Neapolitan Pizza

        Evolved and adapted from Vincenzo Buonassisi's PIZZA Plus, William Collins & Sons Ltd. 1985, watching cooks in restaurants in Italy, and from Tony Gemignani Neapolitan Pizza video on YouTube. The point of this evolution is that it is easy, real, a quick but incredible supper, and you can live on this stuff and stay skinny. It looks long at first but goes pretty fast after a few times.

        Your mixer does the work, but it takes about 3 1/2 hours from start to using the dough. The recipe makes 4 to 6 balls of dough and I usually only use 1 ball and freeze the rest in individual sandwich bags. For large pizzas divide into 4 balls, for individual pizzas, divide into 5 or 6. To defrost, put the frozen dough into a bowl covered with plastic wrap and leave out at room temperature for 4 or 5 hours. Then put in refrigerator and use after it has cooled a bit, or in the next day or two. I eat this for lunch once or twice a week and it takes about 20 minutes from start to table.

Ingredients:

Starter:

1 cup King Arthur Bread Flour

2 1/2 teaspoons of active dry yeast

3 oz of water

Dough:

3 cups of King Arthur Bread Flour

10 oz of water

1 teaspoon salt

        Slight adjustments in flour and water may need to be made depending on flour type and where you live. Experiment.

Basic Topping:

        Crushed peeled San Marzano tomatoes. Or, I use a can of Muir Glen Organic Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes. Puree using a Cuisinart Smart-Stick type mixer or blender. This will store for a long time in the fridge and only about 2 tablespoons are used per pizza. If too wet, sieve off a bit of the liquid.

        Whole milk mozzarella (the fat slows down the carbs - so avoid skim/processed crap). Use a brick of cheese, not grated!

Directions:

Starter:

        Dissolve the yeast in 3 oz of warm water and allow it to stand for a few minutes. In the mixer bowl, add the cup of King Arthur Bread flour and then the water/yeast and mix until a shaggy dough is made. Mix with a wood spoon and then ball up with hands as it’s quicker than using the electric mixer. Cover the mixer bowl with a plate (or plastic) and allow it to remain at room temperature (or slightly warm place) for 1 hour.

Dough:

        After the starter has fermented for an hour, add salt and 3 cups of flour to the bowl. Turn the started dough with the wood spoon and mix it a bit with the flour. Add the 10 oz of water. Knead by hand (for a long time) or use 1 speed of KitchenAid mixer with the dough hook until mixed and then speed 2 for about 5 to 6 minutes. The longer the kneading, the more soft, smooth, and elastic the dough. After kneading, cover the mixing bowl with a plate and let rise at room temperature (or slightly warm place) for 1 1/2 hours or so.

        Scrape out the dough onto a floured work surface (a yogurt container lid cut in half works well as a scraper) and gently form into a long log. Divide the dough into 4 to 6 equal portions. Put what you’re going to freeze into sandwich bags squeezing out the air and put in freezer. For dough to be used, place into a large cereal sized bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Place in refrigerator for at least an hour before use. The dough will puff up a bit. It can remain in the fridge for a day or two before use. Bring it out of the fridge a few minutes before use to warm just slightly. A trick to pushing out an even thin pizza is to have the dough cold - that’s what they do in the restaurants.

Pushing Out the Pizza:

        The best way to learn this is to watch the Tony Gemignani Neapolitan Pizza video on YouTube (see video below).

        Scrape the dough out of the bowl and onto a well floured work surface. Pat both side of the dough ball on the flour. Gently flatten a bit and then using your finger tips, repeatedly pressing down into the dough to flatten more, avoiding the very edges so a small lip is formed. The dough is now about 6 to 8 inches in diameter.

        Then, as in the video, use your hands to work/spin the dough into a thin pizza of about 1/8th inch thick and about 12 inches in diameter (for a single pizza). Enough flour underneath will help when pushing out. If the dough is cold, it’ll be more elastic and easier to push out evenly. It does take some practice, but becomes easy when you get it.

       For a Roma Pizza, take a roller and after pushing out with hands, quickly roll across the dough mainly to flatten the edges. The edges will then puff up when cooking.

Preparing & Cooking:

        I use a round steel pizza pan coated with a very slight amount of olive oil. The steel pan is easier than a stone or other tricks and does a decent job. To find better, you’ll just have to go to Italy. The trick is to keep the toppings cold, including the cheese so that it takes longer to cook and the crust gets crispier.

