Italian Bread Italian bread is the greatest, all-versatile bread you can make. It can be served with pasta for lunch or dinner. It stands up well for a few days. At breakfast, Italian bread is perfect for scooping up the egg yellow on your plate and, when sliced, it can be used to make delicious French toasts. The 2 day-old Italian bread makes excellent croutons, or it's delicious in a bread pudding. There is no waste with Italian bread. A good Italian bread requires a preferment - a mixture of flour, water and yeast (a pinch of sugar) that bubbles up and looks like a science experiment, but it adds that incredible depth of flavor to the bread. Makes 2 large 2 pound loaves Preferment: 1 cup water 1 cup bread or all-purpose unbleached flour Pinch of sugar 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast Dough: All of the preferment 5 cups bread or all-purpose unbleached flour 1/2 cup nonfat dry milk 1 tablespoon sugar or honey 1 tablespoon salt 2 teaspoons instant yeast 1 tablespoon olive oil 2 cups water To start the preferment, mix together the flour, water, and yeast in a small bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Leave out at room temperature for at least 4 hours and as long as 16 hours. To make the dough, mix together the preferment, water, olive oil, yeast, salt, malt powder, and dry milk in a bowl with 2 more cups of flour. Mix thoroughly. Mix or knead in the rest of the flour a half a cup as a time until you have a slack dough but one that is no longer sticky. Total mixing time should be in the ballpark of 10 to 15 minutes. Place the dough in a well-greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to rise at room temperature until at least 2 times in size, approximately 2 hours. Punch the dough down and let it rise again for half an hour. Remove the dough from the bowl and divide it in half. Shape the dough into a ball or log, cover with a damp towel, and allow it to relax for another 20 minutes. Shape the dough into its final shape. Cover again and allow to rise for another hour until doubled in bulk. Meanwhile, preheat the oven and baking stone, if you are using one, to 425 degrees. Right before placing the loaves in the oven brush or spray them lightly with water. Place them into the oven and bake for 20 minutes before rotating them. Bake them another 20 to 30 minutes or until the internal temperature of the loaf reads 200 degrees. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for at least a half an hour before serving. Back to Yeast Breads