Each and every day I spend some of my waking moments dreaming about what I’d be doing if I were in Italy. I savor moments from past trips and conjure up scenarios of future time spent in my favorite place. Although nothing can take the place of actually being there, recreating some of the little rituals of daily life in Italy helps tide me over until that next visit. Today, along with my usual cappuccino, I had what to me is the perfect Italian breakfast-a little bit of salami and cheese on a crusty roll. For a mere moment I envisioned myself standing in a bar, fortifying myself with caffeine and a little panino.
I made these rolls for a dinner party and was happy to have a few leftover. The recipe is the famous no knead bread from Jim Lahey’s book My Bread. I simply made the very basic and incredibly easy no knead recipe and divided the dough into rolls before baking. Unlike the bread, the rolls do not have to go into a cast iron dutch oven to cook. I lined them up on a greased baking sheet and out they came-just as crusty as the loaves I’ve baked in a pot. These are delectable served warmed and slathered with butter, and perfect stuffed with salami and cheese.
Basic No-Knead Bread
3 cups bread flour (I used 2-3/4 cups bread flour and 1/4 cup whole wheat flour)
1-1/4 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon yeast
1-1/2 cups cool water
In a medium bowl stir together flour, salt, yeast and add water using a wooden spoon. Mix until, you have a wet, sticky dough. It should be really sticky to the touch-if it’s not mix in a little more water. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature, until the surface is dotted with bubbles and the dough is more than doubled in size-anywhere from 12-18 hours. I like to put it together in the late afternoon or evening, let it sit overnight and finish it off in the morning.
Generously dust a large wooden board with flour. Using a spatula or bowl scraper, scrape the dough onto the board in one piece. It will be really sticky-do not add more flour. Form the dough into a ball. Place a large cotton tea towel on your counter and generously dust with flour, cornmeal or wheat bran. Lift the dough onto the towel, so it is seam side down. If the dough is really sticky, dust the top with a little more flour. Fold the sides of the towel up over the dough and let rest in a warm, draft -free spot for another hour or two.
Half an hour before the end of the second rise, turn the oven on to 450 degrees. Grease a cookie sheet and set aside. When the dough is almost doubled, divide it into four pieces and then divide each piece into five equal pieces. Line up the rolls on the prepared sheet and place in oven. I baked mine for about 35 minutes and they were perfect-golden brown and crusty.
These bread rolls look great. Most Italians I know would consider a roll with salami and cheese a large breakfast. In our village they mostly have a brioche (croissant) or some other sweet thing. It is a habit I have acquired and now dash off to the Bar Italia for a cappuccino and a sfoglia – like an apple turnover – too delicious for words. I can’t quite see how they think this is a better breakfast, but what would I know?
Bagni di Lucca-I guess I should have said that this is my choice for breakfast when we’re in Italy. These rolls are literally 2 bites -smaller than a cornetto ora brioche. I was tempted to make them larger, but like them small like this!
What a great idea with the rolls — nice to know they come out just as well on a cookie sheet! Buon anno!
Michelle-Buon Anno to you too!