•1 pk Yeast
•2 c Warm water
•2 tb Sugar
•5 1/2 c All purpose flour
•2 ts Salt
Lightly oil a bowl for the dough.
Mix the yeast, water and
sugar in a large mixing bowl. Add the flour and salt and mix until it
forms a well-blended but somewhat soft dough. (resist the temptation
to work in any more flour than absolutely necessary.)
Knead the
dough by hand or machine. If by hand, turn it out on a floured board
and work it until it is smooth and elastic, approximately 10 minutes.
If using a dough hook on an electric mixer, knead the dough at the
slowest speed for about 5 minutes.
Pat the dough into a ball and put it in the oiled bowl. Cover
the dough with a kitchen towel and set it in a warm, draft-free place
to rise until the dough has doubled in bulk, about 30 to 40 minutes.
(A perfect place is a gas oven with its slight heat given off by the
pilot light; an electric oven, turned on low for no more than 2
minutes, then turned off, works equally well.)
When the dough has
doubled, turn it out on a floured board, punch it down, and knead it
again until there is no air left in it. Divide the dough into 8 round
mounds, place them on the board, cover again with a towel, and let
rise until almost doubled, about 30-minutes.
While the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 450F. Position
a rack as close as possible to the oven bottom. Flour a 12x15-in
baking sheet.
When the 8 mounds of dough have risen, roll them
out, one piece at a time into rectangles about 12x15 inches (the size
of a standard sheet pan) and about as thin as for a pizza. Puncture
the entire surface at 1/2-inch intervals with the tines of a roasting
fork.
Bake the breads, one at a time, for 6 to 8 minutes, or until
the tops are lightly browned. Remove each finished bread to a wire
rack to cool and continue baking the remaining breads until all 8 are
finished. During the baking, if any large bubbles start to puff up,
puncture them immediately with a fork.