       Place the flattened dough on the steel pan. The shape is not as important as an even thickness. Top the dough with 1 to 2 tablespoons of tomato sauce and spread around with a spoon.

        Place whatever toppings you like (research different Neapolitan standards). The photo above is just thin sliced fresh sweet bell pepper, a little feta, and mozzarella.

       Use about 4 oz of mozzarella (1/4 of typical 16 oz package) and pinch off large chunks that you place on the pizza.

       Finish with a thin circular drizzle of olive oil and slide into the oven.

        The oven should be as hot as possible with rack towards the top, especially is using convection setting. My oven goes to 525 degrees on convection and it takes about 6 minutes to cook, longer if there are more dense cold toppings. Neapolitan pizzas in Italy cook at 800 degrees.

        For many toppings, it is best to cook them ahead of time with spices to get the most flavor. Cool them in the fridge before using and keep extras for a quick meal during the week.

        One of my favorites is with mushrooms cooked with cayenne pepper, olive oil, and a little red wine. Topped along with the mushrooms I add black nicoise olives. A pizza made with sweet Vidalia onions pre-cooked until slightly caramelized is my wife’s favorite. And, the recent fresh sweet green pepper pizza was really good. I had a potato pizza at an amazing restaurant in Trastevere called Bir & Fud (they serve Roma pizzas). The potatoes were sliced thin and pre-cooked in olive oil and salt to slightly browned, but still soft. This is another favorite and I add feta along with the mozzarella.

Hope your friends enjoy this Tatiana!

To Be Believed

        

        River and Amwell Roads intersected in Neshanic. The junction had an old stone church built in 1752 and about fifteen large Victorian homes surrounding. A quarter mile to the east was a large property and one of three seemingly abandoned homes in the small community. This one included four or five small barns and workshops and at one time must have been a very busy farm.

        To a ten-year old in 1969, the whole property, in fact, most of the abandoned properties, where exceeding simple and quiet places to escape and explore. There were never any worries of adults coming and reprimanding - no one seemed to care whether or not we were there. The houses, built before electricity or indoor plumbing, were miniature monuments to a forgotten time, a simple and industrious life. The pine clapboards with flaked white paint, 10 foot high windows facing south in the first floor rooms, large front porches, all spoke of family and light, reading and togetherness.

        One early summer morning I was walking down the path between the rows of barns and sheds towards the large Victorian house perched on a hill above Amwell Road. The grasses were already knee deep and the sun bright and warm. I had no worries, not a care. I had no plans, no ambitions, but walked towards the back of the house to the kitchen, now disused and devoid of appliances. I looked inside for a moment and then went around the side toward the front porch.

        My idle tranquility was suddenly broken by someone calling, speaking loudly to me. My impulse was to run; I was, after all, trespassing, although it took something substantial to register this thought. After running about thirty feet away I felt her saying to stop, it was alright. I did so, and turning I saw someone small standing in the shadows on the front porch.

        Nearing closer she was speaking to me, but I don’t remember what she said. I didn’t believe I was wasn’t in trouble, but being obedient to an adult, I obeyed. What I saw was an old woman about my size. She was thin and frail, white skinned and haired, wearing a simple dress that looked like more of a nightgown. On her feet she wore slippers.

        She spoke to me and I followed her into the house, and gaining confidence, I asked her what she was doing here. She said it was her house and her parents before her. The large front room had once been a family’s drawing room, probably with plush ornate furniture and bookcases along the back wall. There had been small end tables and large heavy curtains covering the huge windows. Now only the large oak boards of floor spoke of the past richness. The wallpaper was peeling and rotted, the windows broken out, the ornate plaster ceiling moldy but still bright. In one corner was a small bag with papers and an old thinned curtain from one of the upstairs bedrooms. It seemed to me that she had slept on the floor in the corner of the room.

        We spent the afternoon talking. She showed me around the property describing each of the buildings and for what purposes they had been used. We walked through the tall grasses so relaxed as if it was so perfectly natural for all of this to be happening.

        In the early evening I ran back to our house. It was a large Victorian also, but wide and flat. It was built on ground sloping away from the road with a stream behind it. There were three stories with the kitchen, dining room, bathroom, and furnace room being on the first floor and below the level of the road. In front, there was a flagstone courtyard that fronted the library and drawing room and their tall windows. The third floor above housed the bedrooms and above a huge attic with a cedar closet.

