Italian Tomato and Red Onion Bread
Pane con Pomodori e Cipolle Rosse
(You gotta love that name!)

This delicious Italian Tomato and Red Onion Bread originated in Tropea, which is located in the southern Italian region of Calabria.  Tomatoes and onions flourish in Calabria.  Furthermore, the residents like strong, peppery dishes.

You can make this bread year round using our Muir Glen Organic Tomatoes.  It takes 1/2 a can.  While the recipe calls for red onions, I used organic white onions.  It deprives the bread of some color, but not flavor.  The dried chili flakes add color as well as flavor.  

Dry Ingredients
3 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon rye flour
2 tablespoons whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons dry yeast, if you want it to raise in a couple of hours.  Otherwise use 1 teaspoon if you have 5 hours for the proofing; 1/2 teaspoon if you have all day.
2 teaspoons sea salt

Wet Ingredients
2/3 cup spring water
1 tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil

Vegetable and Herb Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 cups (1 lbs.) of tomatoes, peeled, cored, and seeded, or canned diced tomatoes
1 cup red onions or white onions, halved and finely sliced (2 medium size onions)
3 teaspoons fresh oregano, Sicilian if you have it, roughly chopped, or 1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried chili flakes or Vann's Mexican Blast (what I use)

If using fresh garden tomatoes, score them criss-cross at the base and immerse them in boiling water for 10 seconds.  Then flush under cold water to cool down; peel, core, and remove seeds so you just have the flesh.

Heat the olive oil in a pan and add the tomatoes, sliced onions, oregano, and chili.  Cover the pan and cook gently for 10 minutes.  Then remove from the heat and refrigerate to cool.

Fit your food processor with the metal chopping blade.  Add all the dry ingredients to the food processor and pulse several times to mix.  Then pour in the water and olive oil.  Pulse until the water is mixed in.  Remove the dough to a bowl over twice the size in volume.  Add the tomato-onion mixture and knead in.  If the dough is very sticky, let it rest for 10 minutes so the water can absorb in.  Then knead a little more and add flour as needed to get a slightly sticky dough.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough ferment for two hours.

Alternative:  Add the tomato-onion mixture with the water and olive oil.  Pulse to mix until the dough clumps together; then let run for 10 to 20 seconds.   Remove and knead by hand till smooth.  If very sticky, let rest and proceed as described above.  The alternative method is fast, but removes some of the texture provided by the onions and reduces the size of the oregano leaves.

I use a baking stone because it produces the best ovenspring and crust.  I also use a pizza peel for the second raising so I can easily place the dough in the oven.  I will give directions assuming you have this minimal bread baking equipment.  If you do not own these items, I can recommend them without reservation.

Cut parchment paper to fit a pizza peel with a couple of inches excess; then cut it in half so the cut runs the same direction as the handle and overlap it in the middle.  After two hours, the dough should have doubled in size.  If so, punch it down, and remove the dough to a floured surface.  Round the dough by  rotating it clockwise (or counter-clockwise, if that is more intuitive) with a cupping motion of the hands.  Then press it out into a 9" circle.  Place it on the parchment covered pizza peel and cover it with a cloth.  Let it rise for one hour.

A half hour before the dough if fully risen, place the baking stone on the middle rack in the oven; place a sturdy stainless steel pan on the bottom rack.  Heat the oven to 450º.  Just before baking, heat a cup of water for 1 minute in the microwave.

When ready to bake, slide the dough on the parchment paper onto the baking stone (I grip the parchment paper where it overlaps with tongs and pull it onto the stone), and pour the cup of water in the pan on the lowest rack, keeping your head back so the steam will not burn you.  The steam will keep the crust soft for the first 10 minutes of baking, enabling the bread to fully rise.  Bake for one or two minutes, then turn the oven down to 400º.  Now bake for 8 minutes.  Then, using tongs, remove the parchment paper, pulling it out from each side, and rotate the dough 180º.  Remove the pan with water; you do not want any steam now.  Bake for another 10 minutes.  Check the bread to see if the crust is getting too brown.  If it is, turn the oven down to 325º.  Bake for 10 more minutes.  It should now be done.  Check to see if it sounds hollow when tapped on the center bottom.  If you want to use a thermometer, it is done when the internal temperature is 205º.  When done, remove to a rack to cool.

The bread is delicious without dipping in olive oil, but is also very good when dipped in olive oil.  Suit yourself.