This bread will bite you back...
OK, we had a lovely sweet bread yesterday, but today, I made a bread that will bite you back.
Many of you might have noticed that I like spicy foods from time to time. Until recently, I thought the spicy stuff went in between the bread, but when I tasted this bread, I realized otherwise.
This isn't your all-American white bread...as a matter of fact, it's a bright reddish orange bread that you can tell is hot just by looking at it.
Sriracha is a paste made by mixing ground sun-ripened chile peppers with garlic. Fortunately, it comes already mixed and ready to use in bottles at just about any grocery.
Despite the fact that this a spicy bread, it goes well with just about any sandwich topping, I love it with avocado and sprouts. My meat-eating friends say it goes well with ham. I think it's just as good with nothing at all.
Sriracha Bread
3/4 cup of warm water 1/4 cup of Sriracha (Asian hot chile sauce)
1 package (2 1/4 teaspoons) of yeast
3 cups of flour, divided
3/4 teaspoon of salt
1 egg
1 teaspoon of melter butter
Combine the water, the chile sauce and the yeast in a large bowl; let it stand for 5 minutes.
Add 2 3/4 cups of the flour, the salt, and the egg to yeast mixture. Stir until a soft dough forms.
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead until the dough becomes smooth and elastic (about 8 minutes).
Add enough of the remaining flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, to prevent dough from sticking to your hands.
Place the dough in a large bowl coated with oil, turning to coat top. Cover the dough in the bowl and let it rise in a warm place for an hour or until it has doubled in size.
Punch the dough down; cover it and let it rest for five minutes. Then roll the dough (on a floured surface) into a rectangle that is about a foot long by a half a foot wide.
Roll up the rectangle tightly, starting with a short edge. Press the dough to get rid of air pockets and pinch the ends to seal.
Put the roll, seam side down, in an oiled loaf pan. Lightly coat the surface of dough with oil, cover it and let the dough rise in a warm place 30 minutes or until doubled in size.
Bake at 375° for 40 minutes or until lightly browned on bottom and loaf sounds hollow when tapped. Remove from pan, and brush with melted butter.
Vegetarian.
