Bread Maker Recipe - Tuscan Bread

Tuscan bread, or Pane Toscana, is made without salt. There are some interesting historical reasons, stemming from taxes and trade politics, much like the the American colonist's response to the Stamp tax and other taxes levied by the British government in America's pre-revolutionary days.

During the Middle Ages, Tuscany's neighboring provinces controlled the Italian salt trade and, in their greed, levied heavy salt taxes all around. Rather that give in to such bullying by their rivals, the Tuscans created breads that required no salt at all. And now you can make it in your bread maker.

Tuscan bread has a more yeasty flavor than most bread maker recipes. It can quickly become stale so it's best to eat it as soon as it's made. Interestingly enough, many Tuscan cooks developed other dishes that use stale bread as one of the ingredients.

Necessity really is the mother of invention, even with bread recipes.

Ingredients
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons water
3 cups white flour
1 tablespoon vital wheat gluten
1 teaspoon dough conditioner
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 1/2 teaspoons yeast

Directions
Place the ingredients in the bread loaf pan in the order recommended by your manufacturer. Use the French loaf cycle and the dark crust setting.

Enjoy this bread with your favorite Italian dishes. If it goes stale before you can eat it all, make croutons or use it as a thickener in soup.

Photo by Dimitar Tzankov