Name: Pane Sciocco (Salt-free Tuscan Bread)
Yield: Makes one 23-25 cm round loaf
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 225 g room-temperature tap water, about 24°C; 75 g strong white bread flour; ¼ teaspoon fine granulated active dried yeast or instant yeast; 75 g room-temperature tap water, about 24°C; 1 teaspoon malt syrup, optional; 360 g strong white bread flour; 1 teaspoon fine granulated active dried yeast or instant yeast

Preparation info

Makes
one
23-25 cm round loaf

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Nick Malgieri's Bread

By Nick Malgieri

Published 2012

About

The tradition of preparing salt-free bread in Tuscany doubtless developed at a time when there was an acute shortage of salt, after which people became accustomed to the bland flavour of pane sciocco (SHOW-ko). It’s amusing that sciocco also means foolish or ‘good for nothing’ in Italian. This is the bread traditionally used for panzanella, Tuscan bread and tomato salad, and pappa al pomodoro, Tuscan bread and tomato soup. Also popular for panini, salt-free bread