All Roads Lead to the Kitchen: Pane Toscano

Tuscan Bread is one of the things that has been on my to-make list for quite a few years now. Honest to goodness, real, UNsalted Tuscan Bread (or Pane Toscano). Pane Toscano is a particularly large roundish loaf of bread that is traditionally cooked in the wood-fired ovens of Tuscany. Aside from being so large, its main distinction is its lack of salt. It is made with sourdough or a bit of a starter, which gives it a slight tang, and it has a thick, chewy crust.

The dough is somewhat wet and slack, but the moisture in the dough, combined with a bit of steam (introduced here with ice cubes) and a super-hot oven, gives you that magical, sought-after crust crackle (sometimes called a singing crust) once the loaf is pulled from the oven. Once you've removed the loaf from the hot oven and it begins to cool, the inside of the bread contracts a bit, which pulls at the crust. That thick, hard crust that was formed begins to form hairline fractures and cracks from the pressure, hence that much desired crackle.

I'll just say, that beautiful singing crust can incite quite the reaction. At one point, my whole family was gathered around the counter oohhing and aahhing over it.

What is "normal"? Can it be defined...or is it all a matter of perspective? Ginny, a twenty-something who uses the sensual nature of food as a focal-point in her daily struggle to understand herself (and her Asperger's), grief, those around her, and just being normal, is the main character of The Kitchen Daughter

, a novel by Jael McHenry. But what Ginny doesn't expect when retreating to the safety of her familiar kitchen are the spirits that are invoked when she cooks a handwritten recipe, as written. I am a believer in the supernatural...and I am a believer in the the power of food memory...so these moments in the book were what fascinated me the most. I wish they would have lasted longer, actually.

The story of the struggles between sisters and lovers and family also played their role at keeping me wondering what was going to happen next. Sometimes it is the things that our loved ones work so hard at sheltering us from that actually wind up bringing relief and a sense of who we are once they are out in the open. While she "collected" normal her whole life (read it...you'll understand), it took the death of her parents for Ginny to actually believe that she was just as normal as the checker at the market, the girl with red hair down the street, or the doctor in the next room.

From tears in my eyes to cheeks that ached from grinning to a belly that grumbled at me from the fabulous descriptions of food and recipes on these pages, there were many different aspects of this book that I enjoyed. I actually find myself wanting a sequel so that I can experience the next stage in Ginny's journey. From the first ghost-summoning recipe for her Nonna's Ribollita all the way to Ginny's own version in the end...I knew that this was what I would wind up making first from this book. And I am so glad that I did.