Albanian Homemade Bread
There is no smell in the world more comforting than
the smell of homemade bread. Homemade bread can be found in almost every
culture and in a variety of forms. Here is how my mother, her mother, and many
other generations of Albanian women before them have been making homemade
bread.
Ingredients:
-
2 cups of water
-
1 tablespoon dry yeast
-
1 teaspoon sugar
-
1 tablespoon salt
-
1 1/2 tablespoon oil
-
Min 4 1/4 cups flour
Directions:
I have to admit, to me, making bread has always
seemed like an overly complicated task. But, after watching my mother make it
over and over again, I realized it’s really not that difficult. (For those of
you who might be curious. Those are my mothers hands making the bread.)
Start with a large bowl where you will mix all of
your ingredients plus have room to allow the bread to rise.
Add the water, sugar, salt, yeast and oil. Now
mix mix mix….
Gradually begin adding the flour till the dough
starts to stick together. Now put your upper body to work and start kneading
the dough. Knead it into a nice little neat ball.
You can see my mother got down, on the floor, on her
hands and knees to add a little more strength to her kneading.
This is what your ball of dough should look like.
Cover the dough with a wet cheese cloth or a wet
paper towel and place the bowl in a warm environment where it can rise slowly.
We usually place it in the oven. But under no circumstance should you turn the
oven on at this point!
This part of the process requires a lot of patience.
You have to wait till the dough has risen to over twice it’s original size.
Once the dough has risen, you can start forming it
into smaller balls. (This is of course up to you. You can leave it whole and
bake it that way or form it into individual size portions.)
You need to let the dough rise again. This helps the
bread become lighter and crustier.
Finally, bake in the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit
for about 45 minutes or till the top is golden brown. Make sure to watch that
the bottom of the bread doesn’t burn. To prevent this it’s best to lightly coat
the baking dish with a little oil.
Enjoy the wonderful smell of homemade bread that will
permeate your home!
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