For the love of scali bread…
Scali bread. If you’re from Boston, you grew up with it; it was the daily bread of choice for most Italian families. And a common offering in sandwich shops, as in “Ya want that on white, wheat, rye, or scali?” Now, it’s sold at Trader Joe’s. And if you google scali, you’ll find all kinds of recipes and discussion about it.
This shiny, mahogany-brown loaf, heavily coated with nutty sesame seeds, has lots of low-key buzz surrounding it; I’d say it has good mojo. (A word to my son, Nik: if I’m using that word wrong, DON’T bother to tell me. Thank you.) And, I have a personal attachment to scali bread: it was my first “showoff” loaf, made strictly to impress someone—my new husband.
We were walking through the grocery store hand in hand (remember those days? Grocery shopping as part of the ongoing courtship ritual?), and he casually threw this seedy braid into the shopping cart—without consulting me, the designated shopping maven.
“We don’t need any bread,” I offered, thinking of the Pepperidge Farm thin-sliced sandwich loaf in the breadbox at home.
“We don’t have any bread,” he said.
“We have Pepperidge Farm,” I countered.
“That’s not bread.”
Uh…. I had no rejoinder. Pepperidge Farm, beloved companion of my childhood, not bread? Toasted bearer of butter and jam in the morning, sandwicher of PB & J at noontime, the perfect loaf for grilled cheese—NOT BREAD? I let it slide. We were newlyweds, after all, still testing the waters of potential marital discord.
Later, at home, I asked Rick what he was going to do with the scali bread. I thought there might be some strange Italian food ritual surrounding it. Like, you can ONLY eat spaghetti and meatballs with scali bread.
He looked at me strangely. “Eat it?” he ventured.
“I’m not planning on making spaghetti,” I said.
Mystified, Rick offered that scali bread was eaten with EVERY meal. Just as Pepperidge Farm was my daily companion, scali was his. He toasted it for breakfast, had sandwiches on it at lunch, and wiped his plate clean with it at dinner. Scali bread quickly earned a permanent spot on my shopping list.
And soon, I learned to make it. I was a budding bread baker, and despite its appearance, scali was pretty simple to make. I’ve since tweaked the recipe, adding an overnight starter for flavor, some milk powder for texture, but scali has remained a regular in my repertoire for over 30 years now.
Rick and I are both grayer, slower, and more creaky than we were when I first learned about scali. And we occasionally still grocery shop together, though he’s more interested in browsing the wine section than trailing me through frozen foods. I still love my Pepperidge Farm-style white bread (though I’ve learned to make my own). He still loves his scali. And we still love each other. It doesn’t get any better than that.
Here’s my tried-and-true recipe for Scali Bread.
As with many crusty artisan-style loaves, we begin by making a starter, a simple combination of flour, water, and yeast. Overnight, this gnarly little ball of dough is transformed into…
…a lovely, bubbly mass of dough.
Mix the starter with the remaining dough ingredients.
That unassuming mixture becomes a lovely, smooth, slightly sticky dough.
Set it in a greased, covered container to rise for 2 hours.
Ahhh, VERY nice!
Next, spray a work surface (here I’m using a silicone rolling mat) with vegetable oil spray. I use Everbake; it’s a good all-purpose spray that, when you use it on your baking pans, doesn’t leave that icky dark goo that some sprays leave. Divide the dough into three equal pieces, and gently pull them into rough logs. Walk away for 10 minutes; you can leave the dough uncovered. This gives the gluten in the dough a chance to relax, which will make it easier to roll into ropes.
Gently roll the dough under your cupped fingers to make ropes about 24” long.
Paint each rope with 1 large egg white beaten with 1 tablespoon water. This “liquid glue” will make the sesame seeds adhere nicely.
Sprinkle heavily with seeds, rolling the ropes gently on the work surface to pick up as many fallen seeds as possible.
Squeeze the three ropes together at one end…
…and start to braid. Cross the left- and right-side pieces, alternating them, over the piece in the center.
Keep going, trying not to stretch the dough too much. Stretching it could result in a misshapen braid, as the gluten will want to shrink back again as the braid rises.
