This fresh baked Italian whole wheat country bread is the perfect choice for sandwiches or served with your favorite pasta dish!
For the flour I like to use a combination for durum and emmer. The durum contributes to the light and fluffy crumb and emmer adds a hearty flavor. If you cannot find either substituting a high quality whole wheat flour will yield good results.
Italian Style Whole Wheat Bread
Description
An Italian whole wheat country bread with a light and fluffy interior made with freshly milled flour.
Ingredients
Instructions
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Mill the flour
Weigh and mill the durum and emmer flour.
This step is optional if you have whole wheat berries. You can substitute a high quality whole wheat flour such as King Arthur. -
Mix the dough
Combine all the flour, salt, yeast and water. Mix using a dough hook or by hand for 10 minutes.
Form into a tight ball.
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Rest the dough
Lightly oil a bowl then place in the dough. Cover and let rest for 1 hour.
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Shape the dough
Shape the dough to your desired shape and length.
For this recipe I like to make a thin baguette shaped dough. Flour your work surface and the dough. Pat the dough into a 14x10 inch rectangle. Roll from the side closest to you then add water to the ends to seal.
For a thicker loaf roll out thicker and not as wide. For a round loaf you can roll back into a tight ball. -
Rest the dough a second time
Place the dough on a baking sheet, cover and let rest for another hour.
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Bake the bread
Place the bread in a preheated oven at 425. Bake for 20 minutes or until a dark golden brown.
Allow to cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing.
I have been looking for an Italian style bread that has durum in it! Do you think it would be possible to do all fresh milled flour? I love a semolina loaf but I hear it doesn’t have very good gluten forming ability. I have several wheats including black emmer. Thanks!
Great question! I have tried this with all fresh milled durum and it was dense and didn’t form well. What I do find to work is using a hard red spring that is sifted. Emmer is another great choice and what I used last weekend! It is the addition of the extra bran that will cause it to be dense so sifted is recommended.
You could also use all re-milled semolina (semola) to make an Altamura style bread, but it is really difficult to mill semola at home so I use this recipe as my alternative.