        The next day I went to the farmhouse - saying nothing at dinner the prior evening. I brought food and something to drink wrapped up in one of my mother’s dish towels. The lady seemed to be getting older, she didn’t do as much. I knew that she slept on the floor. I don’t remember her saying to me not to tell anyone.

        She told me about a great rain and flood that occurred when she was 10 or 11 years old. I couldn’t believe that she could remember something at that happened so long ago. Amwell Road ran along a large creek, but just above the flood plain through which it meandered. The creek past her house joined the stream that ran behind our house down the hill and near our barn.

        Actually, our barn was just a carriage house, but big enough for two horses and a large carriage. Our house was originally a cottage built when the first church was being built in 1680. Afterwards, around 1720, the rest of the house was built by a doctor who relocated to the area. We bought it from Dr. Husted whose father had practiced in the house prior. It had been a doctors house for over a hundred years and they used our drawing room as their office.

        The flood was so huge that the water came all the way up to the front of her porch. She said our barn was under water but the houses, all built up higher, had water lapping close to them but were safe. Sitting on her front porch I could imagine the torrential rains and the enormous swelling of dirty brown water. The old woman was critical of the times today and of the new homes built along the road and even in the flood plains.

        Her ancestors had come to the area a very long time ago by wagon and I thought of the conestoga wagons from school books. She said that the first house had been built up the hill - she told me where I could find it. Her property, like all in Neshanic, sat at the foot of what was called Sourland Mountain. For most people, Sourland Mountain was not much more than a hill, but in New Jersey, it certainly seemed like a mountain. The land behind Neshanic was all undeveloped and unused. It was fields of tall grasses that became dry and yellow-blond in the fall. There were almost imaginary cherry tree lined fence rows of ancient rotted posts and stone walls that led forever; forgotten boundaries of fields and pastures.

        I do not remember what she said of her immediate family. She wasn’t an only child, but she was one of the last of her siblings. But this was her home. It was where she was born and where she had lived when she was young. She had moved away and started a family. But at this time in her life, she had wanted to come home and she had, but it was an act of defiance and that I knew. My knowledge was so naive. I knew nothing of life, of struggles, of insecurity, of hunger, or poverty, or joblessness. I accepted what I saw and treated kindness with kindness. And she was a kind, soft spoken, and intelligent woman.

        Time for a ten-year old is very different than that of an adult. Somehow a long day became me getting home just in time for supper. Supper was always formal, or at least the mood was. Papa and Mama, younger sister and brother. Round table, knives and forks in the proper hands. Napkin in the lap. Speak when spoken to.

        I needed to tell my story, but I waited. The air at first was always very heavy. One had to wait a bit for the food to calm the atmosphere and make it like a real family, like fun. One also had to be careful. My brother might be holding a secret and it was just a matter of when he was going to let loose and drop it and me. So don’t waste a good story if you’re going to be interrupted and the subject inevitably changed to what kind of trouble I was going to be in.

        This summer evening the meal was light and the elders were happy. When asked about my day I spoke up and told the story about an old lady who was living in the big farmhouse past the church. I told them about that she was born there and her great great great grandmother and father came there many years ago in a wagon and claimed the land. I told them about the great flood and how our barn was under water. I remember being so incredibly excited - I had entered this world of the past when the road was dirt and you used horses to get around.

        I remember being listened to but not believed. It was a strange feeling. There was quiet. I was being observed but not acknowledged.

        On the third day in the afternoon, I was going back to her house after my lunch. Walking between the rows of barns, workshops, and sheds, they had now been transformed into buildings with such positive presence that I knew the tools in one and the animals stabled in the other. They had become real and full of life, not decrepit and dull. Suddenly I noticed that there was a station wagon in front of the house. I ran to hide and saw several people coming down off of the porch with the old lady. They were kind and careful, but huge and dominant. She got in the car and a few moments later they all climbed in and drove off. I sat for a while and then slowly left, afraid to go any closer. She was gone. I never saw her again and I never got to say goodbye. I didn’t know that what I would feel years later was such a loss. She had become my friend. But I was ten and I didn’t understand. I didn’t understand that I could feel so much for someone I didn’t even know.

