"Cuban" Bread - Grilled Cheese

-Edit- Made 6 loaves of this this week (12/28/12) with whole wheat flour (1.5 cups WW and 3.5 cups white flour), and it was amazing!

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I recently have been attempting to find a bread recipe I like, so that I will eventually bake all our own bread. In the process I have found that baking bread is a fine art and a fun experiment... all rolled into one! I have yet to light upon a recipe that will become my go-to on a weekly basis, but this one is very close...

I found it on Pinterest, but here is the original blog post about it. The blogger, Stephanie, says:

"This recipe comes from the Tightwad Gazette, and is done in less than an hour and a half. Hooray!" 

So there's your reference. :) Here's the recipe... with my tweaks of course. It was fun to make, and the kids love helping me knead bread. Emma helped make this one into Grilled Cheese! Love when my kids get into the kitchen.

Cuban Bread

5-6 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp. yeast  [I used SAF Instant, worked wonderfully]
2 tbsp. sugar
1 tbsp. salt
1 or 2 tbsp. potato flakes [for added starch, this was my addition, loved it]
2 cups hot water (120-130 degrees)

Mix 4 cups of the flour with the yeast, sugar, potato flakes, and salt. Pour in hot water and beat 100 strokes, or 3 minutes with a mixer. Stir in the remaining flour until the dough is no longer sticky. Knead 8 minutes [this was a challenge for me by hand. Someday I may get a stand mixer... so I set the timer to keep me on task, and I found that 5 minutes was adequate... maybe I knead harder?]. 

Place the dough in a greased bowl, and cover with a damp towel. Let rise 15 minutes. Punch down. Shape into two round or oblong loaves, and place on a baking sheet. Cut an X or a few slashes 1/2 inch deep on top with a sharp knife. Place on the middle shelf of a cold oven. Place a cake pan of hot water on the lowest shelf. Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Bake 40 to 50 minutes until deep golden brown. 

It "puffed" in the oven, amazing to watch! It was a good dense bread, not crumbly at all. but not hard. We loved it for grilled cheese. I've made about 8 loves of it so far, and I will keep making it again and again...

Emma, my assistant chef 

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