So Giulia gave me the best Christmas present I have ever gotten:
An empty pail with a lid
An empty bottle of wine
A bag of whole wheat flour
A packet of yeast
and
A bag of semolina
with
A notecard with her father's bread recipe!!!
I have always wanted to know how she made her fabulous bread but was always too nervous to ask-- it is a very special family recipe and I was so happy when she gave me the gift of bread.
The whole process takes 24 hours and I baked my first batch this morning. It was not perfect. A little (or a lot) denser than Giulia's and perhaps not salty enough. The thing that is special about the recipe is that it includes instructions like, "1 mostly full bottle of wine full of water" or "a handful of salt." It is definitely something I will have to get the hang of. This is the first batch of many to come....
