Cuban Water Bread

Seriously, how does anyone kneed this? My dough is rising right now, hopefully, but it is hardly stuck together and very dense. I hope it turns out well; I will update later.

First time I have ever baked bread. Super easy recipe, and came out very tasty with a perfect texture. Definitely a new go-to recipe.

Quick bread and delicious

I had NEVER baked bread before, but I grew up with a mother that made a lot. I was curious that the recipe didn’t put the yeast in a little bowl with warm water first (since I saw my mother do it all the time). So… I looked around to find out why – It is called proofing the yeast (testing it) – because it CAN go bad. It was also mentioned that it ‘proofing’ is not required… Anyway – I did it the way my mother did – warm water and sugar in a pre-warmed bowl – add the yeast and wait for it to froth up a bit (a couple of minutes) – The first batch I used dropped to the bottom of the bowl and did nothing – no bubbles – it just sank. So I bought some new yeast (that hadn’t been in the cupboard for years) and tried it – the yeast mostly floated and swelled up immediately. So – I would suggest that the ONLY reason some people had difficulty with the bread rising is because they had bad yeast – Another note on that – on advice from my mother I made sure the room was warm with no cold breezes – she said it would stall the bread from rising. Apart from some poor loaf forming on my part, the bread was perfect – one was symmetrical… the other looked like a bad comb over – but was still good As for the ‘salty’ taste – Well, I don’t bake a lot – my first ‘bread’ attempt – but I DO cook a lot – Salt is used to taste and is not required for a recipe to work – so… add what you want (within reason – hehe) or cut it all out…it just affects taste

This is very similar to my favorite James Beard recipe for Cuban bread. The main difference in the recipes, is that Beard does not allow the bread to rise until double after having shaped it into loaves It should only sit for around 5-10 minutes. He also only brushes it with cold water once, just prior to putting it in the oven. I recently made this bread with bread flour. BIG MISTAKE! The texture was entirely different with a dense and even insides. Making it with all purpose flour gives a more interesting texture and taste with a crisper crust and lots of air pockets within.

I’m so disappointed. I really wanted to like this recipe and for it to work, but it turned out like a brick even though I followed the recipe exactly. I have worked in bakeries and made countless loaves of bread, but unfortunately, this recipe just didn’t work for me.

I followed directions for the bread except I only used 4.5 cups of flour. The dough was silky and beautiful! I rolled the bread into a flat rectangle so I could cut it into sandwich squares. It is a nice salty bread!

We really liked this. I halved the recipe, started with 1 cup WW and just kept adding the AP flour 1/2 cup at a time until I had a nice workable dough. It was just shy of 3 1/2 cups total. I think this recipe is less about how much flour or water and more about the method. I have never started baking bread with a cold oven before, although I have put a pan of water in the oven and sprayed my bread if I want a crisp crust. This was just what it advertised itself to be a chewy crust and a light moist crumb. Thanks for sharing the recipe.

This bread has a really good taste, I really thought it would be bland, but it’s not. I kept adding in the flour 1 cup at a time and it didn’t take anywhere near 8 cups, I think I only used 5 or something like that. I’m not sure what I did, but it didn’t rise very well, no matter, I baked it anyway and my husband and I both enjoyed this addition to our Cuban meal…I will make this bread again! And get it right the next time…thanks for a great recipe!

I am a professional baker, and this bread was TERRIBLE! After reading the other reviews, I added an extra 1/2 T of both salt and sugar, but it was still horrible and way too salty. Like others, I baked it with a pan of water in the oven. I let it rise for over 12 hours (about 10 hrs for the first rise and 2 for the second) but it did not not double, and after baking it was extremely dense, heavy, salty, and gross. I kneaded it in the kitchenaide mixer for 7-8 minutes. I should have paid more attention to the other negative reviews – and you should too!

Very good. Takes some time to rise but during that time you can do whatever you want.

okay, i’ve had several versions of cuban bread, the best being james beard’s from beard on bread, and I’m a baker, I saw this recipe(and having lost the beard recipe) decided to try it out, (should’ve known better by %ages) I made the dough and it looked like pasta dough. I believe it would have a hearty crust, but how the heck is it supposed to rise when it feels like a football? I think the amounts of flour and water need to be adjusted…

Turned out amazing! I cut the recipe in half, which calls for 4 cups of flour. I could not get even 3 1/2 cups in; I tried and tried! The first 2 cups were bread flour, the third was whole wheat pastry flour, and the rest was all purpose. Nice crusty outside, soft on the inside, smelled and tasted wonderful! Next time I will make the whole recipe 🙂

Personally, I’m a fan of not tweaking a recipe. The first time I tried this one, the dough refused to come together. Too much flour, not enough water. Produced an extremely hard crust and a very dense grain. The second time, much of the same. Even tried cutting out a cup of flour. Still not enough. And one tablespoon of salt is just not enough for the large quantity this recipe makes. Cuban water bread is a poor man’s bread. Pretty much just flour and water. The inside should be airier (is that a word, lol) and the crust should be pale and fairly thin. I will not be making this recipe again.

This is a good, basic bread. I halved the recipe. I should’ve put in a bit of ww flour but I forgot. It was too dry; I had to add 1/2 cup of water to help it become dough. I love the crisp crust–I did both what the recipe said, which was to brush with cold water twice, and what another reviewer said, which was to place a pan with water in the oven while baking. I forgot I had halved the recipe by the time I made the loaves to rise; I made two round loaves, forgetting the directions don’t adjust when you change the amounts. I’m happy I made two though; perfect height and width for regular sandwiches, albeit a bit round. Thanks for the recipe!

I served this at a Taste of the Tropics themed dinner party where we tried to have each dish come from a different island. Everyone really enjoyed the bread and described it as rustic and dense, like the inside of a soft pretzel. I prefer a chewier kind of bread, but this was very good. I could barely knead in 7 cups of flour, there was no chance at getting in 8, and it still turned out great…and I think I got a good arm workout in the process!

Very very good! I did however fallow others advice…i used 7 cups of flour and 2 1/2C of water. I also used the hot water in cool oven. It was golden brown in about 35-40min. Its a heavy, dense bread crunchy outside soft inside. best right out of oven and also makes a great toast.

I have made this bread a number of times and we always love it. The recipe is very simple but the result is wonderful.

My husband loves this bread as an alternative to the rich, buttery breads that I normally make.

This is the recipe I have been looking for! The crust was awesome, the inside chewy–it was spectacular. Even the next day it was a fantastic flavor and texture. This will become a staple in my recipe files. Thank you for a superb recipe.

I was kind of disappointed in this- when I was kneading the dough, it was extremely dry, heavy and tough. I had to sprinkle water on it a few times. The finished product was very dense and heavy (not in a good way). It didn’t really taste very good either. It did look good, with the slashes on top… I made a round loaf. At least it was pretty easy to make.