Like mostmajor U.S. cities, my home town, Boston, is a wonderful mlange of people from manydifferentethnic and cultural backgrounds. Boston’s North End,rich incolonialhistory,is today home to a vibrant Italian-American community.One of my favorite activities has always been tostroll alongthe narrow streets of the North Endenjoying the commotion (I did, after all, spend my childhood yearsinBrooklyn, New York)while, along the way, sampling the fare at a few ofthemany Italian eateries, specialty food stores and, of course, bakeries.
The signature bread of Boston’s Italian-American communityis Scali, a braided,olive oil-enriched Italian bread sprinkled with sesame seeds. Scalihas a soft crust and a relatively tight, although quite light, crumb. The formula used here is an adaptation of one described on the King Arthur Flour website. To obtain the lightness of crumbcharacteristic of Scali, the double flour addition technique was used.
Biga
- 120 g King Arthur Organic Select Artisan Flour
- 75gWater
- 1/8 tsp.Instant Yeast
Final Dough
- 240g King Arthur Organic Select Artisan Flour
- 145 g Water
- 8gSalt
- 2tsp. Instant Yeast
- 10 g Non-fat Dry Milk
- 2 tbs.Olive Oil
- 195g(all of the above)Biga
The night before baking, the bigais preparedby mixing the flour, water and yeast until all the ingredients are well incorporated, then hand kneading briefly until a smooth dough is formed. The biga is then placed in a covered containerand allowed to restat 70Fovernight until mature, about 12 hours.
The next day, the flour, salt, yeast and non-fat dry milk are combined. To the bowl of a stand mixer is added the water and olive oil. Using the whisk attachment, the water andolive oil are whisked together on speed 3 of the mixer. Slowly, enough of the flour mixture isadded (~40 g) until a stable, aerated emulsion isformed. The mixer isthen stopped and the remaining flour mixture isadded along with the biga. Using a spiral dough hook, the mixture ismixed on speed 3 until a firm, medium developed dough isachieved, about 6 minutes.The resulting doughis then covered and allowed to fermentat 76F for 1 hour, 15 minutes.
After the first fermentation,the dough is turned out onto a lightly-floured surface and is divided into three equal-weight pieces. Each piece is preshaped into a short log and allowed to rest for 10 minutes. After the rest period, each log is then extended into a tapered strand using the same technique used for shaping baguettes, as shown in the video here. Shapinginto a 3-stranded braid is then accomplished as shown below:
[qt:http://breadcetera.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/Scali001.MOV 500 375]
The braided loaf is then placed on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet,brushed with an egg white wash, made from one egg white and 1 tbs. of water, and sprinkled with sesame seeds.The loaf is thenloosely covered with lightly oiled plastic wrap and allowed to proof at 74F for about 1hours. The loaf-bearing parchment paper is then slid off the baking sheet and placed onto an oven peel. The parchment paper and loaf are then sliddirectly onto the baking stone of a preheated oven and allowed to bakeat 425F for 35 minutes,understeam for the first 15 minutes of baking.
What a beautiful bread. I’ve never tried or even heard of Scali before, but it looks like you did it justice.
The braiding technique video was very useful. I’ve never braided bread before, but have wanted to. The video made it a little less intimidating.
Lovely bread as always Steve!
OK, “smoosh” was good, too. Looks great! My kids would LOVE that bread. The list is getting long of Steve breads to make. I better get on the ball. Jane
Claire, your compliments are greatly appreciated. Have a go at bread braiding. It’s fun and, beginning with only three strands, nothing could be easier.
FP, thanks for your kind comment. I think you would like the nutty flavor provided by the light sprinkling of the sesame seeds.
Jane, using quasi-words like “smoosh” is one of the hazards of doing the videos in one take. It’s like live TV… I never know what’s going to happen.
Steve, that’s a lovely looking braid!
I worked the hydration out to be 61%. That is quite a stiff dough. Is it difficult to handle?
Two teaspoons of yeast (excluding the 1/8 tsp in the biga) seems an excessive amount for such a small quantity of flour. What is the reasoning behind this? Is it the low hydration?
And, final question, by non-fat dry milk, do you mean non-fat milk powder?
Once again, thanks for a beautifully presented, very informative site.:)
Syd
Syd, while Baker’s Percentage is an important tool, it doesn’t necessarily tell the whole story. Don’t forget, in this recipe I am using King Arthur Organic Select Artisan flour, a flour which has a lower protein content than most typical bread flours. The resulting dough, while firm, is not as stiff as the hydration percentage would lead one to believe. Regarding the quantity of yeast used, that was purely for expediency sake. Less yeast could be used but fermentation times would need to be extended accordingly. And you are quite right, non-fat dry milk is the same as non-fat milk powder.
Oh, you made me nostalgic for Boston!
Beautifully shaped loaf, great video.
Beautiful looking braid! I really like the way each strand slightly split from the other in the baking. And excellent tip to make the strands slightly plumper in the middle.
-Elizabeth
P.S. “Smoosh” isn’t a word?!
Susan, you can take the woman out of Boston but… 🙂
Elizabeth, “Smoosh” has now officially been added to the Bread cetera lexicon!
