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Sicilian No Knead Bread
This Sicilian no knead bread recipe holds a solid place on my short list of favorite no knead recipes. Huge thanks to its creator Ed Pillitteri from Seattle, who is generously sharing it with us. Serve with spaghetti, eggplant parmesan or lasagna and watch your family or guests weep with joy.
Ed Pillitteri – Sicilian No Knead Creator
That’s the good news.
On the flip side, some of its ingredients are not easily found in most grocery stores. One of those is durum flour. While closely related to common durum semolina flour, which is also milled from durum wheat, durum flour is typically a finer grind and performs better in bread baking than its courser cousin. But don’t worry, we have you covered. We’ve substituted finely milled Kamut flour in the form or either Bolted Kamut Flour or finer still White Kamut Flour, with exceptional results. Kamut (aka khorasan wheat) is the ancestor of durum and considered by some to be a premium variety of durum. Of course you can also go with the prescribed Durum flour itself, in which case we recommend the Bolted Durum Four for this recipe. Or, if you’re a home miller, try either the Kamut or Durum berries, but after milling sift the flour through a 40 mesh screen to get the fineness that produces the most desirable results for this recipe.
The other not so common ingredient is barley malt syrup. Most health food grocers should either sell it or be able to get it for you. Barley malt syrup is occasionally called for in other bread recipes as well, most notably bagel recipes. Breadtopia carries it here.
If you’ve made it this far and are actually ready to start baking, congratulations, the rest is relatively easy.
Following is the recipe, instructions and a two part video thrown in for good measure. In the videos I make Ed’s original version and also a sourdough version.
No Knead Sicilian Style Bread
300 grams (~2 cups) durum whole grain flour (not semolina for pasta)
120 grams (~1 cup) white bread flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp instant yeast *
1 1/2 cup purified water
1 Tbsp barley malt syrup
1 Tbsp EV olive oil
1/4 cup sesame seeds
* For the sourdough version I simply substitute 1/4 cup of starter for the 1/4 tsp instant yeast.
Mix the two flours, salt and yeast in a bowl. In a separate container (2 cup measuring cup works well) measure out the water then add the malt and stir until combined. Add the olive oil and pour it all into the flour mixture. The mixture may seem too dry but don’t add more water. The Durum flour takes a bit longer to absorb the water so cover for 10 minutes after mixing then mix again, briefly.
Place the bowl in plastic bag or cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 18 hours.
On a well floured surface, flatten dough and fold into three (like a letter) then in half. Cover with plastic or a towel and let rest for 15 minutes.
Preparing the proofing basket: Brush or spray the inside of the basket liberally with good olive oil. While standing over the sink (to avoid a mess), sprinkle the sesame seeds evenly inside the bowl, pressing them in the grooves (if using a basket) with your fingers.
Depending on the container (proofing basket) to be used, shape the dough into a ball or log. Place dough in the basket, cover with a kitchen towel or lightly with plastic and let rise for up to 1 ½ hours.
At least 30 minutes before baking, heat a large Dutch oven, including lid, or Cloche style baker (highly recommended) in the oven at 475 degrees. Once preheated, invert the loaf into the Cloche, put the lid on and bake for 20 minutes. (The parchment paper technique, shown in the video, also works well for moving the dough to your baking vessel.) After 20 minutes with the lid on, remove lid and bake for 15 to 20 minutes more to finish baking and achieve a nice golden brown crust and toasted sesame seeds – be careful not to burn yourself.
Regarding the type of baker you use, any can work. Just this page alone shows loaves baked in our Breadtopia Clay Baker – Batard (top left photo), our Breadtopia Cloche Bread Baker – Round (Pt. I video cover) and our Cloche Clay Baker – Oblong (Pt. II video cover). The Batard style and Oblong styles probably work best for this recipe as wetter dough recipes benefit from the sides of the baker shoring up the dough and preventing pancaking out of the dough during baking.
Cool to room temperature on a rack before eating – no cheating. Buon Appetito .
Notes:
Ed later added this:
Also, thanks to Debra Hillman for sharing her experience with applying sesame seeds to the dough surface…
One of Ed’s Gems
Nice oven spring and natural split
By placing your dough in the oven before it’s fully risen, you’re more likely to get the nice oven spring (a quick burst of rising in the first minutes of baking) and the artsy splits in the crust as pictured above. In the video, the oblong loaf over proofed (for my taste) and rose no further during baking.
Shopping List
High Protein Bread Flour
Durum Whole Grain Flour
$8.30 – $68.65Barley Malt Syrup — Organic, 20 oz.
$12.95Sourdough Starter (Live)
Red Star® Organic Instant Dry Yeast — 5 Packets
$7.50Bench Knife by Lamson — Walnut Handle
Oval Rattan Proofing Basket
Breadtopia Clay Baker — Batard
Sicilian No Knead Bread