Pane Sciocco

The Tuscan loaf made with no salt whatsoever.

Vegan.

Ingredients

• 200 g flour, 100 ml water and 3 g yeast, for the biga
• 800 g type 0 flour
• 500 ml water
• 5 g yeast

Method

1. THERE IS NO SALT IN THE INGREDIENT LIST AND THAT IS NOT AN OMISSION. 'Sciocco' means insipid, and the loaf is built to be eaten with Tuscan food that is heavily salted and strongly flavoured — prosciutto, liver crostini, ribollita.
2. Make the biga the night before and leave it 14 hours at cool room temperature.
3. Mix it with the flour, water and yeast and knead 12 minutes. Without salt the gluten develops faster and the dough feels slack and slightly sticky — resist adding flour.
4. Prove 90 minutes. UNSALTED DOUGH PROVES FASTER, because salt is what normally slows the yeast, so watch the dough and not the clock.
5. Shape two oblong loaves without much tension and prove 45 minutes.
6. Slash them deeply and bake at 230C with steam for 15 minutes, then 200C for 30.
7. The crust browns quickly and the crumb stays open and chewy. Eaten on its own it will taste of nothing, which is the point rather than a fault.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Italy · All recipes