Panella Bread

Panella Bread

There is nothing like Italian bread from northern New Jersey or New York City bakeries. The crust is stiff and not squishy and the inside has body and larger air pockets. Italian bread in south Jersey, Philly, or pretty much anywhere else just doesn't have that same body.

There are some who attribute the north Jersey texture to the water --including Fumosa Bakery in Ortley Beach, NJ. When I was a kid, the original owner was from Newark and used to 'import' water from there to make his bread, and it worked; he had the best Italian bread around.

After we moved to Maine, the closest thing we could find came from Standard Baking in Portland. On visits to NJ we would buy several loaves of Panella bread to bring to Maine and freeze. The panella that I know looks like a boule (ball in French) but has nicer texture in my opinion.

If you do a Google search for panella bread it tells you that it's 'a Sicilian fritter made with chickpea flour and other ingredients, usually including water, salt, pepper, olive oil, and finely chopped parsley'. Honestly, I've never had panella bread that fits the Google description, and certainly this recipe does not. Interestingly, panella translates to bread or loaf, so not unlike pizza pie (translation pie pie) we Americans when referring to panella bread are saying bread bread.

Anyway about the recipe. It couldn't be more simple with 4 ingredients including the warm water. If you want to cut to the recipe, this is your chance, otherwise, you need to hear about my personal bread making paranoia and how making panella has cured me.

Neither my mother nor my grandmothers were bread bakers -- probably because good bread was so plentiful where we lived. My mother also seemed to have some fear of yeast, so this was not a skill I learned at home.

My first husband, on the other hand had no fear of baking with yeast, he did have the utmost respect for it though. Add to that the fact that he was an engineer, and bread making became a precise science. He would literally use a chemistry thermometer to measure the water temperature so as to not hurt the yeast, he also considered the ambient humidity and adjusted things accordingly. He had me convinced that one wrong step and the yeast would die and everything would be ruined.

Baking is a challenge for me to begin with because you need to actually follow the recipe. Add to it the need for a freaking weather station and I'm out! It was soda breads for me and nothing else until 20 years later, someone introduced me to a bread machine: that began the metamorphosis.

During the COVID 19 pandemic, I killed the hand-me down machine that I was given and bought a new one. I was forced to buy 50 pounds of flour from Amazon because all the store shelves were bare. It was used up in less than 4 months (the things we do to amuse ourselves when we're locked up).

What the bread machine couldn't do was emulate the panella that I missed so much. I started researching recipes online and started to play with ingredients and proportions to land where I did. I found that adding some sugar or some olive oil had no great impact on flavor or texture so ultimately left them out.

Something else that I came to was not to touch the dough with your hands. I also learned that covering during the first part of the bake would help with crust texture because of steam that is formed in the early baking stage.

I played with oven temperature, covered baking time, uncovered baking time, how long to let it rise, and the temp of the warm water. This recipe is the product of no less than 25 attempts and lots of notes. BTW, I never can seem to remember to bring home some Jersey tap water to try in the recipe. If I ever do, and it makes a difference, I'll be sure to update you all.

What is notable here is that for all of the variations I went through, not once was the bread inedible. As a matter if fact, it was tasty every time. I just was compelled to play until the crust and bread had the texture of the north Jersey bread that I grew up with.

As you might guess, after all of these machinations, I am over my fear of baking with yeast. It's not the rocket science it was made out to be.

THE RECIPE:

You will need some specific tools:

• A large mixing bowl with some wax paper and a towel to cover it

• A whisk and a metal spoon

• Metal bench scrapers

• A cast iron dutch oven with an oven safe lid

• Hi-temp (450 degree) parchment paper

  
  

SImple ingredients for a not to simple Panella bread.

Dry ingerdients

Whisk dry ingredients to combiine

Gradually add water and stir

Pannella bread dough should be shaggy

Panella dough after rising

Scrape dough onto froured parchment

With scrapers form ball

Panella ready to go in pan

Dough with cross cuts on top

Before the wax paper and towel, it's a good idea to sprinkle some flour on the dough

Trim parchment to not exceed height of pot

Cover and bake for 20 minutes

After covered bak, remove lid for remainder of baking

panella when done

It's almost impossible not to cut a hunk once you smell it

Ingredients:

3c flour

1-1/2t salt

1-1/2t yeast

11/2c warm water (I use it as hot as my tap provides and drizzle it slowly into the four)

NOTE: You can use room temp or even cool water but will definitely need the longer rise time.

The Dough:

Whisk the flour, salt, and yeast together in the bowl

Gradually add the water and stir until all the dry ingredients are incorporates but still look 'shaggy'.

Sprinkle with flour and place the wax paper over the dough and then drape the towel

Place the bowl in a draft-free place for at least 6 hours. (I usually use my oven and leave the dough for as much as 18 hours).

Prepping the dough to bake::

Remove the dough from your oven if that's where you stored it.

Place the dutch oven in the oven and preheat to 450 degrees.

While the oven and pot are heating, turn the dough out onto well floured parchment paper.

With the bench scrapers, work the dough into a ball. Don't worry about flour that's not mixed in.

Once the dough is shaped, use a scraper to cut slits in the top.

To Bake:

Carefully remove the pot from the oven and even more carefully lift the parchment with the dough and place in the pan.

Trim any parchment that's sticking up beyond the top of the pan and cover with the lid.

Bake for 20 minutes and remove the lid.

Bake an additional 20 to 25 minutes until the bread is a rich golden brown on top.

Remove from the pan and let cool a bit before snagging a piece.

I store it wrapped in a towel the first night and then transfer to something air-tight. I think it helps the crust stay nice and firm.