Syrian Bread

5 lb. Robin Hood flour       

1 cup sugar

3½  to 4 tsp. salt

1 stick margarine, melted

2 3-strip Rapid Rise yeast (dry, total of 6 envelopes)

4 cups warm water (warm enough for yeast)

Directions:  Add yeast to 2 cups warm water with a ½ tsp. or so of sugar to help activate the yeast.  Stir until mixed.  Put flour, sugar and salt in large mixing bowl.  Add margarine and yeast/water to the dry ingredients.  Mix with your buttered hands.  Add additional water as needed to form dough—sometimes takes more than 4 cups.  Knead until dough still looks shaggy, but slight bounce back to finger touch.  Usually 3-5 minutes.

Place dough in a draft-free place, cover with plastic wrap, wrap bowel in bath towel, and let rise.  Carefully punch down dough and let rise again.  Butter your hands (always want the dough to have some butter on it throughout the process so it does not form a hard shell).  Divide dough into balls that will make one loaf, and place dough balls on wax paper.  Cover with towels and let rest/rise for about 30 minutes. 

Butter Hands. Pick up the dough, turn over on counter and pat out with fingers.  Cover with towel and let rest 10 minutes.  Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Flatten loaves and butter.  Put bread directly on oven rack.  Bake for 8-10 minutes.  Flip the loaves.  Bake another 8 minutes.  Bread should be golden brown on both sides.

Comment:  Aunt Mary’s prize.  In sharing the recipe, variations have included as little as ¼ cup sugar or a total of 5 cups warm water or a little more melted margarine.  Aunt Mary frequently doubled the recipe and made 10 lb. batches.  Debate rages on about packets of yeast versus fresh yeast.  Aunt Mary was a big believer in using Robin Hood flour. 

Aunt Mary’s most famous instruction:  “Knead the dough until you are sweating under your boobs.”  However, that must have taken her 3-5 minutes.

And, remember, your bread will never be as good as Aunt Mary’s or Granny’s or Aunt Aigia’s bread.