Last week my cousin Sal asked me to recommend a good Italian cookbook that he could give as a birthday gift to a friend. My first reaction was to choose from the books I have featured on this site. There are some excellent ones like The Silver Spoon and Italian Family Dining. But, as I thought about it more I realized the one Italian cookbook that I would want if I could only have one was conspicuously missing, Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan.

Published in 1992, Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking is actually two earlier works of Hazan’s from the 1970s combined into one volume and updated. Essentials literally is an essential resource for anybody cooking Italian food at home, whether a beginner or expert. Hazan includes clear recipes for many great Italian dishes as well as tremendous detail on techniques for doing everything from rolling handmade pasta to cutting and pounding veal scallopine. I find myself referring to this classic time and again.

When I got home after touting the book to Sal, I took it out to leaf through and was inspired to try a recipe I hadn’t tried before,  Baked Crespelle with Bolognese Meat Sauce. After making these crepes stuffed with Bolognese Sauce and Béchamel, there was no doubt I made the right recommendation.

A few years back I was doing a lot of bread baking. I worked my way through a good portion of The Italian Baker by Carol Field and the Italian bread recipes from The Bread Baker’s Apprentice by Peter Reinhart. I made a mean Pane Pugliese. As much as I enjoyed the process and especially the results, baking bread at home is something you have to make time for and 2 children later that time is harder to find.

When I saw Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois in the bookstore I was intrigued but skeptical. The thought of being able to make good bread without setting aside an entire morning was pretty exciting so I decide to pick the book up. I had it sitting on my shelf for a couple of months before trying the master recipe, but I am really impressed by the results of my first attempt. 

The four loaves of bread I made with my first batch were all very good, especially the last one which I made a week after initially making the dough. Sitting in the fridge for 7 days gave it a bit of a sourdough flavor, which was nice. I also feel my dough could have been wetter, so I made a new batch of dough for this week adding some water, the dough came out more like my ciabatta so I think this is going to make some good loaves. The authors encourage this kind of experimentation. If the bread comes out like I hope I will post some pictures.

Update – We have been given permission to reprint the master recipe:

The Master Recipe: Boule (Artisan Free-Form Loaf)