Basque Sheepherders Bread Recipes

SHEEPHERDER'S BREAD

Steps:

• In a bowl, combine water, butter, sugar and salt. Stir until butter melts and cool to 110 to 115 degrees. Stir in yeast, cover and set in warm place until bubbly, about 15 minutes.
• *Add 5 C flour and beat to form thick batter. Stir in enough of remaining flour (about 3 1/2 cups) to form stiff dough. Turn out on floured board and knead until smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes), adding flour as needed to prevent sticking. Turn dough into greased bowl, cover and let rise in warm place until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours. Punch down and knead to form smooth ball. I knead the dough 3 times.
• Grease inside of dutch oven and inside of lid with salad oil. Place dough in dutch oven and cover with lid to let rise for the third time. Let raise in warm place until dough pushes up lid about 1/2 inch (watch closely).
• Bake covered with lid in 375 degree oven for 12 minutes, carefully remove lid and bake for another 30 to 35 minutes, or until loaf is golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped. Remove from oven and turn out on rack to cool.

BASQUE SHEEPHERDER'S BREAD

Steps:

• 1. In a large bowl, combine water, butter, sugar, and salt. Stir in yeast and let stand until bubbly (about 15 minutes). (*) Beat in about 80 - 85 % cups of flour to make a thick batter. Stir in enough of the remaining flour to make a stiff dough. Knead for 10 - 20 minutes. Put in a greades bowl: cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled (about 1 hour). Punch dough down and and form into dinner rolls, franch bread, cinnamon rolls, etc. Let rise until they are the right size and then bake in a 375 degree oven until golden brown (times will very depending on what you cook)and sounds hollow when lightly tapped.
• 2. * You can do every thing in a mixer but do the kneading by hand if you can; if you do knead with a mixer then try to hand knead the last 5 minutes so that it does not get over worked.