        This third evening I told my story at the dinner table and for the third time I was told to stop telling stories, to stop telling lies. At the time, that was most significant, that my parents didn’t believe me when I was telling the truth. It went on for a week and I got to the point that I wasn’t sure myself if it had really happened. I snuck out from my punishment to the house and climbed onto the porch. Pushing open the door, whose antique locks had been borrowed years before, I stood and looked around. In the corner, there were some papers and the tattered curtain she had covered herself with while she slept. I knew and I didn’t need to tell. The perception of others was not my reality, but they could make it hurt.

        Sometime later I learned that the wonderful old lady had left a nursing home and had somehow gotten to the house where she grew up. She died shortly after. I was happy to have known her. And with my brother, I went through the fields and up the mountain behind her barns and we found the old stone foundation of which she spoke. We even found a spot in the shape of a large wagon with only rusted metal rings and straps remaining - we imagined it was the original.

        The black and white photos I happened to find online in a history book on Neshanic. The first two are of our old house, the third a view from near her house looking along Amwell Road towards the church. The color photo was taken from googlemaps and is a view of her house today.

Cherry Vareniki

Cherry Vareniki

This recipe is an evolution of several recipes and made for an authentic Vareniki as well as ease of preparation. Makes approximately 30 Vareniki.

Dough:

2 1/2 cups King Arthur flour ~1 1/8 cups all-purpose & ~1 1/8 cups bread flour. (why use King Arthur flour)

1 egg

1/2 cup plain organic whole milk yogurt (Stonyfield or equiv)

1/2 teaspoon salt

In a small bowl, beat the egg with a fork and then stir in the yogurt to form a mixture. Mix this and the salt into approximately 2 cups of the flour and knead until smooth and elastic. Add more of the flour until dough becomes supple and does not stick to the bowl. Form the dough into a ball and place inside a covered bowl and let it ‘rest’ for at least one hour. The dough can also be refrigerated for several days and then used to make the Vareniki.

Cherry Filling and Sauce:

1 can of organic tart cherries

Reserved juice from canned cherries

1 tablespoon sugar

Approximately 1 to 1.5 cups of real cranberry juice with other flavor such as raspberry or blackberry (I use Northland 100% juice with no sugar added)

Drain the cherries very well against the side of a strainer, squeezing out as much of the juice as possible. Reserve the cherry juice. Sprinkle the cherries with sugar and mix in. Let stand for a while and then press and drain again more juice.

To make the sauce, mix the cherry and cranberry juices and bring to a boil over medium heat. Boil the mixture until it reduces to about one quarter its original amount. Add sugar if needed. Cool.

Vareniki Making:

Place the cherries onto a plate covered in a few paper towels. Pat the cherries to remove more liquid so they are pretty dry. When excess cherry juice gets onto the edges of the dough, they won’t stick together and will leak when cooking.

On a floured work surface, take half the dough at a time and roll it with your hands into a long log about 3/4 to 1 inch in diameter. Cut off about 3/4 of an inch and pat both sides of the cut medallion in flour. With a rolling pin roll the medallion into a very thin sheet about 4 by 4 inches. Use flour as necessary to keep it from sticking too badly.

Peel the sheet up and place in your hand with the stickiest side up. Place about 2 to 3 cherries in the center, wipe cherry juice off of fingers, and then fold and close up cherries in the dough so there aren’t any large air pockets, but being careful not to allow juice to squeeze out on the dough.

Squeeze the dough together and place on the work surface. Use a glass with a diameter of 2 to 3 inches and press down to get a half circle shape on the Vareniki. Pull off the excess dough and then lift the glass. Save this dough and remix thoroughly at the end and make more Vareniki. Press a fork carefully onto the Vareniki to seal the edges.

Arrange them on a pan covered in wax paper or dusted with flour and, if the Vareniki are not going to be immediately cooked, they can be frozen and then placed into a bag for storage.

To Cook and Serve:

Bring a pot of salted water to a rolling boil. Drop the Varenkini one by one into the boiling water but not so many that they are crowed and stick together. Boil the fresh ones for about one minute, the frozen for up to one minute longer. Remove with a slotted spoon draining off as much water as possible.

Serve in a bowl with a few teaspoons of the cherry sauce drizzled over the top.