When you run out of rope, squeeze the ends together. Tuck both ends underneath to make a neat loaf.
Cover the braid and let it rise till it’s very puffy, 1 to 2 hours.
Bake the loaf to transform it into a shiny gold, seed-studded work of art—scali bread!
Find the recipe online by clicking here: Scali Bread.
March 26th, 2008 at 9:52 am
What a lovely story AND I can’t wait to try this bread. Being of Irish and French heritage, raised in Texas, I’ve never heard of it.
Thanks for sharing!
March 26th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
Bridget, I’m Irish, too. And I’ve had a LOT more success baking scali bread than any typical Irish bread—aside from Americanized Irish soda bread. My attempts at “true” Irish soda bread (whole wheat flour, buttermilk, baking soda…) have been dry and basically flavorless. If anyone has a “basic” Irish soda bread recipe (without the raisins, caraway, sugar, etc.) that they think is actually tasty, I’d love to know about it!
March 26th, 2008 at 7:10 pm
Wow PJ, what a beautiful loaf! I’m also Irish & I must have been drawn to this page by the fairies. I’ll try this one this weekend. My first job was in an Italian bakery and this was one of my favorites. We used to swap pastries for deli meats with a shop down the street and I still remember the wonderful smell of hot scali, mortadella, salami & provalone sandwiches hot from the oven. No way not to get busted by the owner when he came in to count stales in the afternoon & he always joined us for a bite. Thanks for sharing it.
March 26th, 2008 at 7:14 pm
Heee, oh yes….I remember those days of grocery shopping together, hand in hand.
What a great story.
Thanks for the recipe, I can’t wait to try it.
Oh and thank you for all the great pictures on step by step tutorial, it really helps.
March 26th, 2008 at 9:29 pm
Looks like this will be a scali bread weekend! (as well as oatmeal bread for the weeks lunches) PJ, I think it was somewhere on the blog that I saw a comment about cooking spray. Some kind that doesn’t leave that gunk all over the pan where the baked good doesn’t touch? Maybe called Ever-or Easy -something? Please tell us again what kind it is and is it available in supermarkets? Shaw’s only has Mazola and Pam.
March 26th, 2008 at 9:30 pm
OH, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your posting this recipe. I can’t get decent bread in the part of SC where I live. The closest good stuff is about 100 miles away in either direction! Thanks a bunch.
March 27th, 2008 at 7:29 am
Thanks for the lesson and background on Scali bread. I’ve just noticed it popping up in the grocery stores in town and had no idea what it was. Now I’m looking forward to trying my hand at baking some myself!
March 27th, 2008 at 8:43 am
Candace, I was referring to Everbake, which is the professional pan spray we use here in our test kitchen. We also sell it—go back up into the photo section, and the picture where you’ve divided the dough into three logs has a link to Everbake underneath. I recommend it highly!
Bev, good luck - with gas prices what they are, avoiding a 200-mile round trip for bread is a very good thing.
LeAnne, best of luck; this is a lovely easy, forgiving bread dough, and I’m sure you’ll do just fine with it. Cheers, everyone-
March 27th, 2008 at 9:36 am
I’m new to this blog. How do you get it from the work surface to the oven? with a peale? do you bake it on a stone? Looks great!
March 27th, 2008 at 10:33 am
Up til now I have viewed this computer as a necessary evil Thank you so much for the lovely essay and a great recipe Again Thank you B
March 27th, 2008 at 10:39 am
Phil, I braided it on the mat, then simply picked it up and put it on a parchment-lined baking sheet; let it rise there, and put pan and bread into the oven to bake. If you want to bake on a stone, braid the loaf and then transfer to parchment; or braid it right on the parchment. When it’s ready to bake, use whatever you have (peel, bottom of a baking sheet) to transfer the bread, parchment and all, to the stone. The bread’s crust doesn’t have to touch the stone directly to get the benefit; that layer of parchment in between won’t hurt anything, and it makes it a heck of a lot easier to move the loaf from counter to stone, and stone to cooling rack.
