Crusty Cuban Bread Abm Recipes

CHEF JOHN'S CUBAN BREAD

Steps:

• Combine 1/2 cup warm water, 1/2 teaspoon yeast, and 1/2 cup flour in a bowl or measuring cup. Whisk the starter until well blended. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
• Place 1 package active dry yeast and 2 teaspoons sugar in a mixing bowl. Pour in 3/4 cup warm water. Let rest 15 minutes to ensure yeast is alive (bubbles will form on surface). Add lard and salt to bowl; add 1 cup of the flour. Mix until all ingredients are incorporated and dough forms a sticky ball. Add the starter (reserving 1/4 cup if you want to keep the starter going, if desired. Otherwise add it all.). Sprinkle most of the rest of the flour on the dough, reserving 1/2 cup to be used if needed when kneading.
• Turn dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead until dough comes together in a firm ball, adding additional flour only as needed. Dough should be soft and supple with just a bit of tackiness on the surface.
• Place dough in a bowl and coat surface with a little vegetable oil. Cover bowl with a damp kitchen towel and place in a warm spot to rise. Let rise until at least doubled in size, about 2 hours.
• Line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper and sprinkle with a little cornmeal.
• Transfer dough onto lightly floured surface. Lightly press the dough into a rectangle with your lightly floured hands. Divide dough in half and press and shape each half into a long 1/2-inch thick rectangle about 12 inches long. Roll up tightly starting at the long end to form a skinny loaf. Flatten a bit. Transfer each loaf to a prepared baking sheet and dust with a bit of flour. Cover with a light, dry towel and let rise until doubled in size, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Cut a 1/4-inch deep slit down the top of the loaves with a sharp knife or razor. Mist loaves lightly with water.
• Place pans in pre-heated oven, one pan on lower rack, one on higher rack. After 10 minutes, switch pan positions. Continue to bake until loaves are golden brown, 10 to 15 minutes longer. Transfer loaves to cooling rack and let cool to room temperature before slicing.

AWESOME HOMEMADE CRUSTY BREAD (ABM)

Steps:

• 1. Place ingredients in your bread machine according to directions.
• 2. You can either bake it in your bread machine or set it on your dough cycle.
• 3. If you use your dough cycle (which I prefer), remove your dough from the ABM and place on a lightly floured board.
• 4. Knead the bread a few times to remove the air bubbles and then form the dough into a loaf. Place the loaf in a 9x5-inch bread pan that has been sprayed with Wilton Bake Easy (or use a similar baking spray). Let rise till doubled in size (this won't take very long so watch closely).
• 5. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for approximately 35 minutes (you should have a hollow sound when you tap your bread).
• 6. Remove from the oven and let cool in pan for 10 minutes. Then remove from the pan and finish cooling on a wire rack. Slice and enjoy.

CUBAN BREAD FOR THE BREAD MACHINE

Steps:

• Add water, salt, flour, brown sugar and yeast to bread machine pan in the order suggested by manufacturer.
• Select dough/manual cycle.
• When cycle is complete, transfer dough to a lightly floured surface.
• Shape into a long loaf; taper ends by gently rolling back and forth.
• Place on a baking sheet that has been sprinkled with cornmeal.
• Let rise, uncovered, 10 minutes.
• Using a sharp knife, make 3 or 4 diagonal slashes on top of loaf.
• Brush with egg glaze.
• Place on the middle shelf of a cold oven.
• Place a shallow pan on bottom shelf and add hot water to pan.
• Set oven temperature at 400 degrees and bake 30 minutes, or until done.
• Remove from pan and let cool on wire rack.