Tricks of this recipe are to figure out how wet the dough should be; drying the cherries so they don’t leak juice onto the dough when making the Vareniki; rolling the dough thin enough, but not too thin; and, flouring the work surface and pin sufficiently when rolling.

Making the Varenkini takes about 45 minutes and since only about 4 or 5 are eaten per serving, the frozen ones will last for many meals.

Rustic Italian Bread

Rustic Italian Bread for Tatiana
This recipe evolved from a Cook’s Illustrated recipe. It has been made simpler and less fufi. It’s all about making bread in the real world. Although it takes many hours until you get bread, once you’ve done it the total actual hands-on time is about 20 minutes.

A starter, or Biga, is made in advance of the dough. The recipe makes two long loaves or one very large loaf. To make scooping/scraping dough out or cleaning up easier, make a scraper out of the lids (cut in half) of large plastic yogurt or sour cream containers. Time from start of main dough to finish, including work times, is just over 4 hours, then about 30 minutes to cool.  

Ingredients:

Biga:

2 cups King Arthur Bread Flour (why use King Arthur)

1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast

1 cup (8 oz) water

Dough:

3 cups of King Arthur Bread Flour

1 teaspoon active dry yeast

1 1/3 cups (10.7 oz) water

2 teaspoons sea salt

Directions:

Biga:

Combine flour, yeast, and water in bowl of standing mixer fitted with dough hook. Knead on lowest 1 to 2 speed until it forms a shaggy dough, usually 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer biga to medium bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and let stand at room temperature until beginning to bubble and rise, about 3 to 4 hours. Refrigerate biga at least 8 hours or up to 24 hours. If making bread in one day, make biga by mid-morning and use for bread in the late afternoon – the flavor is acceptable, but not quite as good as biga that ferments for 20 hours.

Dough:

1.    Remove the biga from refrigerator and it let stand at room temperature while making dough.

2.    Add the yeast to the water, stir, and let it dissolve while measuring out the flour.

3.    Combine flour, yeast, and water in bowl of the standing mixer fitted with dough hook. Knead the dough on low 1 to 2 speed until rough dough is formed, about 2 to 3 minutes.

4.    Turn the mixer off and remove the dough hook into the mixer bowl, cover the bowl with a plate or loosely with plastic wrap. Let the dough ‘rest’ for 20 minutes.

5.    Uncover and reattach the dough hook to the mixer and add the biga and salt to bowl. Continue to knead on the lowest speed until ingredients are incorporated (dough should clear the sides of the bowl but should stick to the very bottom), about 2 minutes. Add a small amount of flour during kneading so that the dough is not too wet. I like it so it does not stick to the bottom of the mixing bowl in speed 2. Experiment.

6.    Increase the mixer speed to low (speed 2 on a KitchenAid) and continue until the dough forms a more cohesive ball, about 2 to 3 minutes.  

7.    Transfer the dough to a large bowl (at least 3 times the size of the dough) and cover it with a plate or plastic wrap. Let the dough rise about 50 minutes at warm room temperature and 10 to 15 minutes longer if much cooler.

8.    Remove the cover and turn the dough following illustrations below on Turning the Dough. Replace the cover and let the dough rise another 50 minutes.

9.    Dust the work surface liberally with flour. Hold the bowl with the dough at an angle and gently scrape the dough out of the bowl and onto the work surface.

10.  If you want two smaller loaves, cut the dough into two equal halves.

11.  Dust the dough and your hands liberally with flour and, using minimal pressure, push dough into a rough 12 to 14-inch square. If you are making two loaves, shape each piece into a smaller rectangle. Shape the dough following the illustrations below on Shaping the Loaf. Pinch the seam to seal it.

12.  Transfer the one-large loaf to a large pan (seam down) that has been wiped with a small bit of olive oil to keep from sticking after baking. Dust loaf liberally with flour and cover loosely with plastic wrap or a light dish towel. For two loaves use a large flat pan or a large perforated bread pan. Let loaf/loaves rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

13.  Meanwhile, adjust the oven rack to the middle position and pre-heat the oven to 475 degrees so that it gets to temperature by the end of last 1 hour rising.

