Bread Machine (156 page)

Using your fingertips, gently poke indentations about
¹
/
₄
inch deep all over the dough surface. Drizzle the herb oil over the dough, letting it pool in the indentations. Reduce the oven temperature to 400°F if using a stone. Place the pan on the stone or oven rack and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until nicely browned. Let cool for 15 minutes in the pan. Serve warm from the oven.

SCHIACCIATA       
Makes one 14-inch flatbread

T
he Italian
schiacciata
(pronounced ski-ah-CHAH-tah) is a Tuscan flatbread known in other areas of Italy as a
focaccia.
It is known as the bakers’ hors d’oeuvre and is a superb appetizer just as it is here, plain, served with wine. Toppings you might wish to try are a thin layer of tomato sauce sprinkled with chopped scallions and some Parmesan cheese, or a drizzle of thin basil pesto with pine nuts. This flatbread is made with a
biga,
or starter; for more information on
bigas,
see the Country Breads section of the Traditional Loaves chapter.

1
¹
/
₂
- OR 2-POUND-LOAF MACHINES

For the biga:

¹
/
₂
cup water

1 cup bread flour

¹
/
₂
teaspoon SAF yeast or bread machine yeast

For the dough:

1 cup water

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

2
¹
/
₂
cups bread flour

1 teaspoon sea salt

1
¹
/
₄
teaspoons SAF yeast
   or 1
³
/
₄
teaspoons bread machine yeast

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling

Coarse sea salt, for sprinkling

To make the starter, place the
biga
ingredients in the bread pan. Program for the Dough cycle, press Start, and set a kitchen timer for 10 minutes. When the timer rings, press Stop and unplug the machine. Let the
biga
rest in the machine for 2 hours.

To make the dough, place all the dough ingredients in the pan with the
biga
. Program for the Dough cycle; press Start. The dough ball will be moist and smooth.

Brush a 14-inch round pizza pan with oil. When the machine beeps at the end of the cycle, press Stop and unplug the machine. Immediately remove the bread pan and turn the dough out onto the prepared pan. Do not knead or work the dough. Dip your fingertips in cold water to keep them from sticking, and spread the dough in the pan. Leave the indentations from your fingers. Cover gently with oiled plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until puffy, about 1 hour.

Twenty minutes before baking, place a baking stone on the lowest rack of a cold oven and preheat it to 375°F.

Using your fingertips, press the dough gently all over the top to dimple. Drizzle the olive oil into the indentations. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until nicely browned. Slide the bread onto a rack to cool. Sprinkle with the coarse salt. Eat warm or at room temperature.

The Right Ingredient: Yeast

All breads and doughs made in the machine require the use of a dry granular yeast that does not need preliminary fermentation by dissolving it in water. Fast-acting yeast and bread machine yeast both meet this requirement; quick-rise yeast can also be used.

The most commonly available fast-acting yeast is labeled as “SAF Perfect Rise” yeast, produced by the S. I. LaSaffre Company. It is sold in two-pack strips and in 3-ounce resealable bags. The other yeast that performs well in the bread machine, as its name might suggest, is bread machine yeast. It, too, is able to be mixed into a dough along with the dry ingredients, requiring no previous activation in a warm liquid. Bread machine yeast, available from Red Star and Fleischmann’s, is sold in 4-ounce jars. Both fast-acting and bread machine yeasts can tolerate a wider range of temperatures than other active dry yeasts, so they will grow and multiply at lower temperatures in the bread machine’s pan. As these yeasts perform differently from one another, you will see that in most recipes in this book, a different quantity of yeast is given for each type. Active dry yeast and fresh cake yeast should
not
be used in the bread machine.

Whatever yeast you are using, be sure to check the expiration date stamped on the back of the package. Fresh yeast works best, and outdated yeast may not work at all.

If your dough is over-risen, cut back the yeast by
¹
/
₄
teaspoon in your next bakings until you get the density you like.

PROVENÇAL OLIVE AND ANCHOVY FLATBREAD      
Makes 2 flatbreads

I
n the south of France—known affectionately as the Midi, and home for decades to Pablo Picasso—this recipe is a classic. The region has lots of ancient olive trees, and a number of their well-loved breads incorporate plenty of olives from many different types of trees. So when you make this flatbread, feel free to do the same, although this bread traditionally uses black olives. Use large, small, oil-cured, brine-cured, white, green, purple, or black olives. The flatbread is usually made with double the amount of anchovies I call for here, but I’ve adapted this recipe for American palates; add more anchovies if you like. This recipe uses a
pâte fermentée
starter. See the Country Breads section of the Traditional Loaves chapter for more information about these starters. The flatbread is shaped into large rectangles that end up looking like long baseball gloves with open slits in the middle when the bread expands. Eat this bread the day it is baked.