pane di mais fatto in casa in lievitazione / homemade maize bread leavening

The magic of bread

One of my favorite bread-making books is Dan Lepard's The Handmade Loaf. If you open my well-used copy, you'll probably be hit by a small cloud of flour coming out of the pages. It's a beautiful book, full of very nice recipes, photographs and stories. I wrote a review of it for the Daring Kitchen site. Here's the relevant excerpt:

Another interesting recipe is that for Maize bread (page 73), whose ingredients include polenta and corn flour. I had tried making bread with corn flour once before and was not successful. The photos of this bread made me decide to try Lepard's recipe. Besides being excellent, the result was of a beautiful yellow color. In the headnote, Lepard tells the story of how he got to taste pane di mais for the first time in Italy. Such personal connection with the breads and also with the people who shared their bread-making stories with him gives a particular human dimension to the book.

You can see a photo of slices of the baked loaf on the review page. In the photo above, I peek at the leavening dough in the brotform lined with a vintage napkin. I ♥ baking bread.

This is my submission to week #8 edition of Black and White Wednesday - A Culinary Photography Event created by Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook. Savoring the weekly gallery is highly recommended: it's a very special mid-week treat.

The photo was shot in color and then converted to sepia.

This post contains the gallery of photos submitted to the event.

 

Comments

[Paz]

Very, very nice photo. And the bread looks like it will be delicious when it's baked.

[sra]

You've made something so basic (in the sense of everyday - I've only tried my hand at baking bread once, ages ago) look so good and beautiful! It's elegant.

[Catalina]

The review is so well-written, Simona! I can feel the love and care you put into your bread through the lines you write. I've not tried making the real bread, yet, but everytime I visit your blog and see some bread-related post I am getting a bit closer to making my own bread :)

[Simona Carini]

Ciao Paz. It's a bread a like a lot.

Thanks Sra. For a long time, I was afraid of baking bread. Then I discovered that it was not as daunting as it sounds and now I bake bread regularly. I hope you'll give it another try.

Ciao Catalina and thanks for the kind words: I am glad you liked the review. If you find a book with recipes that appeal to you and clear explanation, that is a great help. Alternatively, a class that introduces you to baking bread. The world of bread is so vast that I am sure you will find something that appeals to you.

[Susan]

So pretty, Simona. It looks like an infant all bundled up. The very pale sepia is a nice touch. (Catching up with last week's commenting - and I owe you an email.)

[Susan]

P.S. - Thank you for regularly participating in BWW. Your photos are always a delight to include.

[Simona Carini]

Doesn't it, Susan? I bought the napkin at a vintage store: I think that bread deserves to be wrapped in fine fabric. You are welcome!