You may not have noticed the heading on my blog where I claim an interest in cooking. I come from a long line of cooks on the male side. My grandfather was one of the people who introduced the World to Chili at the 1908 World's Fair in St. Louis. I have a nice picture of him wearing his white apron standing in front of his chili booth at the fair. He was the one who showed me how to cook chili the right way and I have passed it down to my children and grand children. In a few more years, I will be able to hand it down to my great grand children, but that is another story. Here, I want to pass along a tip about good bread and bread sticks.
A few years ago, while eating a hot dog in a Sam's Club store, I noticed their sign that they sold commercial pizza dough by the case. I asked the attendant and she said that they used the same dough balls to make their pizza. The dough ball come in a case of about 20 1-1/2# balls for about $15.00. A standard loaf of bread starts with a 1-1/2# ball of dough so you know how big they are. They only cost about $0.75/ea. When was the last time that you purchased a loaf of bread for $0.75? Here is the deal.
Rather than use them to make pizza, I recommend that you use them to make gourmet bread and bread sticks. For two people, I like to thaw out a dough ball and then cut it in half and save half for later. From half a dough ball, I make two fat bread sticks or small loafs. The dough is soft and a little hard to work with, but that is what makes it good. Most people make bread with dough that is far too dry and over mixed. I don't use any flour. I just put a little oil on my hands and on a cookie sheet and form the bread into long skinny loafs. It will look a little flat because the dough is so soft, but don't worry. Once you have the dough formed the way you want, it is time to add your favorite spices. I like to first dust the top with course salt and then Bassle and if you like garlic, dust on a little garlic mixture. You can cross hatch the top with a sharp knife to make it look fancy. That is about all there is too it, but cooking is critical.
Most people cook bread at far too low of a temperature. I recommend 450. What happens with the higher temperature is that the dough heats up a lot faster than the gas generated inside can not leak out. This makes the bread rise more and have bigger bubbles. It also makes it have a far crispier crust that also tends to hold in the moisture and gas. The fact the dough is soft and has more moisture is part of why it makes such good bread. Adding a small with about half a cup of water will also help the crust.
I cook the bread for about 20 minutes. At about 15 minutes, I recommend that you check the crust, but don't keep the oven open any more or longer than needed. The oven needs to be hot, even at the risk of getting the bread over brown. To my taste, I would rather have the bread too brown rather not brown enough. It is up to you.
One dough ball will make 2 nice, but bigger loafs, but as I said, I like to make 4 so that they have more crust. For bread sticks, it is about the same, but the cooking time is shorter. When I make bread sticks, I normally make 8 out of a dough ball. Here again, you can spice these up to. Italian spice mix is one of my favorites. It has every thing except the salt. Cajun is good too.
My grand kids who are 8 and 12 like to make bread sticks this way all by themselves.
Good luck from the Brewmaster
