This week took me back to serving at Villa Via Sacra, the home of the Mount Tabor Center for Art and Spirituality in Barga, Italy. What a blessing to be back in this verdant and beautiful area of Tuscany. This is the peak of Tuscany’s summer season when tomatoes, eggplants, cucumbers, peaches and nectarines are all in abundance. After a busy summer of offering hospitality to various groups, the villa household has quieted down for a wee bit. August 15th is a national holiday for the Feast of the Assumption. We felt it was only right to celebrate this special day in true Italian style, which means pack a picnic and head for the cooler air of the mountains! We did just that: a simple meal of homemade bread, cheese (pecorino stagione, ricotta and parmigiano), meats (mortadella, sopressata and prosciutto cotto), some garden vegetables of cucumbers, tomatoes and olives, a bottle of red wine and a fresh fruit salad.

We enjoyed this fresh French bread with our picnic. Delightful to eat with cheese and meats or just a little olive oil, it requires little rising time, so it’s a wonderful go-to bread recipe that you can make and bake within an hour.

Andiamo mangiare!

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Simple French Bread

SERVINGS 2loaves CHANGE SERVING SIZE loaves

COOK TIME 25-30 minutes

PREP TIME 10 minutes

READY IN 1hr

Ingredients

• 10 cups flour all purpose
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 Tbsp + 1 tsp salt
• 3 Tbsp yeast active, dry
• 3 3/4 cup hot water very hot tap water
• 1 egg for wash

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. Activate your yeast by sprinkling it over the hot water in a bowl and whisk with a fork until dissolved and add 1 Tbsp of the sugar - let sit until foamy - about 5 min.
3. Add the remaining sugar (3 Tbsp) and then the flour a cup at a time, mixing in as you go (you can use a stand mixer with a dough hook for this step, if you'd like). Add the salt at some point along the way. Stop adding the flour if your dough is no longer sticky.
4. When the dough no longer sticks to the side of the bowl, turn the dough out onto your counter and divide into two balls.
5. Using the palm of your hand to kneed out any air bubbles, roll the dough into two long loaves.
6. Let rise slightly (about 10 min.) and brush with the egg-wash.
7. Bake for 25-30 min, or until golden or reaches an internal temperature of 190 degrees.
8. This recipe can also be used to make nice breadsticks.