Easy Italian Recipes

Mafalda concertina rolls

To make mafalda rolls, roll out a long sausage of dough and bend it back and forth in a concertina pattern. Fold the last length along the middle of the folds to secure them in place. Scatter over some sesame seeds. If you find they are not sticking, lightly brush a little water over the surface before putting the seeds on.

Plait masterclass

Make one long sausage of dough around 30cm in length. Make another around 60cm in length. Secure the longer length at its halfway point around the top of the shorter length. Now use the three lengths to make a plait of dough. Secure at the bottom with a little water, if necessary, to hold the plait in place.

Twists

Roll one long sausage-shaped length of dough. Fold it in half and then hold it in the air and give a twist. The ends will spin and twist around one another. Secure at the bottom with a little water, if necessary.

 Makes 10 spiral rolls

1 quantity of Quick White Bread dough
100g cooked spinach, thoroughly squeezed dry 200g ricotta
25g Parmesan, finely grated
grated nutmeg, to taste
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Follow the instructions for the Quick White Bread until the dough is shaped. Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas mark 6 and oil a large baking tray.

Make the stuffing by combining the ingredients in a bowl, seasoning to taste. Roll the dough into a rectangle lcm thick. Spread the spinach mixture over the dough and roll it up into a log shape. Cut into ten.

Transfer the rolls to the tray, making sure they have enough space around them to increase in size. Set aside in a warm place, covered with a tea-towel, until doubled in size, about 45 minutes. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden and cooked through.

Rustic White Bread with Madre

This big rustic white loaf, often referred to as the pagnotta, or 'loaf', is found in various guises across Italy. It takes a while to prepare since the dough is left to rise, and is reshaped and moulded four times over 24 hours. Start it in the evening and leave the dough to rise overnight. The dough relies solely on the natural ferment in the madre. It should be full of holes, have a wonderful acidity and a chewy, crispy crust. After making this loaf you will appreciate the difference between artisan loaves and industrially made white bread.

Makes 1 large loaf

350g madre
500g strong white flour
3 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons honey
300ml tepid water

Mix the flour and the salt in a bowl. Add the honey to the water and blend with a small whisk or your hands. Pour into the flour and add the madre. Using your hands or a plastic dough scraper, bring the ingredients together until you have a loose ball of dough. Transfer to a lightly floured work surface and knead for 10 minutes, until smooth. Try to use additional flour sparingly. Put the dough in a floured bowl and cover with a tea-towel. Let it rise for an hour.
Re-knead the dough and form it into a ball; leave to rest for another hour. Repeat this process once more. Put the dough in a basket lined with a loose-weave linen tea-towel sprinkled with flour. Cover with a cloth and leave in a cool place or the fridge to rise for 14-15 hours. It is ready when doubled in size and it springs back slowly to the touch.
In the last hour, preheat the oven to 240°C/475°F/gas mark 9. Put in a baking tray upside down. When the dough is ready, gently turn it out onto a pala or baking tray sprinkled with semolina. Spray the oven with water. Slash the top of the dough with a cross and slide it onto the hot inverted tray. Spray the oven with water and quickly close the door to trap the steam inside. Bake for 10 minutes, then turn the oven down to 220°C/425°F/gas mark 7 and bake for 25-30 minutes. If it begins to burn after 25 minutes and is not cooked through, turn the oven down to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4. The loaf is ready when light to the touch and hollow-sounding if tapped on the base.

Quick White Bread

This is a quick white dough without a biga or madre. It can be used as a basic dough for the Spinach and Ricotta Rolls, the Roasted Vegetable Rolls and the Walnut and Olive Breads. One of our chefs, Chef, used to make a large batch of this dough and leave it in the fridge overnight to rise. He would then turn it into seeded rolls, focaccia, pizza for the staff lunch and grissini. By leaving it to rise slowly, he ensured the dough developed its flavour through slow fermentation rather than adding a starter. The simplicity of this recipe is that it has one rising after being kneaded and shaped. This gives a close-grained loaf, If you have time and prefer a more open grain, leave to rise in a bowl for an hour or two or overnight like Chef, then shape and allow to prove again.

