Briolata
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I’m named after my grandmothers. My mom’s mother, Judith Anne and my dad’s mother Naomi Gene combined and my parents named me Anna Naomi. When I was younger, I never really liked my middle name. In classrooms filled with Megans and Brittanys, Naomi stuck out and my classmates loved to poke fun at the pronunciation. When I was 17, my dad’s mom passed away suddenly and at the funeral, there were pictures of my grandma from her youth, pictures I had never seen (or didn’t remember anyway) and stranger after stranger commented on how much I resembled my grandmother. As I remembered my grandmother through pictures and stories, I was struck with what an honor it was to carry her name.
My grandmother was so much fun. Growing up, we would drive to Pensacola each year right after Christmas and spend the second half of our Christmas holidays with her and my grandfather. We would make the trek out to the outlet mall and spend at least one entire day blowing through all of the Christmas money we were gifted, eat butter pecan ice cream from cake cones, and watch “West Side Story” over and over again. I remember so many little things about my grandma, but the strongest pull was the smells of bread and sausage that would come from the kitchen when she would make Briolata, a Sicilian-style sausage bread, synonymous with our family. Everyone makes briolata, but everyone makes it a little differently. My grandma would make giant, snail-like rolls that would almost envelop the entire countertop when they rose. My mom, who worked full-time, would use pizza dough for a quicker, more accessible briolata. We made briolata for my husband the first time I brought him home to meet my parents and now, even he has created his own rolling and filling system. When I started making briolata on my own, I sought to put my own stamp on it. I emailed my aunts and my dad, looked through photos of old recipe cards, and tested batch after batch. I decided to lean into the simplicity and use an adapted Italian bread dough. It’s pretty easy to put together in the way of bread doughs and gives a consistency as close to the ones coming out of my grandma’s kitchen that I can remember. The dough is rolled out, filled with Italian sausage, roasted garlic, and lots of freshly-cracked black pepper and each time I make it, I’m taken back to a small kitchen in Pensacola, sitting with a woman I’m proud to be named after.
Briolata (A Sicilian Sausage Bread)
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups (11.25 oz, 319 g) bread flour
- 1/2 tsp (1.5 g) instant yeast
- 3/4 cups + 2 T (7.5 oz, 213 g) warm water
- 3 1/2 cups (18 oz, 510 g) biga, at room temperature
- 2 1/2 cups (11.25 oz, 319 g) bread flour
- 1 2/3 tsp (11.5 g) kosher salt
- 1 T (14 g) sugar
- 1 tsp (3 g) instant yeast
- 2 T (28 g) olive oil
- 3/4 cup + 2 T (198 g) warm water
- 3/4 lb ground Italian sausage
- 1 head garlic, roasted
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 tsp aleppo chili flakes
- 1/2 tsp salt
- fresh ground black pepper
- *1 egg, beaten for egg wash
Instructions
- The night before baking, combine bread flour, yeast, and water in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix until just combined and then switch to the dough hook attachment. Knead on medium-low speed until dough is cohesive and pliable.
- Transfer to a greased bowl, cover, and let rest on your countertop overnight.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, combine water, oil, and biga. Add in bread flour, salt, sugar, and instant yeast. Mix on low speed for 2 minutes, until a dough begins to form.
- Increase speed to medium and knead for another 4-6 minutes until dough is smooth and elastic. (You can check gluten development here by using the window pane test).
- Transfer dough to a lightly-oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap or a damp towel. Place in a warm, draft-free area of your kitchen and let proof for about 2 hours, until doubled in size. About 30 minutes into your bulk fermentation time, fold the dough by reaching underneath and stretching the two sides of the dough out and over the top of the dough. Turn the bowl 90° and repeat with the other two sides of the dough. Cover the bowl again and continue to proof.
- When the dough has doubled in size, turn it out onto a lightly floured work surface and use a rolling pin to roll the dough into a rectangle, roughly 12x18”.
- In a small bowl, combine mashed roasted garlic with 1 tbsp olive oil and stir to make a paste. Use an offset spatula or spoon to spread paste on the rectangle of dough, all the way to the edges of the rectangle. Drizzle remaining tablespoon of oil over dough.
- Pinch of pieces of Italian sausage, about the size of quarters, and place evenly over the surface of the dough. Sprinkle the whole thing with aleppo chili flakes, salt, and pepper.
- Starting with a short end of the dough, begin rolling the dough into a tight log. Transfer the dough log to a parchment-lined baking sheet.
- Take a pair of scissors and starting on one end of the dough log, beginning cutting on 45° angel, in intervals about 1” apart. You will be cutting almost to the bottom, but not all the way through, and each piece should look sort of like a bird’s beak. (see photos)
- Use your hands to pull each snipped corner piece away from the center of the log, alternating left and right.
- Cover the loaf with plastic wrap or a damp towel and let rise another 45 minutes-an hour, until swollen and 3/4 larger in size. (You can test whether a dough is sufficiently proofed by lightly poking it with your finger. If the indentation fills back in about half way, the dough has sufficiently proofed. If it springs back immediately, it needs to proof a little longer and if the dough deflates when poked, it has over-proofed.)
- While the dough is proofing, preheat the oven to 375° F. When the loaf is ready, brush lightly with the egg wash, and bake for 25-30 minutes, rotating halfway through the baking time. The finished loaf should be golden brown, and very fragrant, and the sausage should be cooked through.
- Remove from oven and let cool for 5-10 minutes before serving.
