Cuban Bread

The wonderful part of being retired is that it affords you the opportunity to do what you damned well please and that means we play a great deal.  I have always loved baking bread and now I have become obsessive about it.  When I read labels on anything, including bread, if I can't pronounce what it's made of, I don't want to eat it.  I have reached a point where I bake just about every day only because I love it.  If not every day then three or four times a week just to keep up with the bread that we need.

My husband is from Tampa and has a "thing" for Cuban bread.  He loves it and I often make it for him.  I realized a few days ago that I hadn't made him any for awhile now so I hit the kitchen and made Cuban bread.  I am a Mississippi/Arkansas redneck so what do I know about Cuban bread but I do know that I can find any recipe I need on the internet.  I finally settled on the bread recipe from "Taste of Cuba" to use for my baking. I don't think you can go wrong with this recipe.  Tampa bakers make a long slender baguette like the ones pictured here  and Miami bakers make a thicker baguette more like what we all recognize as French bread.  Not in taste but in size.

I don't have the Palmetto fronds that they use in Miami and Tampa to put down the center of the bread to make it uniquely Cuban but I substitute a piece of kitchen cord or I use one of our local plants which works just as well.

 

As you can see this local plant works really well.  I flip the baguette over and let it rise with the plant strip down the center and then I roll it off the parchment onto a baking stone after it has finished proofing so that the palmetto is on top. My oven isn't big enough to make the long long Tampa baguettes so mine are more like a cross between Tampa and Miami.   It is a lot of improvising but it all works and  pleases me immensely when my husband takes a bite and says....."You made Cuban bread"...You know your are eating Cuban bread when you take a bite and the crust scatters all over the table in front of you.  It is crusty and flaky at the same time..

Here are pictures of the bread ready to go into  the oven.  

And right out of the oven.

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From Wikipedia 
Cuban bread is a fairly simple white bread, similar to French bread and Italian bread, but has a slightly different cooking method and ingredient list (in particular, it generally includes a small amount of fat in the form of lard or vegetable shortening); it is usually made in long, baguette-like loaves. It is a staple of Cuban-American cuisine and is traditionally the bread of choice when making an authentic Cuban sandwich.

The only thing better than a slice of Cuban bread with a cup of Cafe con Leche (preferably at the Tropicana in Tampa) is a Cuban sandwich.  The Tropicana has a great sandwich but honestly, there are dozens of places in Tampa where you can get a great Cuban sandwich.  You have to decide if you want it pressed or unpressed...I love mine pressed, they put your sandwich in a press and make it crusty and the cheese is all melted......John prefers his unpressed but either way, they are DeeeeeeeeeeeeLISH!