About 14 years ago I began a quest to create a bread similar to our favorite bread from Naples, Italy. Jan & I met there in 1987 and food was a passion for us, especially the crunchy bread found in the Campania region of Italy. While Jan was stationed at the Naval Hospital on Adak, Alaska 1994-95 our neighbor, and Jan's long-time friend Melinda Cornwell, gave me a very old sourdough starter. When we returned to Bremerton, Washington I began experimenting with a variety of recipes. Finally, in 1996 I discovered the right recipe to create wonderful Neapolitan bread! We served this bread at a number of dinners to the enjoyment of all.In 1997 Jan retired from the Navy and we prepared to move to Nephi, Utah. My starter was in the moving truck, safe - or so we thought! Unfortunately, there was a heat wave, the key to the door lock was lost, and . . . oh well, through some bad fortune the starter was lost! I just didn't feel like trying to begin all over again, so soon stopped making bread.
In a farm magazine recently I happened to read about starting a wild yeast sourdough starter. Could I try to do it all over again? Why not! For the uninitiated, getting a successful wild yeast starter is not easy. Often you get a bad tasting yeast, through out the mix, and start again. the recipes called for store-bought white flour. Once wheat berries have been ground, in about 3 to 4 days all nutrition is gone. For 6 years now Jan has been using frsehly ground wheat. this is what I decided to use in my quest for a new starter.
A miracle happened! The very first try we got a very nice smelling yeast. After feeding the mother every day for a week I altered the recipe found in the Mary Jane's Farm Journal Magazine, changing the measures to what I thought would fit using freshly ground whole wheat. As the sweetener for the rise I used honey harvested from our own hives. The first bread was a total success!
The next week I decided to use the Neapolitan recipe I had perfected in 1996. Hmm, not enough salt and didn't rise as well as it should have, but successful enough to eat. Wonderful.
Last week I tried the same recipe again, adding more salt and still playing with the water ratio. Sad to say, it was a miserable flop - the horses loved it!
Yesterday I altered the recipe again, let it rise an extra 2 hours, and this time we got a successful bread! Light, salted just right (course sea salt, of course), and just enough water to balance the flavor. Still not exactly neapolitan crunchy or a large crumb, but a satisfactory bread all the same! Jan says I have to keep practicing until I get it right - she says we'll eat all hte failures until I get it right. :-)
Hi Shep,
ReplyDeleteThat bread sounds good. I spent a couple of months TDY to Italy back in the early 90s. I was down south at Brindisi, but I did take a weekend trip up to the Naples area. We stayed in a hotel in Sorento, took the ferry to Capri, and of course took the tour of Pompei.
I do actually remember the bread ... surely not the exact same bread as you describe. But what I always liked about Europe is the breakfasts ... meat and cheese and crusty bread ... that's the way to eat.
lol, I'm going to be hungry before I can go to sleep. Thanks for bringing back the memories.
Todd
I'm so happy to hear the good news about finding your bread again! Those old times with our recipes that get lost with our life changes and then like an old favorite tune it comes back again. Life is just like that isn't it. Happy bread baking Shep
ReplyDeleteI learned how to replicate Italian bread from Rose Levy Beranbaum "Bread Bible" and I start by creating a Biga and letting it work its magic overnight. She has a tip sheet here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.epicurious.com/articlesguides/howtocook/primers/breadbasicsteps#pre-ferments