The only bread I've ever made with lard is a Cuban Bread recipe from
the icuban site. I was very hesitant to use it b/c I've never used
lard in anything before, but the recipe insisted that it's not
"authentic" Cuban bread if it doesn't use lard. Being completely
clueless I bought whatever I found in the local grocery store (it was
Esskay brand). It was definitely odorless (I didn't taste it) and
the bread was amazing. (While you're at it, make their roasted pork
to make a Cuban sandwich, too)
Pan Cubano -- Cuban Bread
By Three Guys From Miami
Prep time: 2 hours
Cook time: 18 minutes
Total time: 2 hours 18 minutes
Yield: 1 large wide loaf
With a crisp crust on the outside and a lightly textured inside, a
warm, fresh-baked loaf of Cuban bread is the next best thing to heaven.
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)
2 tablespoons warm water (to brush on loaves before baking)
1. Grease a large bowl, and set aside.
2. 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!
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. Shape the dough into a ball 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!
11. 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.
12. 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 Ra"Why didn't we just pick up a loaf of bread at the bakery?"
13. 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.
14. 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.
15. Grease a baking sheet and sprinkle lightly with cornmeal.
16. 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.
17. 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.
18. Preheat oven to 450º F. Place a pan of water on the lowest rack
of the oven.
19. 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.
20. 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.
21. Bake the loaf until it is light brown and crusty -- about 12 to
18 minutes total baking time.
22. We all know that oven temperatures do vary -- so keep an eye on it!
Reference: http://icuban.com/food/pan_cubano2.html