The Italian Baker

The Italian Baker by Carol Field, copyright 1985
Pane Integrale alle Erbe (Whole-Wheat Bread with Herbs), page 175
Prepared on January 5, 2008

If you are a fan of Italian baking, this is a book for you. The Italian Baker has everything from Ciabatta to Panetonne to Pizza to Biscotti. There's a lot here and Field has a good writing style. She's very educational and interesting.


This is a very wholesome, hearty bread. Field suggests that the dough be baked into rolls. They are chock-full of whole grain goodness and the herbs and olive oil make them taste good, not just good for you. That said, it's still whole wheat bread. If you want a light airy, make-me-garlic-bread bread, make me something else.


The recipe contains: yeast, water, white and whole-wheat flour (1 cup to 3 cup ratio), olive oil, rosemary, parsley and salt.


I put my yeast into warm water to proof. While the yeast was proofing, I chopped up parsley and rosemary. I used my Kitchen Aid to pull the dough together (Field gives you instructions for mixer, food processor or by hand). I did the final kneading by hand.



Since Dave and I needed to run errands, I let the dough rise in the fridge. After three hours, the dough was perfectly risen. I formed the dough into about two dozen rolls and left them on the counter to rise again. After 90 minutes, I baked the rolls in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes.


These turned out really well. I think they'd be a great base for sandwiches as well as served alongside a roast leg of lamb. They are few nice when they are served warm; the rosemary's fragrance is best then. Stale rolls, because of the parsley and rosemary, would make good stuffing (or dressing, if you prefer).