This is the second iteration of this bread, made for our lunch sandwiches for the week. I’ve adapted it from King Arthur’s Pan Cubano recipe, multiplying the recipe by 1.5 and converting it to a whole grain bread.

Instead of All-Purpose Flour, I have substituted half Bread Flour and half King Arthur’s special 12-Grain Flour. Along with these, I added an extra quarter cup of water (for the Bread Flour) and King Arthur’s Whole Grain Bread Improver, which I find makes things rise well and prevents excessive density.

First all the dry ingredients get mixed together. King Arthur recommends adding the bread improver by putting a teaspoon in the bottom of each cup of whole wheat flour, then filling the cup the rest of the way up with flour.

I used my King Arthur dough whisk (I swear I’m not getting paid for product placement, I just really like their stuff) to mix everything together without the dough getting stuck in a normal whisk or on a wooden spoon. At this point the dough was really shaggy. At this point I let it sit for about 20 minutes, as per the tip on the back of the Whole Grain Bread Improver bag.

After kneading, it comes together to form a fairly smooth, slightly sticky dough. Confession: I don’t really like kneading bread by hand. Actually, I don’t mind the process of kneading itself, but the stickiness of most doughs before they get kneaded, plus the amount of extraneous flour that usually ends up getting incorporated (bad for the bread) makes me more inclined to go mechanical. Since I don’t have a stand mixer (or a bread machine), I use my hand mixer with the dough hook attachments. Works great.

Into my lightly greased, handy 6L dough rising bucket it goes. Should have taken a picture of it at the end of the rise, but believe me when I say it was vigorous.

I ended up cutting it into 11 pieces, which really means that I cut it into 8 pieces and then cut small pieces off and joined them together until I had the size buns that I wanted.

I loosely shaped them into buns and let them sit for a bit to let the gluten relax.

I shaped them for real, kinda (I really suck at shaping), and let them do their final rise under some plastic wrap.

They came out nicely golden brown, and I think a good size for sandwiches. They have a really good flavor as well, which I think is imparted mostly by the 12-grain flour. They’re not crusty (the crust is thin and quite soft, actually), but they make for a good sandwich that is easy to eat and tasty.

12-Grain Pan Cubano Sandwich Bread (adapted from King Arthur’s Pan Cubano)

Ingredients

• 3 cups Unbleached Bread Flour
• 3 cups King Arthur Organic 12-Grain Flour Blend
• 3 teaspoons King Arthur Whole Grain Bread Improver
• 6 teaspoons sugar
• 3 teaspoons salt
• 3 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast (SAF Red recommended)
• 6 tablespoons butter, melted
• 2 1/2 cups water, lukewarm

Directions

1. Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl and whisk together to combine.
2. Mix together the butter and water, and pour into the dry ingredients. Stir to combine.
3. Let sit 20–30 minutes to allow whole grain flour to absorb the liquids.
4. Knead by hand 10 minutes or with a mixer for 5–8 minutes until dough is smooth and supple
5. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl or dough-rising bucket, cover the bowl or bucket, and allow the dough to rise till puffy though not necessarily doubled in bulk, about 1 hour
6. Gently fold the dough in upon itself and turn it upside-down after 30 minutes
7. Divide the dough into 11 pieces, and shape each piece into a rough bun.
8. Let the buns rest for 15 minutes, covered, then shape each piece into a smooth, small loaf. Place the buns on a parchment-lined or lightly greased baking sheet.
9. Let the loaves rise, covered, for 1 hour. Right before putting in the oven, lightly brush or spray them with water.
10. Preheat the oven to 375ºF while the loaves are rising. Bake the bread for about 30 minutes, or until it’s golden brown. Remove it from the oven, and cool it on a rack.