Bahama Breeze Roasted Cuban Bread
Cuban bread can be bought in some Hispanic stores. It's between
French and Italian bread in texture. Bahama Breeze presses it in a
hot press that looks like what dry cleaners use for pressing
clothes. icuban.com had some ideas on how to "press" bread.
6 cups bread flour (or slightly more to bring
dough to proper consistency)
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 cup lard
1 tablespoon salt
2 tablespoons wheat gluten
2 tablespoons yeast
2 cups warm water
Grease a large bowl, and set aside.
Dissolve the yeast in warm (90 degree F) water. Add the salt and
sugar. Stir well. Mix the flour and wheat gluten. Add lard then add
the flour/gluten mixture, one cup at a time, beating it in using a
wooden spoon (or using the dough hook on an electric mixer) to make
a fairly stiff dough. Shape dough into a small ball. Place dough in
the Pyrex bowl, turn over so both sides are greased, cover with a
moist cloth and place in a warm place. Let rise about 20 minutes or
until the dough doubles in size.
Grease two more bowls. Remove the dough from the bowl and punch it
down. Cut dough in half to form two balls. Place each ball in a
separate bowl. Cover each with a moist cloth and let rise about 30
minutes or until the dough doubles in size.
Lightly grease a cookie sheet and sprinkle with cornmeal. Do NOT
preheat the oven. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board.
Shape into long, Cuban bread-style loaves. Place the loaves on the
baking sheet. Allow to stand and rise for five minutes. Brush the
loaves with water. Place in middle shelf of the COLD oven. Place a
pan of boiling water on the bottom of the oven. Set the temperature
to 400 degrees F. Bake the breads until they are crusty and done -
about 45 minutes. |