John ascuaga's basque bread

10 Servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
1 cup Water
¼ cup Milk
1 teaspoon Sugar
1 tablespoon Unsalted butter
2 teaspoons Veg. shortening
1 pack Dry yeast
1 teaspoon Salt
3¼ cup All-purpose flour

Directions

Heat water, milk, sugar, butter, an shortening in med. saucepan to 105 deg.

Pour mixture into a 1-cup liquid measure and stir in the yeast. Put salt and flour in work bowl of food processor with metal blade in place. With motor running, pour liquid thru the feed tube in a steady stream as fast as the flour mixture absorbs it. Continue processing until dough cleans sides of work bowl. *If dough is too moist to clean side, add flour thru the feed tube by the tablespoon. If too dry, add cold water by the teaspoon) Process 45 seconds more to knead the dough. Place dough in lightly floured 1 gal plastic storage bag. Squeeze out air and seal bag at top with wire twist.

Set aside in warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1½ hours. Remove wire twist and punch down dough in bag. Remove dough and shape into round loaf, about 6 inches in diam. Place on oiled baking sheet and flatten top slightly. Cover with oiled plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hr. Preheat oven to 425 deg. Brush loaf with water and make 3 slashes across top. Bake in center of oven for 15 mins. Reduce heat to 350 deg. and bake until lightly browned, about 20 mins. more, brushing loaf with water two more times. Remove to wire rack to cool. Makes 1 loaf (about 1 ½ lbs.)

From Gemini's MASSIVE MealMaster collection at www.synapse.com/~gemini

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