2 teaspoons salt
500g strong white flour lOg fresh yeast
350ml tepid water

Mix the salt into the flour on a board and make a well in the centre. Blend the yeast into the water with a small whisk or your hands, then pour it into the well in the mound of flour. Bring the dough together with your fingers or a dough scraper and collect it into a ball.

Try to use additional flour sparingly; a good dough should be as wet as possible without being impossible to handle. Establish a pattern of pushing the dough out into a long oval, then fold it back towards you, trapping air inside. Next give a quarter turn and push it out again. Keep thinking: stretch it, fold it, turn it; stretch it, fold it, turn it. 

The dough is ready when it is springs back to the touch, feels elastic and stops sticking to the board. If the amount you are making is big, split the dough into 2 to make it easier to knead.
Preheat the oven to 220°C/425°F/gas mark 7. Shape the dough as required and place it on a flat piece of wood or baking tray dusted with flour or semolina. This helps it slide into the oven when risen. Leave in a warm place to rise until doubled in size, 45-60 minutes. When ready, the dough should slowly bounce back to the touch. Make a cross in the top of the dough, then put in the oven on an oiled baking tray. Bake the loaves for 30-35 minutes, the rolls for about 20 minutes.

Starters

Using a fermentation 'starter' helps to develop flavour and create a more open texture and chewy crust. This is the flavour that hits you when you break into a wonderful artisan loaf and release the slightly beery, acidic smell inside. The longer the starter is given to ferment, the more pronounced these qualities. There are three types of starter: the everlasting starter (or madre) made from natural yeast, the starter dough (or biga) made from beer yeast a day or two before the dough is made and used in its entirity, and the mother dough which is literally a piece of dough kept back from the previous day's baking and aded to the next batch. All these starters, to a greater or lesser degree, give the bread qualities that cannot be found in a loaf made without a starter. Of the three, the madre produces the highest acidity, the most flavour and a good crust.
Traditional Italian wheat flour is weak in gluten and so using a starter of any kind helps to form a good, well risen loaf. Today, imported Canadian flours are far stronger than they were in the past, making a starter less necessary to ensure bread made with this type of flour rises, but a starter is still good for flavour. Some of the Italians I have worked with tell me that now beer yeast and good flour are readily available, they no longer use a starter as their mothers did 20 or 30 years ago. Some Italian bakers use a poolish, the starter used by French bakers. This is more liquid than a biga, usually containing the same amount of water to flour, and its name derives from the Polish bakers whose techniques were taken to France. However, it is not nearly as popular as the firmer, more traditional biga.

Everlasting starter (madre)

This is sometimes referred to in English as a 'mother' or 'sourdough' starter and in Italian as lievito di madre, madriga or pasta acida. Before beer yeast was readily available, each household would make its own starter from airborne yeasts or those found in fermenting fruits such as grapes. It's easy enough to create your own yeast culture from flour, water and honey over about a week. This can then be kept in the fridge, 'fed' regularly with flour and water, and used to give bread a wonderful flavour, crust and texture. Such starters are everlasting: some bakeries in America claim to have had their starter for over one hundred years. It can be made out of white or wholemeal flour. I have used both successfully, but if you want a pure white bread you cannot use a wholemeal starter; bear in mind, though, that a wholemeal starter works more quickly. It is better to choose the type of flour according to the bread you are most likely to make - if you are a lover of wholemeal, stick to a wholemeal starter.

