Cuban Bread � Commence Operation Cubano Sandwich

I didn�t think I liked Cuban sandwiches, and even went so far as to publicly call them overrated, but it turns out I was eating them on the wrong bread. 

You can�t just use any old sandwich roll, and this fact was lost on me until I had one on the real deal. Shortly after finishing, I recanted every negative comment I�d previously made.

By the way, if you�ve never heard of a Cuban sandwich, stay tuned, because that will be the star of our next video. If you want to get a head start, besides practicing the bread, you�ll need some type of roasted, or pulled pork; and I�m happy to report we have many recipes that would work, including our famous paper pork, pulled pork, or carnitas.

One thing that makes this bread unique, besides the addition of lard, is the double-hit of yeast. We use dry yeast to start the dough, as usual, but also add a starter that we let ferment overnight. I assume that�s to provide a little extra flavor, as well as a some additional lift, but I didn�t want to do too much research, since I do enjoy a little mystery with these types of things.

Traditionally, some of the starter is saved, with a little fresh water and flour added, and kept in the fridge to make more bread. Not a bad idea, otherwise you can probably just add all of it to the dough. You�ll probably need a bit more flour, but as I stressed in the video, we�re going to be feeling for that anyway. So, stay tuned for the Cubano sandwich video, and in the meantime, I really hope you givethis bread a try soon. Enjoy!

For the starter:

1/2 cup warm water

1/2 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon dry active yeast

- mix well and refrigerate overnight

For the dough:

1 package active dry yeast
2 teaspoons sugar
3/4 cup warm water

- mix and let stand 15 minutes

- add starter from day before (reserve 1/4 cup if you want to keep your starter going), plus:

3 tablespoons lard
2 teaspoons fine salt

about 3 cups flour, or as needed (I used 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

and 1 1/2 cups bread flour)
water to spray tops of loaves