Italian Bread -- The Loaf That Holds the House Together

A big storm Tuesday into Wednesday -- fourteen inches of snow, the specific snow that shuts Boston for forty-eight hours -- and the school district canceled and the clinic ran an emergency schedule and I got a morning with all three of my people in the house. Sean was grading on the couch with his laptop and a cup of tea. Liam and Nora were playing on the floor with the blocks, which have moved to the living room in the new house, which is a change in deployment that I am still adjusting to. In the apartment the blocks lived in Liam's room. Here the living room has become the play space, because the living room is bigger. The household has redistributed. I am still getting used to it.

Liam and Nora played together. I note this because it happens more now, and the quality of it is shifting. It used to be parallel play with occasional conflict. Now it is actual play. Liam builds a thing and gives it to Nora. Nora modifies the thing. Liam receives the modification, sometimes with protest, sometimes with acceptance. They are starting to have a working relationship. I watched them for an hour at the counter while I drank coffee. Sean caught me watching. He said "it's happening, isn't it." I said "it's happening." We knew what each other meant. The sibling dynamic, which we had both spent our childhoods inside of, is forming between these two. It has its own shape. We get to watch it form. It is the thing we did not know we were waiting for.

I shoveled Wednesday morning because Sean was on his laptop and the neighbors had not yet hired the plowing service. It was a good shovel. I had not shoveled in six years, and shoveling is something you remember. The rhythm. The small satisfaction of a clean walkway. I did the walk, the steps, and the apron of the driveway. I did not do the whole driveway because I am not insane. The plow came Thursday.

Sean has spring parent conferences coming up and is in prep mode -- writing individual notes for forty students, which is his method, which takes him twelve hours spread over two weeks, which he does not cut corners on. He came home late Thursday and went directly to the kitchen table with his laptop. I brought him dinner. He said thank you. He did not look up. That is the prep season.

Maureen's soda bread on Saturday. Not the plain -- I did the raisin-caraway this time, which Maureen calls "wedding soda bread" because it is the fancy version for weddings and Easter and days when you want to pretend you went to more trouble than you did. Butter, buttermilk, flour, baking soda, salt, raisins, caraway. Cross on top. Twenty-five minutes. Cooling on the rack. I cut into it warm and ate the first slice standing up. It tastes exactly the way it has always tasted, which is the tasting of my mother's kitchen, which is the taste of every Sunday of my childhood, which is now the taste of my own kitchen in my own house. Continuities. Always. That is what a recipe is for.

The soda bread was Maureen’s, and it will always be Maureen’s — but the bread I keep coming back to on the long February weeks, the ones where Sean is deep in prep mode and the kids have burned through the indoor energy and I need something that requires my hands and a little patience, is this Italian loaf. It bakes while everything else is happening. It smells like a house that has its bearings. That is what I needed on Saturday, alongside the soda bread, alongside all of it: something to put on the counter and say, yes, we live here now.

Italian Bread

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 30 min | Total Time: 2 hr 30 min (includes rise) | Servings: 12

Ingredients

• 1 packet (2 1/4 tsp) active dry yeast
• 1 cup warm water (105–115°F)
• 1 tsp granulated sugar
• 3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for kneading
• 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tbsp olive oil, plus more for bowl
• 1 egg white, beaten (for brushing)
• 1 tbsp water (for egg wash)
• Sesame seeds, optional, for topping

Instructions

1. Proof the yeast. Combine warm water, sugar, and yeast in a large bowl. Stir gently and let sit 5–10 minutes until foamy. If it does not foam, start over with fresh yeast.
2. Mix the dough. Add olive oil and salt to the yeast mixture. Add flour one cup at a time, stirring with a wooden spoon until a shaggy dough forms and pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
3. Knead. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead for 8–10 minutes until the dough is smooth, elastic, and slightly tacky but not sticky. Add flour a tablespoon at a time only as needed.
4. First rise. Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl, turning once to coat. Cover with a clean kitchen towel or plastic wrap and let rise in a warm spot for 1 hour, or until doubled in size.
5. Shape. Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and shape into a long oval loaf, roughly 12 inches. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Score the top with a sharp knife or lame, making 3 diagonal cuts about 1/2 inch deep.
6. Second rise. Cover loosely and let rise 30–45 minutes until noticeably puffed.
7. Preheat. Heat oven to 400°F during the last 15 minutes of the second rise. Place an oven-safe pan of hot water on the bottom rack to create steam.
8. Brush and bake. Whisk egg white with 1 tbsp water. Brush gently over the loaf. Sprinkle with sesame seeds if using. Bake 25–30 minutes until deep golden brown and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.
9. Cool. Transfer to a wire rack. Let cool at least 15 minutes before slicing. It will be very hard not to cut in immediately. Do your best.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 125 | Protein: 4g | Fat: 1.5g | Carbs: 24g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 230mg