- 200g organic strong white flour or organic strong wholemeal flour, or a mixture of the two
- 150m1 tepid water
- 1 teaspoon organic mild honey, such as acacia

Mix all the ingredients together well and leave in a plastic container in a warm place with the lid slightly ajar. In a day or two the contents will start to ferment and bubble, and a strong smell of alcohol will develop. I was convinced this was wrong the first time I made this madre and threw it away! Perservere; the flavour will moderate over time and with regular feeding, and the resulting flavour of your bread will be delicious. After two days, discard 100g of the fermented mixture and 'feed' it with another 200g of the same type of flour and 150m1 water. Mix them in well, including any crust that has developed. This can be done by blitzing in a food-processor. Repeat every now and again to ensure that the madre has a smooth consistency. Leave the mixture again, lid on this time, in a warm place for another 48 hours and then discard another 100g and feed as before. Leave for one more day, then the madre is ready to use according to the instructons in the recipe. From now on keep the madre in the fridge with the lid on. All you need to remember is to use (or discard) 350g a week and then to feed it with flour and water as before. Don't worry too much about the timing, though; at the low temperature of your fridge, the madre will forgive you if you leave it for up to ten days without nourishment. If you have too much because of lack of use and subsequent feedings, throw away a little more of the madre each time to compensate'. If I want to use the madre the day after feeding it, I leave it out-of the fridge to speed up the fermentation. Similarly, if I know I won't be using it for another few days, I immediately put it back in the fridge to slow down the fermentation.

If I do not have an everlasting starter in my fridge, I make a biga a couple of days before or even the night before I want to make bread. This type of starter dough can also be frozen. Just remember that it needs to defrost for 3 hours at room temperature to return to its bubbly and active old self. I find I can make most Italian bread successfully in this way.
A biga usually consists of half the amount of water to flour and a very small percentage of beer yeast (lievito di birra). As with other starters, there are several ways of preparing a biga, and each recipe can differ according to the type of bread being made. I have worked out a simple method here that can be added to a variety of recipes. Either mix it with the water first or
knead into the rest of the ingredients when they form a dough - whichever -
you find easier. For best results when using a biga, be patient and give the dough a few hours to rise to let the flavour really emerge. As a general rule, the slower the fermentation, the better the flavour of the bread.

Writing a chapter about Italian bread is like negotiating a maze: it is full of traps, contradictory information and differing opinions. Bread is made differently all over Italy, and those differences are not simply regional: bread-making varies from town to town, street to street and home to home. What I want to convey here, then, is the spirit of Italian bread and the ease of making classics- such as focaccia and pizza, which are still made in most households today. As you grow in experience, I hope you'll be encouraged to try making breads using a madre, such as the Rustic White Bread, or with a biga, such as the Spelt Bread or Rye Bread. First, though, a little explanation about how the rising is achieved.

Yeast is a single-celled fungus that eats carbohydrate as it multiplies. As it does so, it produces carbon dioxide gas in the form of little bubbles, which are perfect for making bread. A few cells of yeast are all you need, but the amount of yeast required to make dough rise varies hugely in accordance with the result you are seeking. I would use as little as 3g yeast to 500g flour in some recipes to produce a very slow fermentation that gives an acidic flavour to the finished loaf. But I have also listed recipes here with 25g yeast to 500g flour, for example a Pugliese-style focaccia.

In this recipe, the bubbles rise quickly to the surface and the bread is light, airy and quick to make. As a general rule, the less yeast you use, the longer the fermentation and therefore the better the flavour.

Natural yeast
Natural airborne yeasts are all around us and can be harvested simply by leaving food out for them. This is what must have first happened a few thousand years ago when someone accidentally left the dough out and it started to ferment from the natural yeast in the air. When it was baked, or mixed first with fresh dough, this leavened bread would have tasted really rather nice! Since then, people have been making their own starter doughs (often called a Thother'), from natural yeast found in the air or from fermenting substances like fruit, including grapes (or grape must), apples and oranges. This was how all bread was leavened before beer yeast was marketed in fresh or dried form. If you want to make your own starter in this way, follow the instructions for making your own madre (mother)

Fresh yeast
Though you can achieve equally good results with fresh or dried commerial yeast, I prefer to use fresh yeast. It feels more natural and is generally preferred in Italy, where you can buy it in shops and supermarkets. Here, it is a little harder to find, but you can usually buy it from health food stores, organic shops or the bakeries in some supermarkets. Fresh yeast keeps in the fridge for up to three weeks if it is covered, and you can rub it straight into the flour when you start making your bread, however I prefer to melt it in tepid water first to prevent any lumps of yeast appearing in my dough.
If you buy a large block of fresh yeast, cut it into small portions, wrap them in clingfilm and store in the freezer for up to three months. You should defrost them before use... that said, on occasion I have had to use yeast from frozen and as soon as it hits the tepid water it quickly melts.

