Whole Wheat Tuscan Bread Recipe

This delicious, flavorful and saltless Tuscan Bread, or Pane Toscano will have you coming back for more. It has a crunchy and crispy crust and a soft, airy crumb and it's delicious with soups, sauces and bruschetta.

It's probably the bread I make most frequently in my kitchen, even more than sourdough bread, and the reasons are obvious: a crisp but not heavy crust and a soft, pillowy crumb, which makes it perfect for dunking it into soups or sauces. It is also the perfect bread to make bruschetta or smear with some vegan pesto, if you have a mind to.

What makes the process of making this bread a little different is that it starts out with a biga, a starter that's kinda like a sourdough starter on speed.

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The biga is made with flour, water and yeast, and you start it the previous night, let it stand and ferment a bit overnight, and then make a dough with it the next morning. So if you've been wanting to make a sourdough starter and have been sitting on the fence about it, this is a good one to begin with.

But to be clear, a biga is not a sourdough starter: it has lots of flavor, but not the deep, rich flavor of sourdough, developed over days and months and years. It has added yeast, unlike sourdough which uses natural yeast seduced from the atmosphere. Also a dough made with biga will rise much faster than a dough made with sourdough starter alone.

Because the biga needs eight hours to develop, I'd advise starting on this bread the evening before if you plan to have it for lunch the next day, or rather early in the morning if you want it in time for dinner.

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This delicious, flavorful and saltless Tuscan Bread, or Pane Toscano will have you coming back for more. It has a crunchy and crispy crust and a soft, airy crumb and it's delicious with soups, sauces and bruschetta.

Calories: 155 kcal | Carbohydrates: 30 g | Protein: 5 g | Fat: 1 g | Saturated Fat: 1 g | Sodium: 2 mg | Potassium: 56 mg | Fiber: 1 g | Sugar: 1 g | Calcium: 6 mg | Iron: 2 mg

Hi! I'm Vaishali, a journalist turned food blogger. At Holy Cow Vegan I share easy, tasty recipes made with clean, wholesome ingredients that the entire family can enjoy.

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