicious white bread with a crunchy dome

and a feathery floury top that tastes of the sweetness of wheat. It is
excellent for breakfast. The loaf is engraved with the delicate pattern
of the basket in which it is given its final rise and the interior is
honeycombed with irregular holes.
The breads of Como are more than slightly confusing. Both the
ciabatta and the pane francese (recipes follow) are also breads from
Como, but this Como bread is what is made and eaten there today.

Makes 2 round loaves

STARTER

1 teaspoon active dry yeast or 1h small cake (6 grams) fresh yeast

1 scant teaspoon malt syrup
Ih cup warm water
2h cup milk, room temperature
1 cup (135 grams) unbleached all"purpose flour
Stir the yeast and malt into the water; let stand until foamy, about
10 minutes. Stir in the milk and beat in the flour with a rubber
spatula or wooden spoon about 100 strokes until smooth. Cover with
plastic wrap and let stand until bubbly, at least 4 hours but preferably
overnight.
DOUGH
2 cups water, room temperature

6 1;4 cups (860 grams) unbleached all"purpose flour

1 tablespoon (15 grams) salt
Cornmeal

BY HAND

Add the water to the starter; mix and squeeze it between your fingers
until the starter is fairly well broken up. Mix the flour and salt and
stir 2 cups at a time into the starter mixture. When the dough is too
stiff to mix with a wooden spoon, just plunge in with your hands.
Mix until well blended, 4 to 5 minutes. Knead on a well,floured
surface until elastic but still moist and tacky. Once it has come
together nicely, crash it down vigorously on the work surface to
develop the gluten.

BY MIXER

Mix the starter and the water with the paddle until the starter is well
broken up. Add the flour and salt and mix for 2 to 3 minutes at low
speed. The dough will be smooth but won't pull away from the side
of the bowl. Change to the dough hook and knead at medium speed,

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103

scraping down the side of the bowl as necessary, until the dough is
elastic but still slightly sticky, 3 to 4 minutes. Finish kneading by
hand on a floured work surface.
BY PROCESSOR

Refrigerate the starter until cold. Unless you have a large processor,
make the dough in two batches. Place the flour and salt in a food
processor fitted with the dough blade and process with several pulses
to sift. Place the starter on top of the flour mixture. With the machine
running, pour 2 cups cold water through the feed tube and process
until the dough comes together and gathers into a ball. Process 30 to
45 seconds longer to knead. Finish kneading on a well..floured .surface
with well..floured hands. The dough will be tacky and moist.

First Rise. Place in a well..oiled bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap,
and let rise until doubled, about I 1h hours. The dough is ready
when it is very bubbly and blistered.

Shaping and Second Rise. Cut the dough in half on a floured surface
and shape into 2 round loaves. Place in oiled and floured 8..inch
round bannetons or in baskets lined with generously floured kitchen
towels. Cover with towels and let rise until fully doubled and risen
to the tops of the bannetons, about 1 hour.

Baking. Thirty minutes before baking, heat the oven with a baking
stone in it to 400 0 F. Sprinkle the stone with cornmeal. Very carefully
invert the loaves onto the stone and bake until the loaf sounds
hollow when the bottom is tapped, about 1 hour. Coolon racks.

Pane di Como
Antico 0 Pane
Francese
Como Bread of

the Past, Known

Today as French
Bread

It is said that the legendary taste of Como bread owes a lot to the
air and water of the famous lake, but even without those particular
ingredients, this bread is a remarkable and delicious loaf with a big..
holed chewy interior and a crunchy crust. Today it is known all over
Italy as pane francese, or French bread. When it was still called Como
bread, it was the only food that brought about a rapprochement of
sorts between the contentious regions of Lombardy and Piedmont.
Each was fiercely proud of its culinary specialties, creating quarrels
over every dish and gastronomic tradition, but they did relax their
differences long enough to speed this bread from the Paduan plain

