Traditional Cuban Bread

Yield – 2 or 3 loaves

Starter

½ tsp yeast

¼ cup room temperature water

¼ cup

Dough

1 cup water

1 ½ teaspoon salt

1 ½ teaspoon honey

1 tablespoon lard**

1 ½ teaspoon yeast

3 ½ cups of all purpose flour

Starter that is previously made

** if you don’t have lard, you can use 1 tablespoon of butter at room temperature

To make the starter

In a small mixing bowl mix all of the ingredients. Combine well until it is smooth. Securely cover and place in a warm environment to rise for 12 hours or until very bubbly.

To make the dough

In a mixing bowl, mix all of the above ingredients for the dough. Use a hook attachment and mix for 10 minutes until the dough pulls away from the side of the bowl. Pull it out of the bowl and knead briefly into a ball and place back into the bowl and cover with a cloth. Keep in a warm place until it doubles in size. Approximately two hours.

Check on it after two hours, it should have risen and now you want to take it out, punch it down and knead about six times. Shape into a ball again and put back in a bowl, cover and let rise again for another hour.

After the second rising ...heat oven to 400 degrees

When it is done rising, take out of the bowl and cut into either two or three sections depending on how large you want your loaves. Take a section and flatten it into a rectangle of about 15 inches. Then you will fold the edge closest to you over three times, keeping the seam down. You can make slits along the top of the loaf with a sharp knife or do what the Cubans do. Take a piece of string the length of the loaf and press it into the dough along the top.

Prepare the bottom of a sheet pan by spraying with a non-stick spray. Lay each loaf along the top and place in the middle rack of the oven for 25 minutes. After 25 minutes, remove the bread and tap it. If it sounds hollow, it’s done. Let it cool on a baking rack and then enjoy with butter, olive oil or plain!