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. Flour, water and yeast is all you need! Traditional Tuscan Bread has NO oil and NO salt.
Why salt free? 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 Salad - Tuscan bread and tomato salad.
Whichever way you taste it it’s simply delicious. Oh, and it remains fresh and soft for a few days!
How To Use
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.
If you love Italian bread you will also love:
Full Recipe
Tuscan Bread (Pane Toscano)
Ingredients
For Biga (Starter):
- ⅔ cup bread flour
- ¼ cup water
- ¼ teaspoon dry yeast
For Dough:
- 3 ⅓ cup flour
- 1 ¼ cup water
Tools (optional)
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
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Patrice Anita says
Is this correct? Only 1/4 tsp yeast for the entire recipe?
Cheryl says
I just made this for someone who asked for a no salt bread. It turned out great! Although when baking the bread I would only bake it maybe 10 mins more after you turn it down to 400 degrees.
Anonymous says
Temperature not correct. It is black
Rosetta Fazio says
Beautiful loaf of bread just baked it!