Dried yeast
The advantage of dried yeast is that you can keep it in a cupboard and bring it out as necessary rather than worrying about using up the fresh yeast stored in the fridge within its three-week shelf life. Just make sure you observe the use-by date as even dried yeast eventually perishes. Use half the quantity of dried yeast to fresh.
Old-fashioned dried yeasts had to be brought back to life with warm water and a touch of sugar, but today's fast-action or easy-blend yeasts can simply be mixed straight in with the flour.

TYPES OF FLOUR

Strong flour
Because of the proteins in the grain used to make strong flour, it yields higher quantities of gluten. The extra gluten makes bread-making more successful. Although most countries measure their flour in terms of gluten levels, Italy does not, which means you cannot directly compare Italian flour with flour from other parts of the world.

Semola and semolina
Creamy coloured semola is milled durum wheat. Its name means 'semi-milled' indicating that it is coarser than regular '00' and '0' white flour. Semola rimacinata is more finely ground and this is used to make pasta or bread by hand in the south of Italy.

Semola acts like little ball bearings on a pala (the thin board for shunting pizza or loaves into the oven). Rather than sticking, the dough glides from the pala onto the hot baking tray in the oven.

As semola is difficult to find in the UK, a good substitute is the finest semolina, made from soft wheat that has not been completely ground to flour. The recipe for Semolina Bread (see page 50) makes a particularly tasty loaf that lasts well, and here semolina is combined with strong flour.

Plain flour
This 'soft' flour is not available in Italy, but because it is finely milled, it is similar to '00' flour. Plain flour contains less gluten than '0' or '00' flours, making it suitable for cakes and pastry which do not need a high gluten quantity. Do not use it for making bread.

Self-raising flour
Simply flour with baking powder added, this is unheard of in Italy. Instead, Italians use '00' flour and add little blue packets of pane degli angeli, baking powder that may contain vanilla flavouring. Since there are also E numbers in these sachets, I prefer to use plain or '00' flour and add my own baking powder. If I need vanilla, I use the seeds from a pod or vanilla extract.

Wholemeal flour
This is becoming more popular in Italy among artisan bakeries and those adopting healthy or high-fibre diets. All bread and pasta was once wholemeal. However, over time the rich opted for white flours, and there is still a snobbery about only eating white-flour products. Cetina, who made bread with me in Sicily, said rather disparagingly, 'Only people on diets use wholemeal bread so they only eat small amounts, hence all the sfilatini - long, small loaves - in the shops'.

Farina di grano Saraceno - buckwheat flour
This is not suitable for bread, although it could be added for flavour. It is used for making pizzoccheri pasta.

Farina di grano Turco - corn flour
Corn, or maize, came to Italy from America, but it was assumed at the time that it came from Turkey hence the name 'Turkish grain'. Finely ground corn flour is used to thicken sauces such as crema pasticcera. When corn is semi-ground, it is used to make polenta. Polenta is sometimes used in bread-making to form a crusty coating on bread or breadsticks.

Farina di segale - rye flour
Common in Central Europe, where it is used to make the traditional brown bread - and vodka - rye is common in northern Italy, especially in Valle D'Aosta and Trentino Alto Adige, where the traditional food has been influenced by Austria
and Switzerland. Often breads made with rye flour are flavoured with caraway seeds. As rye gluten is very weak, it needs to be mixed with strong white flour for bread-making.

Farina di farro - spelt or emmer wheat
Spelt and emmer wheat are types of farro, which is the most ancient cereal used by humankind. It has a high level
of fibre and it works really well for baking. Some people say that the Romans won their empire on farro, because their soldiers could fight and travel for longer on the slow-releasing carbohydrate gained from mush made from the grains. The gluten contained in farro is more easily digested than in wheat, making it good for people with a wheat intolerance. The hard exterior to the grain gives it protection against insects and therefore the crop does not require pesticides.
The flavour is good too. It may be psychological, but I am sure I feel better when I have baked a farro loaf.

