Remember the Italian country bread I made a week or so ago? The recipe was from Daniel Leader’s Local Breads .  If not, here is the link (Italian Country Bread).  I made it, again, the other day.  I often do that as sometimes it takes a couple of tries until you are happy with the final product and, in any event, I wanted to see the difference a few changes to my technique would make.  The bread was much more elegant the second try, but both tasted great. Continue reading →

This recipe is from Local Breads by Daniel Leader.  It is one of my favourite bread books.  The book details his travels through Europe discovering different types of artisan and local breads.  He recounts his experiences and, thereby, puts each loaf in context.  If you are a collector of cookbooks, like me, you will have more than your fair share of recipes, so a cookbook needs to be more than just recipes to grab my interest and Local Breads is that.  I highly recommend it.

Daniel Leader advises that this bread is famous in Italy and is made in Genzano.  It is a big, rustic, charred-looking loaf with a thick crust and an open elastic crumb. Continue reading →