14.  Get ready some flour in a small sieve for dusting, a pair of scissors, and a spray bottle of water.

15.  Cut a slit at least a half inch deep across the top of the loaf (from about 2 inches in from the ends), taking care to be smooth and not collapse the dough. Dust the cut liberally with flour, and then lightly spray the top of the loaf with water, with the flour in the cut being more thoroughly soaked. The wetness keeps the dough elastic during the big oven rise and you get a bigger and fluffier loaf of bread.

16.  Bake at 475 for about 10 minutes, then lower to about 420 to 425 for 22 to 24 minutes for one large loaf and 20 to 22 minutes for two loaves. Baking time may vary and the loaf should be well browned when done. Ovens differ greatly and my piece of junk likes to stay overly hot, sometimes at 450, but the loaves still come out great.

17.  Cool on a wire rack for about 30 minutes. Listen to the popping and crackling of the thick crust as it cools – a mouth watering sound.

Turning the dough:

1. Slide plastic bench scraper under one side of dough; gently lift and fold one third of dough toward center.
2. Repeat step 1 with opposite side of dough.
3. Finally, fold dough in half, perpendicular to first folds. Dough shape should be a rough square.

Shaping the dough:

1. After delicately pushing dough into 12-14-inch square, fold top left corner diagonally to middle.
2. Fold top right -corner to middle - looks like an envelope
3. Begin to gently roll dough from top to bottom.
4. Continue rolling until dough forms a rough log, pinch seam
5. On the pan, gently shape dough into 16-inch football shape by tucking bottom edges underneath.

Why Use King Arthur Flour (or anything real, for that matter)

King Arthur Flour, available at Publix here in Florida, is what I call ‘real’ flour. It is not processed and here is the difference.

Bread used to be a main part of most peoples’ diet and is still a staple in most parts of the world. Wheat, ground and sifted into flour contains an amazing combination of nutrients including protein and iron. Real USA flour, like King Arthur, contains approximately 5 grams of protein per 30 grams (32 grams is an ounce), and app. 8% of USDA requirement of Iron. This flour is not processed and it is not ‘enriched’. It meets FDA requirements for being legally called flour in the US.

The typical brand name flours and foods in the US contain processed enriched flour. Often, artificial dough conditioners are required to make them act like real flour. These flours are chemically processed to remove most of the high quality compounds, such as iron, and then to make it legal in the US, cheaper chemicals are added back in. High quality iron is chemically extracted during processing (you can buy expensive multivitamins if you want to get it back) and cheaper iron in the form of ferrous sulfate is artificially added back in.

Enriched flour is essentially a fast-absorbing sugar starch with a minimum of 5 FDA required compounds added back. Fast sugars digest quickly and cause sugar spikes in your body leading to diabetes and other ailments, including hunger long before the next meal, so eat more! For instance, supermarket english muffins with enriched wheat flour contain only 2 grams of protein per 30 grams (label has 4 g per 57 g serving) and only 5% of the cheaper iron added back.

If you think this is a terrible thing, then you need to think a little about the US economy and governmental philosophy. The US is economically an amazingly free country as compared to most other more advanced countries in the world. In Italy, food is made with pride and it is about quality first – but they still have to make a living. Food is expensive, real, without preservatives, and only last a short while. People there have tiny fridges and have to shop every few days. Even prepared packaged foods don’t last and have to be eaten rather soon.

In the US, the food industry is about making money. Total Blueberry and Pomegranate cereal has a picture of Blueberries on the box, but doesn’t contain either. It has artificially flavored blueberry and pomegranate “clusters” made with some cool chemicals and sugar. This is typical of 90% of what you find in a grocery store, especially if it comes in a box or a jar.

To make the most money in the very competitive food market one needs to appeal to the most people. Fortunately, most Americans don’t read labels, don’t want to take the time to prepare food, and base choices solely on what tastes the best. Real food cannot easily compete with the wonders of modern chemistry. How can they do this – understand that if it’s not illegal, it’s not wrong to do. Freedom is a wonderful thing, but if you’re not willing to learn about what’s going on around you, then you get what you get, and a weak immune system and disease will likely be one of them. Don’t blame the food corporations and the government, it’s up to the people to question and educate themselves.

So, King Arthur Flour makes real food, like Rustic Italian Bread. You can live on this stuff and not get fat. Remember to spread on lots of real butter, for taste of course, and also since the fat slows the absorption of sugar (starch digested) you won’t get blood sugar spikes and you won’t get hungry before the next meal.