March 27th, 2008 at 7:40 pm
I loved hearing about the different culinary backgrounds you and your husband came from, I’m fascinated by the ways different families eat and how couples blend those traditions. Thanks for sharing!
What a gorgeous loaf of bread, I just love how pretty braided breads are without being all that much work! I’ll have to try this recipe soon!
March 27th, 2008 at 7:42 pm
PJ, The photos and your essay were wonderful. I did notice, however, that in your actual recipe for the scali bread, you don’t list the sesame seeds with your ingredients, and you also don’t mention when to sprinkle them on the dough. That sure is a beautiful loaf, though. I need to rush out and buy some sesame seeds!! Thanks for the love story too.
March 28th, 2008 at 7:36 am
Beth, thanks for the heads-up—I went in and fixed the recipe. Doh!
Karina, I agree - I’m all for “beauty without the work.” And since many of us learn to make braids as kids, it’s not hard to apply that skill to bread later in life.
March 30th, 2008 at 9:19 am
I made the starter last night and this mornig it looks like your first picture not the 2nd lovely bubbly picture. It looks it needs more water than the recipe’s 1/3 of water. I am going to replace it with a little sourdough starter and see if it helps…. going to continue now… Please clarify, thanks.
March 30th, 2008 at 10:52 am
Marj, did you use instant yeast? We use SAF Red instant yeast in the test kitchen. If you used active dry, it might not have been as fresh/vigorous; also, you would have needed to dissolve it in the water first, and use more of it. Perhaps that’s what happened?
March 30th, 2008 at 11:57 am
I finished making 2 loaves this morning and the bread is PERFECT. My starter was not as “wet” as yours was but worked just fine.
Here is a pic of mine:
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y20/doberlady/bread3.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y20/doberlady/bread2.jpg
March 30th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
Great job, Doberlady! I see you’ve already sampled a piece… Isn’t that just the easiest, best bread? A real keeper recipe. (Do you raise Dobermans, by any chance?)
March 30th, 2008 at 4:48 pm
The scali bread turned out good - not as brown as the picture. It is still very good with crunchy crust and soft bread. Next time I will make the braids looser. Yum!
March 30th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
PJ, I made the Scali and had the same results as others. My starter was dry, too, so I added a bit of extra water right at the start. I thought it was because I have a wood cook stove and the air here was dry from that. Then this AM the starter looked just like Marj’s. Didn’t want to throw it out cause it’s too much fun to experiment. I added extra water to the bread machine and it seems OK, just not shiny. It’s only 3-ish inches tall, though, and I remember you said it’s used for sandwiches. How do you get it to go taller instead of wider?
March 30th, 2008 at 6:27 pm
Candace, this IS a dry starter; it takes some work to integrate all the flour into the water. Did you measure flour by the sprinkle and sweep method, i.e., sprinkle it gently into the cu, then sweep off the excess? A cup of King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour measured this way should weigh 4 1/4 ounces. Did you use good, fresh instant yeast? Did you give it 15-16 hours or so? I should be more specific; to me, overnight means 4 p.m. to 8 a.m. I’ll go in and fix the recipe to clarify. Shininess comes from the beaten egg white. And yes, mine is only about 3″ tall. Just slice it crosswise, like you would any loaf, and make 3″-wide, 5″ to 6″ long sandwiches; same square inches as a 4″ to 4 1/2″ square sandwich, just a different shape. Hope this helps-
March 30th, 2008 at 6:46 pm
PJ- Yes, we raise Dobermans
They are the sweetest dogs. The bread is way easy and tastes like it should be harder! The dough was so easy to work with. I sent my parents home with 1 of the loaves and we sampled the other for sandwiches. My kids loved it! Thanks so much for the recipe!!
March 31st, 2008 at 11:58 am
PJ — I also had trouble with the starter being really dry, even after 18 hours had passed. I went ahead and used it as it was and the bread turned out great. Next time I’ll add more water to it. Also, it wasn’t shiny like yours but still very nice. Maybe I should have used the entire egg and not just the white. Thanks for the recipe. It was really tasty!