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PANI REGIONALI E RUSTICI

Pane di Como Antico (continued)

where it was baked to the far reaches of both areas. I am told that it
reached its pinnacle of tastiness on the Sunday bicycle ride from
Milan to Como when it was served as a snack after about 25 miles
of pedaling.
I based this recipe on one from Giancarlo Grignani, a scholar and
master baker in Milan, who researched the bread as it tasted in
earlier centuries. He uses a complicated natural yeast for which I
have substituted a starter made with a minuscule amount of yeast
and mixed with a little whole'wheat flour into the unbleached flour
to give it the authentic taste of a time when flours were less refined
than today. I have often made this dough and refrigerated it overnight
for the second rise; it only gets better with the long cool development
of the yeast.
Serve it with stews and meats with rich sauces, with green salads,
fresh cheeses, sliced salami, and smoked meats.

Makes 2 long loaves

34 cup (180 grams) Biga (page 100) made with half the yeast
11/2 cups water, room temperature
1/2 cup (65 grams) whole-wheat flour
3 to 3 14 cups (435 grams) unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons (10 grams) salt
Cornmeal

BY HAND

Cut the starter into small pieces in a large mixing bowl. Add all but
1 to 2 tablespoons of the water and mix until the starter is in fine
shreds and the liquid is chalky white. Stir in the whole'wheat flour
and most of the all,purpose flour, 1 cup at a time. When the dough
is a fairly rough and shaggy mass, stir in the salt dissolved in the
remaining water. Knead on a floured surface, sprinkling with up to
Ih cup additional flour and using the dough scraper to scrape up the
fine film of dough that will accumulate on the work surface, as well
as to turn and lift the dough. After about 5 minutes of kneading,
slam the dough down hard several times to help develop the gluten.
Continue kneading until the dough is smooth, a total of 8 to 12
minutes. The dough should still be soft, moist, and sticky.

BY MIXER

Mix the starter and all but 1 to 2 tablespoons of the water with the
paddle in a large mixer bowl. Mix in the flours and then the salt
dissolved in the remaining water. Change to the dough hook and
knead at medium speed until soft, moist, and sticky but obviously

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105

elastic, about 4 minutes. Finish kneading by hand on a floured

surface, sprinkling with additional flour, until smooth but still soft.

BY PROCESSOR

Refrigerate the starter until cold. Process the starter and llh cups
cold water with the steel blade and remove to another bowl. Change
to the dough blade and process the flours and salt with 2 or 3 pulses
to sift. With the machine running, pour the starter mixture through
the feed tube as quickly as the flour can absorb it. Process 30 to 45
seconds longer to knead. The dough will be moist and sticky. Finish
kneading by hand on a floured surface, sprinkling with additional
flour, until the dough is smooth but still soft.

First Rise. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic
wrap, and let rise until doubled, 11;2 to 2 hours. The dough is ready
when it has numerous bubbles and blisters under the skin.

Shaping and Second Rise. Divide the dough in half on a floured surface
without kneading it. Shape into 2 round loaves. Let them relax under
a cloth for 20 minutes. Line baking sheets or peels with parchment
paper and flour the paper generously. Roll each ball into a fat cylinder
and place seam side down on the paper. Dimple the loaves all over
with your fingertips or knuckles, as for focaccia, to keep the dough
from springing up. The dough should feel delicate but extremely
springy. Cover the loaves and let rise until doubled, with many visible
air bubbles, 11,4 to 11;2 hours.

Baking. Thirty minutes before baking, heat the oven with a baking
stone in it to 425 0 F. Sprinkle the baking stone with cornmeal. Carry
the peel or baking sheet to the oven and very gently invert the
dough onto the stone. Gently remove the parchment paper. (See
illustration in Ciabatta recipe, page 107.) Immediately reduce the heat
to 400 0 F and bake until golden, 35 to 40 minutes. Coolon racks.

