Italian Bread in a Bread Maker

Look through this lot - there are a few bread machine recipes in here;-   http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipes/tag-5702/italian-bread-recipes.aspx

My Panasonic breadmaker has an "Italian" option on the setting, which takes half an hour longer than the normal white setting.  I've tried various recipes for Italian bread but I'm sorry to say the very best I've found is to buy a Wrights ciabatta breadmix in a little packet, like a mini bag of flour.  It only needs water and olive oil added to it, but on that Italian setting it makes a really lovely light and airy ciabatta loaf. You mention the "heavy bread" you buy in Italy.  Isn't it interesting how bread varies so much - how practically the same ingredients can be made to produce such a wide range of different regional breads?  We go to Como in the north and all the bread in the shops seems to be light. 

Gosh, I've just spent about half an hour reading about how in Italy flour is classified based on the yield from milling! Here's a useful extract: "In Italy we classify flour by the extraction percentage: so you have wholewheat, then 2, then 1, then 0 and lastly 00, the more refined. This is what you would use for cakes, or pasta, but also fine bread and rolls. However, refining is one thing, proteins quite another, so there can be low gluten 00 and high gluten 00. The latter is what you would use for e.g. panettone and pandoro, that need a long fermentation times, while the former is what you would use for crostata and biscotti. If you want to be more precise, in Europe in general and in Italy in particular the thing to look for are the W and P/L ratios." Also, have a look at this link to the blog by the woman who wrote the above quote: http://eat-drink-man-woman-blog.blogspot.com/2008/06/we-are-addicted-to-white-stuff.html ...Or has that just confused us all further?!

    Two old guys, one 80 and one 87, were sitting on their usual park bench one morning. The 87 year old had just finished his morning jog and wasn't even short of breath. The 80 year old was amazed at his friend's stamina and asked him what he did to have so much energy. The 87 year old said, "well I eat Italian bread every day. It keeps your energy level high and you'll have great stamina with the ladies."   So, on the way home, the 80 year old stops at the bakery. As he   was looking around, the lady asked if he needed any help.   He said, "Do you have any Italian bread?"   He said, "Yes, there's a whole shelf of it, would you like some?"   He said, "I want 5 loaves."   She said , "My goodness, 5 loaves...it'll get hard."   He replied, "Does everybody in the world know about this Italian   bread but ME"?

I think there may be more to it than just the type of flour.  The ciabatta recipe I use (to make it in the oven) has me spraying the inside of the oven every ten minutes for a half an hour while the bread is baking, and that seems to get the crust very hard and crisp.

Pane casereccio (Homemade Bread) http://memoriediangelina.blogspot.com/2012/01/pane-casereccio-homemade-bread.html

What a wonderful blog.

What a wonderful blog.

This thread from the old Forum may be helpful: http://www.italymag.co.uk/forums/general-chat-about-italy/5867-bread-making.html

Thank you everybody for the suggestions to progress my breadmaking in my Christmas Panasonic bread machine.  I have been making a new type of loaf every day, and can't help cutting each one in half and passing it on to a member of my family to try.  All recipes have come out extremely satisfactorily, with the exception of the Panettoni recipe given in the Panasonic book.  I followed the instructions closely, but the result was nothing like the Italian-made Panetone I have enjoyed.  In fact, I ended up throwing most of it in the bin.  I did not realise how much butter went into making Panettoni - nice, but so unhealthy, just like cake! I have decided to buy a basic bread machine for the apartment in Italy for use when our lovely shop bought Italian bread has dried up and there is no time to run down to the bakery.  Having read the bread machine blog on the old forum, I will remember to take out some dried yeast with me for the store cupboard.

I guess it is a bit late now... but you can prepare a great bread-and-butter pudding with panettone leftovers!!! Sorry, very unhealthy thoughts!!! I am also on a diet, so I should not be even thinking about bread...

"......  but you can prepare a great bread-and-butter pudding with panettone leftovers!!! ..........." It makes the best bread-and-butter pudding  ever - we sometimes buy pannettone just to make bread-and-butter pudding

We do the same, Alan!!! And when there is no Panettone available we use brioche and add some fruit and sultanas and a sprinkle of orange water... Finally, Panettone is a brioche dough! The final result is much nicer than the classic bread and butter pudding.

So much so, I have just purchased my own Panasonic breadmaker and I now look forward to trying out all the different breads etc. and maybe even marmalade and Jam!!