Cooking

There’s something about Cuban bread. It’s soft, smooth and perfectly suited to making Cuban sandwiches, or just accompanying a lovely Cuban meal. But for some reason I’d never actually attempted making it.

One weekend, I was feeling inspired. I found a lot of recipes to work from, including one from my go-to source, 3 Guys from Miami, but I came across many alternatives that suggested that a starter dough was necessary (3 Guys’ recipe doesn’t use a starter). Yet the 3 Guys recipe used a blend of bread and all-purpose flour, which I also saw used elsewhere. I decided to mix and match a few different recipes and hope for the best.

The starter needs to start at least 24 hours before you need it, but it keeps for several days in the fridge.

Here’s the one weird ingredient that you need to know about ahead of time: Cuban bread requires lard. Yes, really. And if you live in a white, suburban wasteland, you might discover that none of your local supermarkets actually carries lard. If this is the case in your world, too, you have four options: make the long trek to your nearest Hispanic grocer; order leaf lard online or drive 10 miles out of your way to hit up a farmer’s market vendor; or substitute vegetable shortening for the lard.

Ingredients

Starter – Begin 24 hours in advance

• 3/4 tsp active dry yeast
• 1/3 cup warm water (100-110 degrees F)
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour

Bread

• 4 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 1 1/2 cups warm water (100-110 degrees F)
• 3 Tbsp lard or vegetable shortening
• 1/2 batch starter
• 1 Tbsp salt
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups bread flour

Instructions

Starter

Remember to start the starter at least 24 hours before you plan to bake.

Dissolve the yeast into the water. Allow it to bubble and foam for about 3 minutes. Add the flour. Cover with plastic wrap and rest in fridge overnight.

Bread

In the bowl of your stand mixer, dissolve the yeast and sugar in 3 Tbsp of the water. When it gets thick and foamy-looking (about 5 minutes), stir in the lard, the rest of the water and 1/2 batch of the starter.

Add a cup of flour and mix with the dough hook attachment of your mixer. Add flour one cup at a time. You want a dough that’s stiff, not sticky; too sticky and you won’t be able to knead it. The dough will wrap itself around the hook.

Place the dough on a lightly floured work surface and knead until it’s smooth, about 5-7 minutes, adding flour as necessary. Is it sticking to your fingers? Add more flour.

Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover and let the dough rise in a warm spot until it doubles in size, 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Now take your lovely puffy dough ball and punch it down. Yes, really. Punch it. Pound the air out of it. This is good for relieving tension.

Divide your punched-down dough into four sections. Roll out each section like a Play-Doh snake; you want it to be about a foot long. Place two on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Cover and allow to rise for another hour, until they’ve once again doubled in size.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

Take four lengths of kitchen twine and soak in water. Wring out the excess liquid. You’ll lay the twine along the length of the dough to achieve a sort of center divot (four loaves and this line looked different in all of them).

Bake the bread for about 30 minutes, or until the bread is golden brown and sounds slightly hollow when tapped.

Cool on a wire rack. Remove strings.

Slice and enjoy!

Results

This was completely different from any other bread I’ve ever made. I’ve never before used a starter, and I’ve never used lard or shortening in my bread. I had no reason to worry, though. It was delicious served warm with a swipe of butter, and would also make a great Cuban sandwich with the leftovers from dinner… assuming that we’d had any leftovers from dinner.

Many thumbs up from The Husband and the Tiny Kitchen Assistant.

Tags: baking, bread, kid-friendly, meatless, oven, weekend

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