Italian Bread

Total Time: 1 hr 15 mins Preparation Time: 45 mins Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients

• 5 1/2-6 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 5 teaspoons active dry yeast (2 packages )
• 1 tablespoon butter or 1 tablespoon margarine, softened
• 1 3/4 cups very warm water (120 -130 f)
• cornmeal
• peanut oil or light olive oil
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon cold water

Recipe

• 1 in large bowl thoroughly mix 1 1/2 cups flour, sugar, salt and undissolved yeast.
• 2 add butter.
• 3 gradually add warm water to dry ingredients and beat 2 minutes with mixer at medium speed, scraping bowl occasionally.
• 4 add 3/4 cup flour.
• 5 beat at high speed for 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally.
• 6 stir in enough additional flour to make a stiff dough.
• 7 turn dough onto a lightly floured board and knead until smooth and elastic (about 8-10 minutes).
• 8 cover dough with plastic wrap and then a towel and let it rest for 20 minutes.
• 9 to make loaves: divide dough in half.
• 10 roll each half into a 15x10 inch rectangle.
• 11 starting at wide side, roll up tightly; pinch seam to seal.
• 12 taper ends by rolling gently back and forth.
• 13 to make rolls: divide dough into 6 equal pieces.
• 14 roll each piece into a rectangle 8x5 inches.
• 15 starting with wide side, roll up tightly; pinch seam to seal.
• 16 taper ends.
• 17 place the shaped dough seam side down on greased baking sheets sprinkled with cornmeal.
• 18 brush dough with oil.
• 19 cover loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerate 2-24 hours.
• 20 when ready to bake, remove from refrigerator and uncover carefully.
• 21 let dough stand at room temperature for 10 minutes.
• 22 make 3 or 4 diagonal slits in dough with a sharp knife or razor blade.
• 23 bake at 425°f for 15 minutes for rolls, 20 minutes for loaves.
• 24 remove from oven and brush with egg beaten with cold water.
• 25 return to oven; bake 5-10 minutes longer, or until golden.
• 26 **note: i sometimes add 1/2 to 1 teaspoon (adjust amounts to your preferences) of dried oregano or basil or rosemary to the dry ingredients.
• 27 sometimes i also add 1 bulb (head) of roasted garlic cloves to the dry ingredients.
• 28 to roast garlic: peel as much of the outer skin away as possible, leaving the cloves unpeeled and the head intact (optional: trim the tips of the cloves off to expose the"meat" to the oil).
• 29 place head (s) in covered casserole or on a piece of heavy aluminum foil.
• 30 drizzle with olive oil, and bake covered at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes (mine takes over an hour in a terra-cotta garlic baker), or until cloves are soft and can be squeezed easily out of their skins.
• 31 let roasted garlic cool before adding to the flour for the bread.