St. Joseph's Bread
Ingredients
- 2 each to 3 cups unbleached flour
- 0.5 tbsp active dry yeast
- 1 tbsp honey
- 2/3 cup hot water
- 0.5 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp butter
- 3 tbsp aniseed
- 1/3 cup golden raisins
Instructions
- 1
Combine 1 1/2 cups of the flour, yeast, honey, water, salt, butter and aniseed in a large bowl.
- 2
Mix thoroughly.
- 3
Add raisins.
- 4
Beat for another 10 minutes, adding flour until the dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl.
- 5
Turn out on a lightly floured surface.
- 6
Knead for 8 to 10 minutes, until dough is smooth and elastic, adding flour as necessary to prevent stickiness.
- 7
Lightly oil a large bowl.
- 8
Place dough in bowl and turn to coat on all sides.
- 9
Cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm, draft-free place until doubled in bulk — about 1 hour.
- 10
Grease a baking sheet and sprinkle with corn meal or line one with kitchen parchment.
- 11
Punch down the dough.
- 12
Shape into a long loaf.
- 13
Place the loaf on the baking sheet and make three or four 1/2-inch diagonal slashes on the top.
- 14
Cover with a tea towel and let rise until doubled in bulk — about 30 minutes.
- 15
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- 16
Mist loaves with water or vinegar before baking and twice during baking.
- 17
Bake about 40 minutes.
- 18
Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
- 19
NOTE: Traditionally, you shape the bread to look like a patriarch's beard by making five torpedo loaves of graduated lengths, 1 long, 2 medium and 2 short.
- 20
Place them close together on a baking sheet in the following order: 1 short, 1 medium, 1 long, 1 medium, 1 short.
- 21
They will rise together and you'll have Pane di San Guiseppe.