This post comes, somewhat, from a baking disaster. Well, not really a disaster; no one was hurt, nothing was damaged, it was just that a particular recipe we were trying had problems in the ingredients list. Instead of something nice to bring down to the fellow volunteers on Monday, we were left with a mess spread across a couple of baking sheets. As luck would have it, we’d happened to see Jim Lahey present the baking of his no-knead breads at the Tucson Festival of Books the day previously, so we switched gears completely and quickly made his Pizza Bianca alla Romana.
If you’re looking for probably the easiest bread you’ll ever make, you’ve found it right here. Really. Simply put ingredients in the mixer (you can make it by hand, too; see Jim Lahey’s book, Sullivan Street Bakery, for details), mix, let rise, a quick shape, and bake.
Jim Lahey’s Pizza Bianca alla Romana
Ingredients
- 350 g all-purpose flour, plus more for shaping (2 1/2 cups)
- 50 g white whole-wheat flour (1/3 cup)
- 4 g salt (1 tsp)
- 4 g sugar (1 tsp)
- 1 g dried yeast (1/4 tsp)
- 400 g lukewarm water (1 2/3 cups)
- Extra-virgin olive oil for drizzling
- Kosher salt for sprinkling
- Fresh rosemary leaves for sprinkling
Instructions
- Place dry ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low for 15 seconds to combine. Add water, and mix, increasing speed to medium-high. Beat for 5 minutes, or until dough pulls away from the bowl.
- Transfer dough to another bowl and let rise until doubled, about 3 hours.
- Place a baking stone in the oven and preheat to 450°F.
- Turn out the dough onto a well-floured work surface. Fold in half to form a half-circle shape. Cut into 2 quarter circles and fold the corners in, overlapping to shape the dough. Pick up and gently flip each dough ball onto a piece of parchment.
- Drizzle and spread about a teaspoon of olive oil on top. Sprinkle with kosher salt and top with rosemary leaves.
- Immediately prior to baking, use your fingers to press the dough down in spots to make a dimpled surface. Transfer to the baking stone using a pizza peel.
- Bake 15-18 minutes, or until puffed and browned.
- Cool on a wire rack.
Ingredients discussion:
The only reason we have white whole-wheat flour listed is for color in the bread. You could use whole-wheat, or even more all-purpose flour. Use a good olive oil, as you’ll taste it on the bread.
If you can, use a scale to measure the ingredients. It really does make a difference in the consistency of your bread, because your measurements are more consistent. A cup of packed flour has more flour in it than a cup of freshly sifted flour, but 100 grams of flour is the same whether packed or sifted.
Procedure in detail:
Mix dry ingredients. Place all the dry ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Yes, the paddle, not the dough hook. Mix on low for 15 seconds to combine all the ingredients.
Add water and beat. Add the water and run the mixer on low to combine. Gradually increase the speed to medium-high (about 6 on a KitchenAid mixer), and beat the dough until it pulls away from the sides of the bowl and clings to the paddle. You’ll probably notice that the mixer slows down slightly around the time the dough is ready; the gluten is developing and clinging to the paddle, weighing it down and making it harder to spin.
Rise. Now, you probably don’t have to do this, but we transferred the dough to a clean bowl for the rise. To cover, use a plate or something non-porous. You’ll notice that the dough is very, very soft and quite sticky. This is what you want. Yes, we know, you’ve never seen bread dough like this. We hadn’t either, but forge ahead. Let the dough rise until doubled, about 3 hours.
Preheat oven to 450°F. Place a baking stone in the oven and let it heat along with the oven. Ideally, let the oven heat for at least a half hour before baking, giving plenty of time for the stone to become blazing hot.
Shape. Before starting the shaping, repeat this mantra: Flour is my friend, flour is my friend. Spread a generous amount of flour (at least 1/4 of a cup) on a clean work surface and generously dust the top of the dough while still in the bowl. Use a dough scraper to start scraping down the sides a bit — gently, don’t release the gas that’s built up — working the flour down the edges. Now, turn the bowl upside down, right above your floured work surface, and ease out the dough. It should be a rough circle. What’s now the top is very sticky. Very sticky. Fold the dough over on itself to make a half circle, and cut into two quarter circles with a floured bench knife. Fold in the corners of the dough, overlapping them slightly to form a flattened ball. Lift each, and deftly flip, placing each on a piece of parchment. Whew. That dough is soft, and flour was your friend, wasn’t it?
Flavor. Drizzle and spread a bit of olive oil on each piece of dough, followed by a hefty pinch of kosher salt and a light sprinkling of rosemary leaves.
Bake. Right before sliding the dough into the oven, use your fingers to make small dents, and stretch the dough slightly. Don’t go hog-wild and flatten out the dough; just pull the edges out a bit, and press down with your fingers to make dimples. Use a pizza peel to slide onto the hot baking stone and bake 15-18 minutes, or until puffed and browned. Cool on a wire rack.
This bread does turn out remarkably well. It has a great texture, a nice chewy crust, but we have to say that, while the flavor is really good, it’s lacking somewhat, but that’s probably because we make and eat naturally leavened bread that undergoes a long fermentation (read full of flavor) as our daily staff of life. Even so, we’re considering this bread for upcoming meals, and are going to be trying the version that uses a sourdough starter. Easy four stars!
