Video recipe for hard dough bread

Share

Prompted by my friend Ivan, who loves this kind of bread (which you can’t find here in the USA), I decided to make this video recipe.

I had been looking for a good recipe for hard dough bread which was easy and quick to make. As I often say, haste is an enemy for good bread, however, hard dough bread is a welcome exception to the rule.

You need two hours and an electric stand mixer to make this recipe (or a lot of patience and strength in your arms!). For excellent results, you would have to make this bread with a starter dough as well, but to make things easier and quicker, I used a more express way and made it with just one dough.

Hard dough bread Video Recipe

In Italian bakeries, they use special machines to shape this bread. In my video, I show you how to simulate the same procedure, but by hand. I even had my baking Guinea pig try it out, my good friend Minollo, who confirmed it works. Let me know how you do!!!

Ingredients

Method

• Dissolve salt in the water
• Add oil and half the flour
• Mix
• Add yeast
• Mix in remaining flour a little at a time
• Mix for at least 15 minutes in your stand mixer

It is essential that you get a nice, smooth dough. To do this at home you have to knead it longer. It’s not exactly the same as with professional machinery, but it’s an effective alternative.

• When the dough is ready, you can knead it immediately, without letting it rest, in fact just work it without letting it rise.

• Cut dough into four equal parts
• Now shape each part into a “Caravanino” bun
  • Use a rolling pin to flatten the dough and then roll it up as explained in the video until you get a small baguette shape
  • Flatten down the baguette to get a flat strip of dough
  • Roll up the strip to make a bun like the one in the picture
  • This procedure strengthens the dough. The stronger the dough, the better it will grow when you cut it and put it in the oven.
• Cover and let rise for 45 minutes (make that 55 in winter)

• Pre heat oven to 180- 200°C
• Using a very sharp knife or a razor blade, make a deep cut in the center of each bun and put them in the oven

• The cut makes all the difference between a good and a bad result
• After five minutes in the oven, the buns should begin o open up

• After ten minutes they should be nice and open and after 20 minutes they will have their final shape
• Bake for a total of 50-55 minutes
• Let the bread cool

• Thanks to the firm inside which traps moisture, this bread keeps for two or three days (even longer if you store it in the fridge after it has cooled down)
• Impress your friends and relatives with this recipe and enjoy the well deserved result of your hard work!

Vittorio