Scali BREAD

This is the bread I make when I am looking to up my game but really don’t want to put a whole lot of effort. Scali bread can be a show stopper but can also by enjoyed by those hard to please small humans that live in your house. First off, this bread uses a sponge. What is a sponge you ask? Well it is just a fancy name for mixing water and flour and a little yeast into a bowl and forgetting about it for at least 6 hours but up to 24 hours. Once the sponge is done I literally dump all ingredients into a mixing bowl and let my stand mixer do all the work. So, side note. If you do not have a stand mixer, I am not going to tell you to mix this by hand. That’s crazy talk. Get a stand mixer, a good one. I use mind all the time and I even have two.

Makes 1 loaf (doubling this recipe is cool, just make sure you have an 8 quart stand mixer)

sponge
2/3 cup all-purpose Flour
2/3 cup water at room temp
1/8 teaspoon yeast

For the sponge
Stir the ingredients a container with wooden spoon. I use a quart mason jar so the sponge has room to grow. Cover the sponge with plastic wrap or a tea towel. Leave the sponge out on the counter for a least 6 hours all the way to 24 hours.

dough

2 2/3 cups All Purpose Flour
2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons yeast
3/4 cup room temperature water
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil

topping (this is optional, but it makes the bread look good)

1 egg yoke with a pinch of salt slightly beaten
1 tablespoon of topping of your choice (sesame seeds, poppy seeds, Italian herbs, etc.)

For the Dough
Whisk flour, salt and yeast together in the bowl of a stand mixer. Just a quick mix so the yeast doesn’t get clumped up. Combined the water sugar and oil into the sponge, mix. Using the dough hook on low speed (a “1” on my KitchenAide mixer), slowly add in the sponge mixture. I mix at this speed for about a minute, then turn the mixer up to a two. Let the dough hook kneed it for you for about 6-8 minutes. Find something else to do in this time otherwise you keep looking at the dough.

The dough should be slightly sticky but also smooth and elastic. Dump the dough out onto a floured counter. Hand kneed until you have had enough, about 30 seconds. Oil the bowl slightly, and put the dough back in rolling it around to coat in oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or, my favorite, a towel. If you do use a towel, put more oil on the top of the dough as it tends to dry out more. Let the dough rest for 1 1/2 - 2 hours. Keeping in mind the colder the room the slower the rise. This bread rising time is not exact, you can leave it for longer.

Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper (you don’t need parchment, but I like it). Press down the dough that at this point should be doubled in size. Cut the dough into 3 pieces. Working with one piece at a time, form each piece into a 10 inch log or rope by pressing and rolling. Using your palms taper the ends of the logs to form pointed ends. Arrange the 3 rolled pieces perpendicular to your body and starting with the top pinch the tapered ends together and braid. Pinch the other ends together. Once braided, tuck the ends under slightly to create a seamless braid. Cover the dough loosely with the bread towel and let rise again for 1- 1/2 hours. Now with this rise, or proof, you cannot let this go for 2 hours or more without putting it into the refrigerator. It will rise too much and deflate at some point.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Using a pastry brush, gently brush the egg mixture on the top of the bread. Top your bread with your choice topping. My favorite are poppy seeds, but my kids complain when I do that so the bread looks perfectly beautiful without. Put in the oven for 35-40 minutes or until the internal temperature of the bread is 205-210 degrees. Don’t panic if you don’t have a thermometer, because if the top looks nice and goldenly brown, its fine. Now here is the hardest part about making bread. After it comes out of the oven, don’t touch it. Put it on a cooling rack, covered with a towel and leave it the hell alone. This bread is tired and needs to finish baking, its not done yet. After about 30 minutes then you can enjoy.