Pan Cubano -- Cuban Bread

From the book:
Three Guys From Miami Cook Cuban: 100 Great Cuban Recipes with a Touch
of Miami Spice
Gibbs Smith, Publisher
Hardcover, $29.95
158685433X
240 pp.
8.5 x 9 in.

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/boo...8685433X&itm=2


Ingredients

1 tablespoon active dry yeast
2 teaspoons sugar
1 1/4 cups warm water
2 cups bread flour (See instructions.)
2 cups all purpose flour (See instructions.)
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup lard, melted in microwave
Warm water, to brush on loaves before baking


Grease a large bowl, and set aside.

Take a small bowl and dissolve the yeast and sugar in 1/4 cup of warm
(110 degrees F) water. Place the bowl in a warm place and let it stand
until it starts to foam and double in volume, about 10 minutes. If it
doesn't foam and bubble, you have some bad yeast.

Meanwhile, measure out 1/4 cup of lard and place the lard in a Pyrex
measuring cup or other suitable container. Heat in the microwave on
high for about 90 seconds until melted.

Place the water/yeast/sugar mixture in the mixing bowl of a stand
mixer. Add the rest of the warm water and the salt. Using the dough
hook, mix on low speed until blended.

Take your measuring cup and dig in to the flour bag, scooping out two
whole cups of each flour. Now the important part: in a separate
bowl, sift together the two flours. Sifted flour has more volume than
un-sifted flour, so you will use approximately 3 1/4 cups of sifted
flour in the following steps.

Gradually add the flour mixture, a little at a time, to the wet
ingredients in your mixer - mixing constantly. At the same time you
are adding flour, gradually pour in the melted lard. Keep adding a
little flour and a little lard until all of the lard is added.

Continue adding more flour - A LITTLE AT A TIME - until you make a
smooth and pliable dough. Try to add just enough flour to make the
dough elastic - just as much as necessary so that the dough hook
barely cleans the sides of the bowl. Too much flour and your bread
will be too dense. You will use approximately 3 1/4 cups of sifted
flour to bring the dough to this point. (More or less, this is where
the art of baking comes in.) Save any leftover flour mixture for
rolling out the dough.

Now let the machine and the dough hook go to work kneading the dough.
Set the mixer on a low speed and knead for about 3 to 4 minutes, no
more. Your dough will be fairly sticky at this point.

NOTE: If you don't have a mixer with a dough hook, you can also do
this the old fashioned way. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured
surface. Pound the dough ball down and knead by hand until the dough
is smooth and elastic, about ten minutes.

Shape the dough into a ball (yes it's a little sticky, but you can do
it) and place it into that bowl you originally greased in the first
step of this recipe, what was that, something like a week ago now? We
know, we know - bread making is a long and involved process.

Flip the dough ball a few times to grease it up on all sides. Cover
the bowl with a damp cloth and place in a warm place. (We like to
pre-heat our oven to 160 degrees F and then turn it off, thus creating
a perfectly warm environment for our rising bread.) Let the dough rise
until it doubles in size - about 45 minutes to 1 hour.

It's at this point in the process that you can usually find three
guys, covered in flour, sitting by the pool with their feet up and
enjoying a cold beverage. It's also about now when Raúl always asks,
"Why didn't we just pick up a loaf of bread at the bakery?"
When you return from the pool, turn the dough out onto a lightly
floured board, using the leftover flour you have in the bowl.

Sprinkle some flour on the dough and use a rolling pin to roll it out.
We like to make a large loaf, shaped to fit our longest baking sheet
diagonally - about 20 inches long. So we try to roll out a 12 x
20-inch rectangle. Sprinkle more flour on the dough and turn it over
a few times as you roll it out, to keep it from sticking to the
rolling pin. The added flour at this rolling stage should take care of
most of the stickiness of the dough.

Roll the dough up into a tightly rolled long cylinder, with a slight
taper at both ends. Wet your fingers and pinch the loose flap of the
rolled dough into the loaf, making a tight seam.

Grease a baking sheet and sprinkle lightly with cornmeal.
Place the loaf diagonally onto the baking sheet, seam side down. Dust
the top with a little extra flour and cover very loosely with plastic
wrap. (You don't want the rising dough to dry out or stick to the
plastic wrap.)

Place in a warm spot and allow the loaf to stand and rise once again
until it is about 2 1/2 times it's original size, about 45 minutes to
1 hour. Cuban bread is wider than French bread, so expect your loaf
to spread out quite a bit as it rises.

Preheat oven to 450º F. Place a pan of water on the lowest rack of the
oven.

Use a sharp knife to cut a shallow seam down the middle of the top of
the bread, leaving about two inches of uncut top on each end of the
loaf.

Brush the top of the loaf with water and place in your preheated oven
on the middle shelf. After about 5 minutes of baking, brush some more
water on top of the bread.

Bake the loaf until it is light brown and crusty - about 12 to 18
minutes total baking time.

We all know that oven temperatures do vary - so keep an eye on it.

Serves: Makes one large wide loaf