•Breaking on side

a) Decrease oven temperature.
b) Make sure dough has risen enough before baking.
c) Roll dough tightly and seal edges securely.

•Browning on sides

a) Bright pans reflect heat away from sides so choose dark pans.
b) Do not overcrowd the oven. This may restrict the volume in the oven and distribute the heat poorly and non efficiantly.

•Collapses in oven

a) To prevent over-rising when making yeast bread, the kneaded dough has to set in a slightly warm place in order to let the yeast act and the dough develop. This step improves the flavor and the texture of the bread.

•To rise, place the kneaded dough in a lightly oiled, large mixing bowl. The dough should be turned over to oil the top so that it does not dry out. Cover the bowl loosely with plastic wrap or foil and let the dough rise in a warm, draft-free location. The oven is an ideal place for this. For an electric oven or a gas oven with electronic ignition, heat the oven at the lowest setting for one minute, then turn off. In other gas ovens, the pilot light will provide enough warmth. Place a pan of very warm water toward the back of the oven to provide moisture. Place the bowl or pan of dough on the center rack and close the door.

Many factors, including the recipe, room temperature, and humidity, will determine how long it takes for the dough to rise. The best way to decide whether it has risen sufficiently and is ready to be punched down and shaped is to perform a "ripe test." Gently stick two fingers in the risen dough up to the second knuckle and take them out. If the indentations remain, the dough is ripe and ready for punch down. If not, cover and let rise longer.

•Cracking on tops

a) Do not cool bread in a draft.
b) Decrease flour amount
c) Increase kneading time to develop the gluten better.

•Crumbles easily

a) Increase the mixing time.
b) Decrease the flour amount.
c) Make sure the rising place is not over 90 degrees F.
d) Use the over-rising technique to prevent over-rising.
e) Use a higher oven temperature.

•Damp inside

a) Use an instant-read thermometer to be certain the bread is completely baked.
b) Use the over-rising technique to be sure dough has risen enough before baking.

•Dark lines in bread

a) Increase the mixing and kneading times.
b) Use less oil to grease rising bowl.
c) Be sure dough is covered during rising time.

•Doesn't rise in oven

a) Make sure the rising place is not over 90 degrees F
b) Use the ripe test to prevent over-rising.

•Doughy on bottom

a) Immediately after baking, remove from pans and cool on racks.

•Dough doesn't rise

a) Use thermometer for accurate liquid temperature.
b) Decrease the flour amount.
c) Use oven for a rising place.
d) Check activity of yeast.

•Dry and coarse grain

a) Decrease amount of flour.
b) Increase kneading time to develop the gluten better.
c) Use the over-rising technique to prevent over-rising.
d) Use a higher oven temperature.

•Heavy and compact

a) Decrease flour amount.
b) Use the over-rising technique to be sure dough has risen enough before baking.
c)Certain flours, such as whole wheat and rye, create heavier products than white flour.

•Holes in bread

a) Completely press air out of dough before shaping.
b) Use the over-rising technique to prevent over-rising.

•Sour taste
a) Make sure the rising place is not over 90 degrees F.
b) Use the over-rising technique to prevent over-rising.

•Thick crust

a) Decrease the flour amount.
b) Lengthen the rising time using the over-rising technique.
c) Use a higher oven temperature.

•Yeasty and smelly

a) Use the over-rising technique to prevent over-rising.
b) Make sure the rising place is not over 90 degrees F.