March 31st, 2008 at 12:44 pm
Melinda, go ahead and use a bit more water; it won’t hurt anything. There’s often a big difference in the dryness of flour in different parts of the country; as well as a difference in how we all measure. the egg white should have made a nice, shiny loaf; the yolk will make it darker and shiny. Again, give it a try; the experimenting is half the fun!
April 1st, 2008 at 1:24 pm
I can’t wait to make this for my dad. He keeps asking me to find a recipe for the italian bread his mom used to make covered with sesame seeds. When i showed him the picture he yelled”THATS IT” and when are you going to make it? I told him after I make the gruyere cheese bread today!!!!!
April 1st, 2008 at 2:29 pm
This bread is so tasty, I have to bake this again today. Here is what I’ve learned.
- Have to add the pinch of yeast to the water and mix first (then it looked more like the picture), but I still replace ¼ with the sourdough starter.
- Overnight meant from 4 pm till 8 am 16 hours per PJ
- The logs are about 18” to 20” long not 24” (I guessed it from the picture as I have the same KA Rolling Mat)
- Brush more egg white before baking
Viloa!! The Scali bread turned out just like the picture! I am gong to take a picture and show it soon.
I will make the Cheese brad coming weekend!
Thanks again!!
April 2nd, 2008 at 7:48 am
Hi PJ,
You askedabout an basic Irish soda bread recipe; I’ve had great luck with this one, found at http://lowfatcooking.about.com/od/bakedgoods/r/sodabread.htm :
INGREDIENTS:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups low fat buttermilk
PREPARATION:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In a large bowl, stir dry ingredients together with a whisk. Make a well in the center and add 1 cup of the buttermilk, reserving 1/2 cup. Combine dry ingredients and buttermilk with a fork, gradually adding more of the remaining liquid until a soft dough is formed.
Knead the dough lightly on a floured surface for 1 minute. Form into a slightly flattened circle. Place on a parchment lined (or silicone baking mat) cookie sheet. Mark a large 1/2-inch deep X with a sharp knife and bake soda bread for 40-45 minutes. The bread is ready when it is golden and sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.
Yield 1 round loaf (8-10 wedges or slices).
April 2nd, 2008 at 2:23 pm
Susan, thanks for the recipe I’ll definitely try it. I think I’ll enjoy it more with AP flour than the usual whole wheat…
April 2nd, 2008 at 9:10 pm
Your essay brought back wonderful memories of my Italian-Irish husband and my French-Dutch self going shopping, discussing holiday celebrations and the like! My late, Italian born father-in-law was always asking me to make Scalli. Although I was able to make all of his other favorites, I was never able to find the recipe for Scalli and my attempts at recreation never quite filled the bill. I can’t wait to begin the starter tonight! Thanks.
April 6th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
Thanks for the recipe and the detailed instructions with pictures. I’ve been looking for a recipe like this for a while now; I just didn’t know what the bread was called. Funny, I had just purchased sesame seeds about two days before seeing the recipe in the blog. I plan on making up the starter tonight.
April 15th, 2008 at 9:02 pm
What is good to cover it with while it rises? What is good to “grease” the container with? Is it ok to leave it on the parchment paper and put that on the stone to bake (while on the parchment paper)?? I can never slide it into my oven without deflating it.
April 16th, 2008 at 5:01 am
Tom, you can cover it with greased plastic wrap, tenting it lightly. Grease it with vegetable oil spray - olive oil spray is a good choice. But what I do is take a big cheap plastic cover from a supermarket bakery cake - or a “party platter” - and simply put it on top of the bread. You need a big one, but once you find one, hang onto it! It’s a great “proof cover”. If you’re baking on a stone, yes, leave the bread right on the parchment, and slide it, parchment and all, onto the stone. The parchment won’t negate the effects of the hot stone. And you’ll never deflate your bread when you use parchment.
April 16th, 2008 at 5:38 pm
My husband & I happened to be in the Boston area late last week. One of my ’souvenirs’ was a loaf of scali from Bob’s, an Italian market in Medford. I’ve been eking it out, but now I won’t need to. Thanks!
