Who can resist the smell and taste of a delicious freshly cooked loaf of bread?
In Portugal, bread is a ritual, almost a religion: people buy fresh bread every day and there’s always a basket of bread on the table at every meal. This traditional loaf is soft on the inside while the crust is crunchy.
I remember as a young boy watching and helping my grandmother make the dough and sitting by the wood fired oven anxiously waiting for the hot steamy bread to come out … Adding a knob of homemade butter can only be described as heaven!
Ingredients
- 1.5kgs of strong bread flour
- 2.5 tsp salt
- 2.5 tsp sugar
- 2 sachet instant dry yeast
- 1 ltr of lukewarm water
- 3 tbs olive oil
- any toppings you may wish to add. Olives, choriço, mixed herbs for instance.
Method
Makes 4 large loaves.
Start by firing up your Amigo Oven to maximum temperature (approx 550c). Let the temperature drop to about 180c-200c.
- Mix all the dry ingredients, make a well in the middle and add the water and olive oil
- Knead well (we use a bread machine) until blended. You should have a sticky dough
- Leave it to rise for 1 hour or so
- Shape the dough into your desired shape on a floured work surface. At this point include any additional ingredients like for instance olives. Leave to rise for another hour.
- Bake in your Amigo wood fired oven for approx 45 mins
Tip: Place some ice water in a cooking tray alongside the dough in the oven. Remove 10 mins before bread is cooked to give a crispy crust.