Pane Casereccio

I’ve been experimenting with a couple of ways to make homemade bread (pane casereccio), one that involves a starter and stand mixer and one that doesn’t. The no-starter-no-knead method is easier and seems to work better, so I’ve desctibed only this method here. (If you’re curious, the starter method for pane works as it does with the ciabatta recipe but without the coating of flour.) Some recipes call for baking bread inside a dutch oven to create the steam necessary for a good crust; however, I’ve found that steaming the oven itself works much better and using a pizza steel or cast-iron pan creates a better bottom crust.

In Rome, we fell in love with the pane di Genzano, which has a deep brown, crunchy crust and a light crumb. This below is not a proper recipe for pane di Genzano, but the result is similar. I will be experimenting with other recipes in the meantime. For example, the pane di Genzano uses a flour with less protein for an even lighter center, but I might prefer mine more.

Note that this bread dough requires a minimum of 20 hours to rise, so plan ahead! I usually start around noon the day before, then end up cooking it before dinner the next day.

Bread Dough Made Without Starter or Kneading:

400 g King Arthur Organic Bread Flour (12.7% protein)

2 g active dried yeast

1 tsp malt syrup or honey

300 g warm water (100°F)

10 g salt

1. In a small bowl, mix together the warm water, yeast, and malt syrup / honey until dissolved. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit for 15 minutes. Because you are using a lot of water, do not expect it to form the usual proofing foam on top. If you want to see that because you are unsure of your yeast, you should use less water during this proofing stage.

2. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour and salt. (Other bread recipes add salt last to avoid harming the yeast, but we’ve already given the yeast a head start here.)

3. Add the yeasty liquid to the flour mixture and stir until just combined. Don’t worry about making it smooth. Do not overmix.

4. Place on a lightly floured work surface. Knead for 10 seconds to get it round. Do not over-knead. It will mix itself while it's proofing.

5. Cover with an upside-down bowl and let sit for 30 minutes.

6. Do not knead. Place dough in a lightly-floured bowl, such as the one that came with your mixer. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator (41°F) for 16 to 24 hours. This slow rise develops the bread’s flavor. It should double in size.

7. After the long rise, sprinkle a little rice flour inside a rectangular bread pan lined with a dish towel gently transfer the dough to it. Sprinkle some more rice flour on top and loosely cover with plastic wrap and fold over the dish towel on top.

8. Let the covered dough rise (proof) for 3 1/2 hours at room temperature. Halfway through, do slap-and-fold on the dough a couple times, reshape, and put it back where it was. The dough should double in size, so you may need to go more than 3 1/2 hours.

9. At the end of its rise, make minor adjustments to the oval shape of the dough and spray the top with water and sprinkle wheat bran over the moist top. This top will become the bottom of the bread and the wheat bran, moister, and hot steel will help make the bottom crisper.

10. Do not make any cuts in the dough (pane di Genzano has no cuts).

11. When there’s an hour remaining in this last rise, begin this steamed cooking process:

a. Place a pizza steel or a cast-iron pan in the oven on the center rack.

b. Place two metal bread pans on the same rack, one on each side of the pizza steel / cast-iron pan. These will be used for steaming.

c. Preheat the oven to 500°F for one hour.

d. With 10 minutes remaining on the preheat, roll up six absorbent dish towels and place in a Pyrex dish of water. Microwave until boiling slightly, about 10 minutes.

e. Separately, microwave 1 cup of water until it is boiling gently, about 3-4 minutes.

f. Use tongs to transfer three hot towels into each of the bread pans in the oven. Pour 1/2 cup of boiling water, as well, into each.

g. Let steam develop in the oven for 5 minutes.

h. Quickly spray the pizza steel / cast-iron pan with water to promote even more steam.

i. Flip the dough over as you quickly transfer it to the pizza steel / cast-iron pan. The wheat bran side is now on the bottom.

j. Immediately close the door and turn the oven down to 425°F.

k. Bake bread for 40 minutes. After the first 15 minutes, remove the two steam pans and rearrange the bread to be more centered. 40 minutes will deliver a deep brown crust on top, just short of starting to appear burnt, which resembles that of our beloved pane di Genzano. Don't worry, the bread won't be dry inside.

l. Turn OFF the oven.

m. Remove the loaf and the baking steel / cast-iron pan (can skip removing steel you don't feel safe doing it). Return the loaf to the center rack.

n. Leave the door ajar 3 inches. Let the bread cool from hot to warm there. This method prevents any released moisture from softening the crust.

o. Once the bread has cooled to warm, remove and enjoy!

12. Ideally, store the bread in a special bread bag to keep it fresher. Adjust the openness of the bag to keep it crisp, too. If you seal it too much it can get soft and rubbery. There is a fine line between keeping it fresh and keeping it crisp.