By I crossed the bridge to Anapra on Wednesday. The weekly visit. Lupita's conchas are excellent — eight years of practice, eight years of Rosa's recipe in her hands. The neighborhood women come at dawn. The children come after school. The bakery is what I dreamed it would be: a place that smells like home in a neighborhood that needed home.
Watching what Lupita has built in Anapra — that steady, daily act of shaping dough into something a whole neighborhood depends on — made me want to go home and put my own hands to work. The bread I kept thinking about was Pane Siciliano: a humble, sesame-crusted loaf with the kind of quiet authority that Rosa’s recipe clearly carries. It isn’t flashy, but it fills a room with exactly the smell that Lupita’s bakery fills a street, and sometimes that is everything.
Pane Siciliano (Sesame Seed Sicilian Bread)
Prep Time: 30 minutes + 2 hours rising | Cook Time: 30 minutes | Total Time: 3 hours | Servings: 1 loaf (12 slices)
Ingredients
- 3 1/2 cups (440g) bread flour, plus more for dusting
- 1 teaspoon instant yeast
- 1 1/2 teaspoons fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 1/4 cups warm water (about 110°F)
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for the bowl
- 1/4 cup semolina flour (for dusting the pan)
- 1 egg, beaten (for egg wash)
- 1/3 cup sesame seeds
Instructions
- Make the dough. In a large bowl, whisk together the bread flour, yeast, salt, and sugar. Add the warm water and olive oil. Stir until a shaggy dough forms, then turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 8–10 minutes until the dough is smooth, supple, and slightly tacky.
- First rise. Shape the dough into a ball and place it in a lightly oiled bowl, turning once to coat. Cover with a clean kitchen towel or plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until doubled in size, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
- Shape the loaf. Punch down the dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. For a traditional S-shaped (mafalda) loaf, roll the dough into a long rope about 24 inches long, then coil it into an S-shape. Alternatively, shape it into an oval or round boule. Place on a baking sheet dusted with semolina flour.
- Second rise. Cover loosely and let rest for 30–45 minutes, until noticeably puffed.
- Preheat and prepare. Preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C) with a rack in the center. Place an empty shallow pan on the bottom rack to create steam.
- Apply egg wash and sesame seeds. Brush the shaped loaf generously with the beaten egg. Sprinkle sesame seeds evenly and densely over the entire surface, pressing gently so they adhere.
- Bake. Pour 1/2 cup of hot water into the empty pan on the bottom rack to create steam, then quickly slide the loaf into the oven. Bake for 28–32 minutes, until deep golden brown and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom. An internal temperature of 200°F confirms it is done.
- Cool. Transfer to a wire rack and cool for at least 20 minutes before slicing. The crust will crisp as it cools.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 190 | Protein: 6g | Fat: 5g | Carbs: 30g | Fiber: 2g | Sodium: 240mg