April 21st, 2008 at 12:26 pm
Good looking loaf of bread but it is NOT Scala or Scali. My grandfather actually had an Italian Bread Bakery and made Scala, Vienna, French Sticks, Hard Rolls, Rounds, large and small every day. His Scala didn’t have big air pockets and was run through a “dough breaker” many times until it had an almost cake like, fine texture.
Also, he didn’t braid it, but made a long rope and pushed it together accordion like. The only way I know of coming even close to the way his looked and tasted, is to mix the dry ingredients in a Cuisinart, including instant yeast, then adding the liquid last. It has something to do with not oxidizing the dough.
April 22nd, 2008 at 6:52 am
BTW: it’s Scala (for a single loaf) and Scali (more than one).
April 22nd, 2008 at 7:00 am
Here’s a brown bread recipe from Co. Clare Ireland. Since I’ve started making it with KA Irish-style Wholemeal Flour it tastes exactly as it did at the B&B where I got the recipe! It had a bitter taste when made with regular ww flour. That’s gone when using the Irish style! It’s rich, dark and begs for Irish butter or clotted cream and jam!
3 1/2 c KA Irish-style wholemeal flour
4 Tbsp oatmeal
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c mixed seeds and grains (poppy, sesame, millet, quinoa, wheat berries, etc)
1/2 c coarse chopped nuts (any kind)
2 Tbsp butter, cut in pieces
2 Tbsp honey or dark molasses
2 c buttermilk
Preheat oven to 425
Oil a loaf pan
Combine dry ingredients
Add butter and cut in until it looks like coarse crumbs
Make a well in the center and add buttermilk and honey or molasses
Stir from center incorporating flour a bit at a time. Dough will be soft and sticky.
Bake about 40 minutes or until tester comes out clean. Bread wil be dark brown.
Turn out on rack and cool.
April 22nd, 2008 at 1:02 pm
For those still wondering what to cover a bread with while rising. Try putting a loaf(s) into a large clear plastic bag.
If any are still trying to make Scala, in addition to the usual flour, yeast, salt, water, try adding a tablespoon or two of powdered malt. That’s where the flavor of Scala comes from. Grandpa used a malt syrup, but the powdered form works.
Also, for rising dough, get yourself a KA Rising bucket and don’t bother greasing the dough or the sides of the bucket.
May 5th, 2008 at 11:32 am
My husband has dietary restrictions which prevent me from using all-purpose flour. Can KA White Whole Wheat be substituted in this recipe?
Thanks,
Jon Moss
Lansing, KS
May 6th, 2008 at 5:50 am
This bread looks great. After reading all these comments I wonder how do you get the bread that is rising to the oven?
May 6th, 2008 at 6:15 am
Jon - white whole wheat can be substituted; you’ll need to increase the rising times, and the bread will be denser.
MJ - the bread is on a pan. Just pick up the pan and stick it in the oven - no problem!
May 7th, 2008 at 10:31 am
Thanks for totally rejuvenating my homesickness for the western Boston suburbs! I’ve been here in NC for 12 years and still miss bean town desperately. It was not being able to find scali bread at any store that pushed me into bread baking. (All the breads at the in-store bakeries seemed to be the same basic recipe, just in different shapes.) In my attempts at scali at home I used a recipe for Italian bread, made a braided loaf, sprayed it with ‘Quick Shine’ (from you-know-where!) and sprinkled on sesame seeds. It was OK, sure beat anything from the store, but somehow wasn’t quite right. I’ll try your recipe for next week’s loaf (and try to get to Chapel Hill where there is now a Trader Joe’s).
May 8th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
Help I just grabbed the bread flour instead of the ap flour will this make much difference? I love this bread! I had out the bread flour for the cheese bread and oops! Not thinking, and since I got a big bag to use up can I subsutite it in the olive rolls? Thanks jana
May 8th, 2008 at 5:16 pm
Sure, Jana - Just increase the water (probably by 2-3 tablespoons) to make up for the increased protein in the bread flour. Not a problem! Good luck-
May 9th, 2008 at 7:36 am
Hi PJ:
My seven and three year old grandsons are going to help me make this bread next Friday. They bake with me all the time. This week we made the stuffed baguettes, but I need to let them bake longer, no song.