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PANI REGIONALI E RUSTICI

Ciabatta
Slipper--Shaped
Bread from
Lake Como

I can't think of a way to describe the fabulous and unusual taste of

ciabatta except to say that once you've eaten it, you'll never think of
white bread in the same way again. Everyone who tries this bread
loves it. Ciabatta means slipper in Italian; one glance at the short
stubby bread will make it clear how it was named. Ciabatta is a
remarkable combination of rustic country texture and elegant and
tantalizing taste. It is much lighter than its homely shape would
indicate, and the porous chewy interior is enclosed in a slightly
crunchy crust that is veiled with flour. Eat for breakfast or slice an
entire ciabatta horizontally and stuff it with salami and cheese.
This dough should be made in the mixer, although it also works
in the processor. I have made it by hand but wouldn't recommend
it unless you are willing to knead the wet, sticky mass between your
hands-in mid..air-turning, folding, and twisting it rather like taffy,
your hands covered with dough. You can't put it on the table because
the natural inclination is to add lots of flour to this very sticky
dough and pretty soon you wouldn't have a ciabatta. Resist the
temptation to add flour and follow the instructions. The dough will
feel utterly unfamiliar and probably a bit scary. And that's not the
only unusual feature-the shaped loaves are flat and look definitely
unpromising; even when they are puffed after the second rise, you
may feel certain you've done it all wrong. Don't give up. The loaves
rise nicely in the oven.

Makes 4 loaves, each about the width of a hand and the length of the arm
from wrist to elbow
1 teaspoon active dry yeast or 1h small cake (6 grams) fresh yeast
5 tablespoons warm milk
1 cup plus 3 tablespoons water, room temperature
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cups (500 grams) Biga (page 100), made 12 hours before
33;4 cups (500 grams) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon (15 grams) salt
Cornmeal

BY MIXER

Stir the yeast into the milk in a mixer bowl; let stand until creamy,
about 10 minutes. Add the water, oil, and starter and mix with the
paddle until blended. Mix the flour and salt, add to the bowl, and
mix for 2 to 3 minutes. Change to the dough hook and knead for 2
minutes at low speed, then 2 minutes at medium speed. Knead briefly
on a well..floured surface, adding as little flour as possible, until the
dough is velvety, supple, very springy, and moist.

REGIONAL AND RUSTIC BREADS 107

BY PROCESSOR

Refrigerate the starter until cold. Stir the yeast into the milk in a
large bowl; let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes. Add 1 cup plus
3 tablespoons cold water, the oil, and starter and mix, squeezing the
starter between your fingers to break it up. Place the flour and salt
in the food processor fitted with the dough blade and process with
several pulses to sift. With the machine running, pour the starter
mixture through the feed tube and process until the dough comes
together. Process about 45 seconds longer to knead. Finish kneading
on a well..floured surface until the dough is velvety, supple, moist,
and very springy.

First Rise. Place the dough in an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap,
and let rise until doubled, about ItA hours. The dough should be
full of air bubbles, very supple, elastic, and sticky.
Shaping and Second Rise. Cut the dough into 4 equal pieces on a well..
floured surface. Roll up each piece into a cylinder, then stretch each
into a rectangle, about 10 X 4 inches, pulling with your fingers to
get it long and wide enough. Generously flour 4 pieces of parchment
paper on peels or. baking sheets. Place each loaf, seam side up, on a
paper. Dimple the )oaves vigorously with your fingertips or knuckles
so that they won't rise too much. The dough will look heavily
pockmarked, but it is very resilient so don't be concerned. Cover
loosely with dampened towels and let rise until puffy but not doubled,
I 1h to 2 hours. The loaves will look flat and definitely unpromising
but don't give up for they will rise more in the oven.
1. Pulling and stretching
the dough

2. Dimpling the dough

Baking. Thirty minutes before baking, heat the oven with baking
stones in it to 425 0 F. Just before baking, sprinkle the stones with
cornmeal. Carefully invert each loaf onto a stone. If the dough sticks
a bit, just work it free from the paper gently. Bake for 20 to 25
minutes, spraying 3 times with water in the first 10 minutes. Coolon
racks.

3. Turning the ciabatta

off parchment onto
stone