A gorgeous bread, Steve! Deliciously plump…
MC, thanks for the compliments and welcome back!
[…] together, starting in the middle and working towards the ends (confused? Please see Steve’s braiding video – scroll down on linked page). Cover with a damp tea […]
Absolutely beautiful! Eevryone would love that gorgeous braided bread here. I must bake it. Thanks Steve!
What’s the point of having dry milk added? Can we add milk in liquid form instead?
Aron, I just find dry milk more convenient to handle and use. Regular milk can be used as long as you adjust the quantity of water added to the dough.
Had a loaf of scali last night and was thinking – I need to try making one! Just found your post and plan to make one this (incredibly wet and sadly dreary week/weekend). Thanks for sharing!
Wow, this bread is really good! I added a little bit of sugar to my second loaf as I thought the first one was a bit too savory. Either way, came out fantastic and even my wife who normally doesn’t eat bread had a few pieces! 🙂
Next I just need to work on the tightness of the loaf but I’m happy with the results (see: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nick_/3923399750/)!
Thank you very much Steve for this recipe. Grazie mille! I tried it and it was delicious. I love the video because it’s easy to understand the consistency of the dough and how to give it the right shape. Great!
Paoliccia
Paoliccia, prego. Learning to bake bread truly involves all of the senses. Since one cannot ‘feel’ the consistency of the dough over the Internet, viewing a video of how the dough behaves is, I believe, the next best thing.
[…] know how much the pinch is. I then checked The Artisan’s Bread Page and went for 1/4 tsp. breadcetera used 1/8 tsp and 12 hr. Next time I’ll use 1/8 […]
Hi, this was the first bread from this site I managed to make successfully (I’m not good with levains etc.) Is wonderful, soft, tasty and looked really good. Thanks a lot x
[…] in a hot dog-like bun, the the classic chilled lobster salad is served on a toasted and butteredscalibread. This is an airy, artisanal Italian loaf popular in Boston. There is no celery in the […]
Hi Steve
Re.: to #6, what if I’m using strong flour? What’s the hydration? What’s the dough supposed to feel like?
Could I used full cream powdered milk instead of non-fat as that’s all I have in the pantry.
Thank you 🙂
Hi Sian,
Without knowing and working with your specific flour, it’s difficult for me to give you an exact hydration percentage. The best advice I can give you is to add enough water to bring the dough to a medium-to-firm consistency. I’ve never tried this formula using a full cream powdered milk, but I see no reason why that should present any particular problem. The texture of the resulting crumb may be somewhat different than that obtained above, though.
Hi Steve,
I just subscribed to your very nice site. However, it seems that if one does not have, nor do they intend to purchase, an electric mixer — alas, they must go elswhere. Too bad! I wonder how they did it in the old country–I wonder how my grandparents did it, they baked Scali three time a week (I remember my grand dad putting down his stinky black cigar on the porch because he was called in to do the braiding)? Most formula and recipe instructions provide methods for hand mixing as well as machine procedures –is there no manual method to arrive at the level of quality your breads exhibit? It seems like a worthy quest! At least when the lights go out—we can still bake bread! :>)
‘
With sincere respect,
pg
Hi Lefty,
You may want to peruse some of the other posts on this blog. In particular, there is a post specifically discussing hand mixing, found here. Additionally, there are a number of recipes posted to this blog that make use of hand mixing.
Thank you for your attention to my email,
I am on my way to breadcetera right now!
pg
Steve,
Thank you for the email! However (You knew that was coming –huh?), I did not see the comment on the site today and the email mentioned places to go:’here’ and ‘here’ which are usually links on your site. They did not appear to be links in the email. Making this loaf is important to me, so where can I go (keep it clean!) ?
Your photos are superb and I would like to use a couple as screen savers —I have a Bread Porn Collection! Do you mind if some of your shots are ‘lifted’? I like to send my kids photos of bread to motivate them to bake more often.
Thank you—I am really happy that I found your site!
lefty
Your Bread absolutely beautiful but would you please let me know the amount in America trans-I don’t under the grams can you put it in cups tbs and teaspoons thank you very much
Chefscook
Chfscook,
Thank you for the compliment.
Because volume measurements are notoriously imprecise (bulk densities of ingredients can vary widely), greater numbers of serious bakers, including those in America (where I am located), have taken to weighing their ingredients instead of measuring by volume (i.e., cups, tbs., tsp., etc.). Once a baker starts weighing his or her ingredients (whether in grams or ounces), he or she usually finds a greater consistency in the products produced.
Thank you for getting back to me in a timely fashion I appreciate it What kind of scale do you recommend I will try measuring my ingredients thank you looking forward for your reply
Thanks
Chefscook 🍞🍞
Chefscook,
Any digital scale that has a capacity of about 5 kg (or 11 lbs.) and weighs in increments of 1 g (or 0.1 oz.) should be suitable for the average home baker.
Let me spoil myself with this special Scali bread. It is so beautiful and aromatic. This is the perfect addition to my morning coffee. Homemade mouth-watering bread “Just Superb”