Scali - nice white bread!
Sometimes, people just want a loaf of nice white bread, you know? I tried this recipe from America's Test Kitchen's book "Bread Illustrated", and found it to be just the thing. It's a soft bread, enriched with some olive oil and a bit of sugar, made with AP flour instead of bread flour. A pre-ferment (sponge or poolish) gives it a flavour boost too. The dough is very soft and delicate.
Scali is traditionally braided and topped with an egg wash and sesame seeds. I tried it free-form the first time but it ended up a bit flat (I think it over-proofed as well, as I shaped it then let it sit in the fridge overnight and baked it the next morning). This time I braided it and popped it in loaf pans. It proofed quite quickly and I baked it about 45 minutes after shaping. It's a beautiful bread and very tasty too.
Rather than cutting three pieces then sticking them back together, I patted the dough out to a rectangle and cut most of the way through, leaving the strips attached at the top. Then I just braided to the bottom and tucked the other ends under. It fit nicely into 8.5" X 4.5" loaf pans, sprayed with pan spray.
Comments
Sometimes you just can't wait for SD and the sandwiches need to be ready in 4 hours. Very nice LL
Thanks dab. But to be fair, this one uses a sponge that sits for 6 hours to 24 hours before mixing, fermenting and shaping, so it doesn't really work in four hours! Probably tastes better as a result though. :)
12 hours :-) Lucy could robay figure out way to get this one up to a 5 day bake:-)
Lucy probably would have sniffed in disdain at the all-white flour, and proposed a blend of three kinds of yeast water and some sprouted and sifted 'white' spelt, kamut, emmer and triticale flour. :)
Sounds very flavorful from the olive oil and the sesame seeds.
It was very tasty, and the crumb was nice too. I think the pre-ferment sponge helped with the flavour too.
I bake bread for sandwiches to take to work, so I like your loaf! I have read "Bread Illustrated" but have not tried anything from it yet. Maybe I'll give that Scali a go.
You might like the whole wheat and quinoa bread from that book too; it's quite nice for sandwiches.
It looks great. Must have been lovely and soft on the inside.
Well done :)
It has a very nice texture inside - soft but creamy instead of dry and insubstantial like supermarket white bread. I guess that comes from the pre-ferment sponge and the olive oil.
I must try one like that! Beautiful bake!!!
happy baking, Ski
Yes, do try it! I like braiding loaves, but it worked out especially well in the bread pans. Makes easier slices!
Love the way you braided the loaf. That was a great idea and the end result showed. When you get a chance you should convert this to SD and compare the two.
It wasn't really my idea (the braiding); I think that's traditional for this bread. Putting it in the bread pan was just an easier way to keep it in 'sandwich loaf' shape for easier slicing. :) I wonder how it would work with a SD starter? Maybe yeast water would work better with the slightly sweet loaf, no?
I'd never heard of the Scali version of this bread before, although for all I know it's been on my restaurant table for decades and I didn't know it. By the look and your description, it reminds me a little of challah bread, but probably not as rich. Is it unique to the Boston area? Although I do like soft breads, my tendency is to veer much more to breads with a crisp exterior.
I was in Waltham over this past summer for a few weeks, and so it may well have been on my table somewhere.
alan
No, not as rich as challah, having no eggs and just a bit of olive oil. Not as sweet either. I have no idea of the provenance of this kind of bread, being from the Canadian West Coast myself, but it was good!