Foolproof BreadItaliano

White bread: the recipe

White bread

A simple, honest white bread, within everyone's reach.

This preparation needs no special equipment: Just flour, water, yeast, salt and your hands. The process is straightforward and perfect for anyone who wants to get comfortable with dough and a direct method.

You'll get a classic loaf, with a fragrant crust and a soft, even crumb. It's a great bread to bring to the table alongside meals, perfect for mopping up sauces or for slicing into tasty sandwiches and everyday bruschetta.

This recipe is freely inspired by, or adapted from, a formula by Master Jeffrey Hamelman.

At a glance

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Ingredients

Quantities for 1 piece of 1037 g, kitchen at 20 °C

Want to change the ingredients or use your own flour? The calculator redoes quantities and timing. Open the calculator

Method

  1. Weigh the ingredients and knead (25 min)
    • Use water at 31 °C
  2. End of mixing, start of bulk rise (at room temperature) (3 h 30 min)
    Fold the dough three times, every 50 minutes: Mixing by hand develops less gluten than a machine would, and the folds help make up the difference.
  3. Reinforcement fold 1 of 3
  4. Reinforcement fold 2 of 3
  5. Reinforcement fold 3 of 3
  6. Divide/shape, start proofing (at room temperature) (1 h 8 min)
    The source leaves the division up to you: The default here is a single loaf of about 1 kg, but you can split it into more loaves if you prefer.
  7. Ready to cook
    About 1 to 1:15 at 24 °C.

Want to change when you start or when you bake? The calculator gives you the schedule with exact times. Open the calculator

Preparation notes

Baking
  1. Preheat the oven to 260 °C with a baking stone and a cast-iron pan (or another pan) below it for steam. When the dough is fully risen, score it, load it, and steam the oven. After about 10 minutes, lower the temperature to 220-232 °C, rotating the loaves partway through if needed for even coloration. The time depends on the size of the loaves: Bake until well browned.
  2. You can also bake it in a preheated, covered cast-iron pot: No need to steam, the bread will self-steam in the snug closed pot.

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