White Bread

Ingredients

1.5 teaspoons active dry yeast
2 tablespoons crisco or tenderflake
1 1/4 cups warm water
2.5 tablespoons white sugar
2 teaspoons salt (neutral salty taste0
3 cups all-purpose flour
1.5 tablespoon butter, melted

Directions
1• Mix together shortening, sugar, salt, yeast, and 1 cup flour. Add warm water and beat by hand until manageable, or 3 minutes with an electric mixer. Add remaining flour, scraping bowl often, and mix all together until smooth.
2• Cover with a clean cloth and let rise until doubled in volume.
3• Stir dough down gently, and spoon into a lightly greased 9x5 inch loaf pan (the batter should be sticky). Pat down with floured hands to help shape. Cover again, and let rise for about 30 minutes.
4• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
5• Bake for about 45 minutes. Place on a cooling rack, and brush top with melted butter.

Sun Dried Tomato and Provolone Bread
Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup shredded Provolone Piccante
1/2 cup thinly sliced scallion
2 tablespoons minced Italian parsley leaves
3/4 teaspoon dried rosemary, crumbled
3/4 teaspoon coarsely ground pepper
1/3 cup drained and chopped Il Forteto sun-dried tomatoes
2 tablespoons of the oil from the Il Forteto sun dried tomato jar
2 tablespoons vegetable shortening
2 tablespoons sugar
2 garlic cloves, pealed and minced, sauteed in 2 tablespoons of oil from Sun Dried Tomato jar
2 large eggs, beaten lightly
1 1/4 cups, buttermilk
1/3 cup pine nuts or walnuts, toasted lightly

Directions:
1• Into a large bowl sift together the flour, the baking powder, the salt, and the baking soda.
2• Add the provolone, the scallion, the parsley, the rosemary, the pepper, and the sun-dried tomatoes, and toss the mixture well.
3• In a small bowl whisk together the shortening, the sun-dried tomato oil, and the sugar until the mixture is smooth.
4• Add the garlic, the eggs, and the buttermilk, and blend mixture until it is combined well.
5• Add the buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture with the nuts and stir the batter until it is just combined.
6• Divide the batter among 3 well-buttered 6x3 inch loaf pans, smoothing the tops, and bake the loaves in the middle of a preheated 350F oven for 45 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean.
7• Let the loaves cool in the pans for 5 minutes, loosen the edges with a knife, and turn the loaves out onto a rack.

Makes 3 loaves.

Casalinga Bread
Ingredients

2 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast
2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
6 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup butter, chilled and diced

Directions
1• In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
2• In a large bowl, combine 4 cups of flour and salt. Cut in the butter and stir in the yeast mixture. Beat in the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time. When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. Butter a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl, and turn to coat. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
3• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Lightly grease a large baking sheet.
4• Deflate the dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Form the dough into a large oval loaf. Place onto the prepared pan. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise until doubled in volume, about 30 minutes. When the loaf is risen, cut a 1/2 inch deep cross onto the top of it. Brush the top with water before baking.
5• Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and bake for an additional 15 minutes, or until bottom of loaf sounds hollow when tapped. Let cool on a wire rack before slicing.

Ciabatta Bread

Ingredients
12oz / 350g plain flour
1/4 teaspoon easy blend yeast
7fl oz/200ml warm water
olive oil
1/2 pint /300ml warm water
1 tablespoon olive oil
5 tablespoons warm milk
1 1/4 lb / 500g plain flour
1 teaspoon easy blend yeast
1 tablespoon salt
cornmeal to dust

Description
1 • Add yeast to sifted flour and slowly mix in the water. Beat for five minutes. Place in a bowl and brush with olive oil. Cover and leave to rise in a warm place until tripled in size (5-24 hours). Now chill.

2 • Stir the warm water, milk and olive oil into the chilled mixture. Slowly add this mixture to the 1 1/4 lb of flour, adding the yeast and salt.

3 • Using either a food processor or those at the end of your wrists, form into a dough and then knead on a floured surface until springy. Put dough in an oiled bowl, cover and leave to rise until doubled in size.

4 • Divide into four and stretch dough into rectangles, pressing flat with your knuckles. Cover with a damp cloth and leave in a warm place for 2 hours. Pre-heat oven to 220°C, gas mark 7. Heat baking sheets in oven. Dust baking sheets with cornmeal and place dough on top.

