Comments on: Kitchen Warfare’s Cuban Bread (Tampa Style)

By: high5apparatus

high5apparatus — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 16:46:11 +0000

This is the most comprehensive Cuban bread recipe I’ve found. The recipe I developed is very similar. I use vegetable shortening which I find gives it that velvety smoothness without having to use the lard. I also preheat the oven to 400 for an hour then lower it to 350 when I put the bread in, and bake for 30 min. The next time I make some I’ll try the higher heat you suggest.

I made some mojo roasted pork yesterday, so I made my Cuban bread as well to make sandwiches, but I used your techniques such as letting the dough hook do the kneading, punching it down twice, and the way you describe forming the loafs is similar to a YouTube video I saw of a Tampa bakery making Cuban bread where they used a forearm smash to flatten before rolling.

My bread turned out awesome and the Cuban Sandwiches were very good. Not bad for a guy in St. Louis.

By: Royall

Royall — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 01:39:35 +0000

Question about size of loaf. I’m about as far a way from Florida and Cuba as possible so I only know this bread from the Food Channel. When I see a “Cuban Sandwich” being made it looks a whole lot bigger than what is being described here. Is the bigger loaf something “new” and not traditional? I did try making Cuban bread not to long ago (a different recipe) and thought it was a lot like a fine crumb French bread but was very tender inside. I was amazed how the string trick worked! You could even do the same thing with a sharp lame if you didn’t have any string.

Aloha,

Royall

By: Miss Chef

Miss Chef — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 16:36:52 +0000

Lard is pig fat

By: pj

pj — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 04:24:14 +0000

instead of lard try 1 oz pig fat. its a secret of the great breads

By: Maegan

Maegan — Thu, 27 May 2010 22:18:32 +0000

As a displaced Tampan, I am thrilled to see this. Not only do they not have Cuban bread 26 miles from the Canadian border, I can’t even find mojo seasoning! My mom sends me stuff from FL, or I can find it online…but the bread has eluded me…haven’t tried the recipe yet, but I can’t wait.

P.S. Cuban sandwiches were actually invented *in* Tampa…so I think anyone not making them the “Tampa way” isn’t actually making a real cuban.

By: Lejing

Lejing — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 17:07:04 +0000

“You’ll also need a few feet of string soaking in water (chances are if you’re having to make your Cubano you’re no where near palmetto plants).”

What is function for sting or palmetto plants?

Thanks,
Lejing

By: REAL Cuban bread - Tampa Bay - Florida (FL) - Tampa - St. Petersburg - Clearwater - Page 2 - City-Data Forum

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 04:19:03 +0000

[...] Originally Posted by TB Fla Your Miami pals must not spend a lot of time in Tampa. I almost never see Cuban bread look like the second pic around here unless its some kind of chain resturant. When I order a cuban in Tampa, the first pic is what I usually get. For sure ^^ – when I lived in Tampa, I got nice Cuban bread like the first pic at a lot of places. When I was growing up, I lived in old West Tampa, and we would wait at the bakeries to get it fresh and hot. I won't eat that stuff that looks like a skinny loaf. I'm sure that like a lot of things, times have changed and maybe the quality of Cuban bread in Tampa has gone down some or is harder to find, but there must be places that still serve what I believe to be "real" Cuban bread. Hey, I just did a search on Google and came up with this interesting blog about Tampa Cuban bread, which includes recipes for making your own! http://www.oo.com/kitchen-warfares-c…d-tampa-style/ [...]

By: Renae

Renae — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 20:48:12 +0000

It is making my mouth water just reading all the comments! I can’t wait to try this recipe. I love Cuban bread and I am totally excited to think I can actually make it myself now! Thank you for sharing!

By: Sonia Sanchez

Sonia Sanchez — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 20:36:54 +0000

My husband and I are both native Floridian. He grew up in Tampa and goes crazy when he can’t get his Cuban sandwich or toast. For years I’ve tried to make Cuban bread, but have been unsuccessful. I’m going to try your recipe, but I’ll go out in the yard and get some palmetto leaves instead of the string. Thanks so much for the recipe!!!!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 07:55:06 +0000

Of course the ‘instructions’ work, you can see pictures of the bread.