BREAD MACHINE CUBAN BREAD

Steps:

• Place all ingredients in your bread machine in the order given.
• Set bread machine to dough cycle.
• IMPORTANT! CHECK YOUR MACHINE WHILE IT IS KNEADING and ADD MORE WATER IF NEEDED 1 TABLESPOON AT A TIME. The dough should not be too dry - it should look smooth and satiny after kneading for a few minutes.
• When dough cycle is complete, remove dough from machine and shape into long loaf (like french bread).
• Place on a cookie sheet and let loaf rise for about 45 minutes or until doubled in size.
• Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until nicely browned.
• You can also just cook this in your bread machine on the regular bread cycle if you want. It still tastes great, you just don't get the cuban shaped loaf.

CRUSTY CUBAN BREAD ABM

Steps:

• Add ingredients to bread maker. Add water if the dough looks dry or machine sounds like it struggles.
• Bake.

RUSTIC ITALIAN BREAD ABM

Steps:

• Add flour, oil, salt, sugar, yeast and water to your bread machine according to its instructions.
• Set on dough setting.
• Always follow your machines instructions, when mixing open it and keep check on the dough. Dough should be in a nice round soft sticky to the touch ball. If it is not add more water, or add flour which ever is needed.
• Remove when signal beeps and cycle is done.
• Preheat oven to 375°F.
• Sprinkle cornflour or cornmeal onto a baking sheet.
• Punch dough down and form into a long or oval loaf.
• Cover and let rise for 25 more minutes.
• It should be doubled again by this time.
• Uncover and slash the top with a sharp knife or razor.
• Brush all over with the beaten egg white.
• Bake 25 minutes to 35 minutes, until hollow sounding when tapped on bottom.
• Cool.

AWESOME HOMEMADE CRUSTY BREAD (BREAD MACHINE)

Steps:

• Place ingredients in bread machine in the order according to the manufacturer's directions.
• Use the regular bread cycle.

HOMEMADE FRENCH BREAD (ABM)

Steps:

• Place all bread dough ingredients in bread machine and select dough cycle.
• When cycle is complete, remove dough and roll into a 12"x15" rectangle on a lightly floured board.
• Roll up from long side and pinch seam to seal.
• Fold ends under.
• Place seam side down on greased baking sheet that has been dusted with cornmeal.
• Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise for 45 minutes.
• Make 4 diagonal cuts with a sharp knife across top of bread.
• Bake at 375° for 25 minutes.
• Beat egg white and water; remove bread from oven and brush with egg wash.
• Return to oven and bake an additional 5 minutes.

CUBAN BREAD

Steps:

• 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.
• Meanwhile, measure out 1/4 cup of lard Heat in the microwave 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 sift together the two flours.
• 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 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.
• Shape the dough into a ball and place it into the greased bowl.
• 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. Let the dough rise until it doubles in size -- about 45 minutes to 1 hour.
• 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. This recipe called for a large loaf, shaped to fit a long baking sheet diagonally -- about 20 inches long. So we try to roll out a 12 x 20-inch rectangle. BUT:( I prefer 4 smaller ones for individual rolls)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.

SIMPLE CRUSTY BREAD

Steps:

• In a large bowl or plastic container, mix yeast and salt into 3 cups lukewarm water (about 100 degrees). Stir in flour, mixing until there are no dry patches. Dough will be quite loose. Cover, but not with an airtight lid. Let dough rise at room temperature 2 hours (or up to 5 hours).
• Bake at this point or refrigerate, covered, for as long as two weeks. When ready to bake, sprinkle a little flour on dough and cut off a grapefruit-size piece with serrated knife. Turn dough in hands to lightly stretch surface, creating a rounded top and a lumpy bottom. Put dough on pizza peel sprinkled with cornmeal; let rest 40 minutes. Repeat with remaining dough or refrigerate it.
• Place broiler pan on bottom of oven. Place baking stone on middle rack and turn oven to 450 degrees; heat stone at that temperature for 20 minutes.
• Dust dough with flour, slash top with serrated or very sharp knife three times. Slide onto stone. Pour one cup hot water into broiler pan and shut oven quickly to trap steam. Bake until well browned, about 30 minutes. Cool completely.