5 • Bake 25 minutes, sprinkling with water three times during the first 10 minutes.

Focaccia Bread

Ingredients

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1 pinch ground black pepper
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 cup water
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup mozzarella

Directions
1• In a large bowl, stir together the flour, salt, sugar, yeast, garlic powder, oregano, thyme, basil and black pepper. Mix in the vegetable oil and water.
2• When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead until smooth and elastic. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl, and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth, and let rise in a warm place for 20 minutes.
3• Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). Punch dough down; place on greased baking sheet. Pat into a 1/2 inch thick rectangle. Brush top with olive oil. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and mozzarella cheese.
4• Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Serve warm.

Italian Bread

Ingredients

3 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 tablespoon salt
7 cups all-purpose flour

Directions
1• Add the sugar and yeast to the warm water and let proof.
2• Stir in 4 cups of flour and beat until smooth. Cover and let rest for 15 minutes.
3• Beat in the salt and then add enough remaining flour to make a stiff dough. Knead until as soft and smooth as a bambino's behind. Turn in a greased bowl, cover, and let double in size. (I put it in the oven with the light on - perfect rising temperature.)
4• Once doubled, punch down and divide into three. Place back in the bowl, cover, and let rise.
5• Once doubled again, punch down and form into three fat "footballs." Grease heavy cookie sheets and sprinkle with corn meal. Place the bread on the sheets, cover with a towel, and let rise.
6• Once risen, mist with water and place in a preheated 450 degrees F (230 degrees C) oven. Mist loaves with water and turn occasionally while they bake. Bread is done when golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom. Makes three (3) loafs.

Cheese Herb Bread

 
Ingredients

2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
2 tablespoons margarine, softened
1 1/2 tablespoons dried oregano
2 tablespoons white sugar
4 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese

Directions
1• Sprinkle yeast over water in large bowl. Let stand a few minutes, then stir and dissolve yeast. Add sugar, salt, margarine, 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, oregano and 3 cups of the flour. Beat at slow speed for 2 minutes. Beat in rest of flour; cover the bowl with a sheet of wax paper and a kitchen towel. Let rise in a warm place 45 minutes, or until doubled in volume.
2• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease one round, 2-quart casserole. Set aside.
3• Stir batter down for 1/2 a minute. Turn batter into casserole. Sprinkle with the remaining 1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese.
4• Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 55 minutes. Makes one (1).

Black Treacle Loaf

Ingredients:
1/4 cup black treacle
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 egg
4 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup milk
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup raisins, chopped
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

Directions:
1• Preheat oven to 350 degress. In a medium bowl, cream black treacle, brown sugar, and egg.
2• In a small sauce pan melt together butter and milk. Cool and stir into treacle mixture.
3• In a small bowl, combine flour, raisins, baking soda, and spices. Stir, all at once, into the treacle mixture, until just smooth.
4•Butter a small loaf pan (approximately 2 1/2 x 4-inch). Pour bread batter into loaf pan and bake in pre-heated oven for 30-35 minutes, until top is dry.

Strufoli (Italian Honey Balls)

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
2 eggs
1/4 tsp. salt
2 cups oil (for frying)
1/2 cup Honey
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbs. pine nuts or slivered almonds
1 Tbs. candy sprinkles

Directions:
Place 1 cup flour in large bowl.
Add eggs and salt. Mix and knead gently, adding enough flour to make a soft dough.
Divide in half.
Roll each half into 1/4" strips.
Cut each strip into small (1/4" to 1/2") pieces and roll into little balls.

1• Spread on floured board.
2• Heat oil in deep frying pan over medium heat until hot.
3• Fry balls, a few at a time, for 1 to 2 minutes or until golden.
4• Drain.
5• Blend honey and sugar in deep frying pan.
6• Stir constantly over low heat for about 5 minutes or until sugar has dissolved and mixture is smooth.
7• Add fried balls and stir with wooden spoon until coated.
8• Arrange in mound on serving plate and decorate with nuts and sprinkles.
9• Let cool before serving.