Wish me luck,
Joyce
May 9th, 2008 at 10:51 pm
Thank you for the advice the batch with the bread flour made me tear up it was so good. It was even better than the first batch I had made. My son says I love it when you bake bread!
May 10th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
Well, here goes this Irish girl from Philly, trying to make her favorite Italian bread. My starter was not real wet eiher and being a novice bread baker, I just added more water. Hope it works. I also used KA organic wheat flour for some of the flour. It’s rising now. I’ll keep you posted. I also love to see the posting of just regular bakers. I have a couple of great Irish bread recipies that I will dig out for anyone who wants. I think buttermilk is the secret to soda bread.
p.s. this is my first posting to a blog, too!
May 10th, 2008 at 10:15 pm
Sheila, congrats on your first blog post! I think you’re going to like it here… I’m sure your starter will be fine. Using whole wheat flour will make a denser, somewhat drier bread, just so you understand if it doesn’t come out as pictured, but I’m sure it’ll be delish.
We’re launching our new recipe site later this summer, and at some point will have a feature where bakers can share recipes. In the meantime, it’s easy to share on our forum: bakingcircle.com. Cheers!
May 11th, 2008 at 10:08 pm
Woohoo! I jsut finished making the scali bread- thank you so much for the clear instructions! I doubled the recipe, which worked out okay. I would post a pic of the brown beauties if someone would tell me where and how
June- the Happy Baker!
May 11th, 2008 at 10:12 pm
Another thing- I purchased a huge bag of sesame seeds at one of our little Oriental markets today for this bread- the price in the regular grocery store was prohibitive!
May 16th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
In the starter, how much yeast is a pinch?
May 16th, 2008 at 4:12 pm
Hi Bill— Put your thumb and first finger into the yeast, and grab a pinch… But if you want to measure, go with 1/16 of a teaspoon.
May 22nd, 2008 at 11:42 pm
If I don’t have dry milk, could I use buttermilk powder without changing the taste too much? Since it’s only 2 T, I thought that might work…
Jami, dried buttermilk powder has a different acidity level than just milk powder. You can substitute 1/2 cup of scalded and cooled milk for 1/2 cup of the liquid in the recipe, or just leave out the milk powder altogether.
Happy Baking!
~MaryJane @The Baker’s Hotline
May 27th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
I just made this bread but it sort of came out flat…I think it spread out instead of up…but it sure does smell good!
June 13th, 2008 at 9:26 am
PJ, I made this bread last Sunday and it was so delicious. So light. We loved it. My Mom made homemade pasta (with King Arthur Pasta Blend Flour) that was also delicious. Who needs to spend money at a fancy restaurant when you can have the best meals at home. I am anxious to make this again. One question. I am thinking of ordering the SAF Red Instant yeast from the catalogue. A comment in the description says the yeast can be frozen. Any idea how long it can be kept frozen without losing it’s power? Just wondering. I plan to make this often and the strip yeast can get expensive. Thanks PJ for such wonderful recipes. The pictures are great too.
Joyce
HI Joyce,
You can freeze yeast for about a year. It will lose potency over time, so if it gets to be on the older side, you will want to proof it, even if it is instant yeast, to be sure it is still active.
Happy Baking!
MaryJane @ The Baker’s Hotline
June 16th, 2008 at 9:39 am
Thanks MaryJane for the info on the yeast. I will surely use it up before the year is over.
Joyce
July 21st, 2008 at 7:42 pm
Rose, I enjoyed your comments on Scala bread. I agree the stores today do not sell real Scala bread. The bread we used to purchase at Clyde’s in Plymouth, MA, and the same bread my mother bought when she was a child growing up in the north end of Mansfield was different. They called it Scala or horn bread, because of the shape it was made in. It was very crusty and very white with a very fine texture. There were no air bubbles.
The crust had a faint salty taste, and it was fun to break off the four “horns” for snacking. Someone else in Plymouth is making the bread now, but it is not the same. It has big bubbles, and tastes like regular Italian bread. The real Scala or horn bread recipe seems to be kept secret, and passed on within families.