Tuscan Bread {Pane Toscano}

Tuscan no salt bread is one of the staples of Italian bakery. Typical to Tuscany it’s also widely used in all Central Italy (Marche, Emilia Romagna, Umbria regions).

It has a crunchy crust and soft, airy crumb inside.

All ingredients you’ll ever need is yeast, water and flour.

Classic Tuscan Bread has NO oil and NO salt.

Why salt free?

Pretty simple. No salt bread is a perfect pairing for salty cured meats, strong cheeses and olive tapenade and sun-dried tomato pesto.

Interestingly, outside of Italy Tuscan Bread is most famous to be used in its stale form.

Pappa al Pomodoro, Ribollita and of course famous Panzanella (Tuscan bread salad).

Whichever way you taste it it’s simply delicious.

Oh, and it remains fresh and soft for a few days!

Full Recipe

3.67 from 3 votes

Tuscan Bread {Pane Toscano}

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Original Tuscan bread recipe for Pane Toscano.

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Total Time45 minutes mins

Course: Bread

Cuisine: Italian

Servings: 1 loaf

Ingredients

For Biga (Starter):

• ▢ ⅔ cup bread flour
• ▢ ¼ cup water lukewarm
• ▢ ¼ tsp dry yeast

For Dough:

• ▢ 3 ⅓ cup flour
• ▢ 1 ¼ cup water lukewarm

Tools (optional)

• ▢ Bread Scoring Lame
• ▢ Kitchen Stand Mixer

Instructions

Starter (Biga) – the night before

• Dissolve yeast in lukewarm water. Add flour and knead into a ball. Place in a bowl, cover with a plastic wrap and linen towel and let sit overnight.
• I like to do this step the night before I plan to bake the bread.

Dough – the next morning

• The next morning the starter should have doubled or tripled in size.
• In a mixer bowl add starter, lukewarm water and flour. Using a dough hook attachment knead for about 10-15 minutes slowly increasing the speed.
  As a result you should get soft dough that easily comes together into a ball.
  
• Give the dough a round shape and place it in a large bowl covered with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel.
  Let rise for 1-2 hours or until it has triple in size.
• Turn the dough onto a floured surface. Dust it with a little more flour.
  Using your fingers pat the dough down into a rectangular.

  Fold upper edges inside, then roll the dough into a loaf starting from the top.
• Transfer the loaf on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
  Score the loaf with a blade or a sharp knife and cover it with a linen towel to rise for the last time for about 30-40 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 450F.
• Bake the bread for 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to 400F and bake for another 25-30 minutes.
• Let the bread cool on a cooling rack.

Notes

It’s best to use bread flour or Italian type “0” flour. However you can try it with all-purpose flour as well.

Flour should be sieved before use.

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Enjoy fresh with prosciutto, mortadella or your favorite cured meat.

And especially when it goes stale!

Here some of the best ideas to use both freshly baked and stale Tuscan Bread:

Pappa al Pomodoro

Ribollita

Panzanella Tuscan Bread Salad

Tomato & Basil Soup (fresh bread)

Crostini with Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto (fresh bread)

Bruschetta with Mushrooms (fresh bread)

… or simply drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and a pinch of salt.

Perfection! 😋

If you love Italian bread you will also love:

Airy Ciabatta Bread {Italian Slipper Bread}

Pagnotta {Round Country Bread}

Friselle Pugliesi {Twice Baked Italian Snack Bread}

Focaccia Genovese {Traditional Focaccia Bread}

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