Cuban bread
{{Short description|Cuban style of white bread}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Infobox prepared food
| name = Cuban bread
| image = Cuban sandwiches.jpg
| image_size = 250px
| caption = Cuban bread is used to make Cuban sandwiches.
| alternate_name =
| country = United States
| region = Florida
| creator = La Joven Francesca Bakery
| course =
| type = White bread
| served =
| main_ingredient = Flour, water, lard or vegetable shortening
| variations =
| calories =
| other =
}}
Cuban bread is a white bread formed into long, baguette-like loaves. Though similar to French bread and Italian bread, it is slightly different in its preparation and ingredients, which include a small amount of fat in the form of lard or vegetable shortening. Cuban bread originated in the immigrant communities of Tampa, Florida, and it has become a staple of Cuban-American cuisine. It is the traditional base of a Cuban sandwich.
History
Image:Ferlita Bakery.jpg in Tampa's Ybor City]]
The origins of "real" Cuban bread are debated, with both Miami and Tampa, Florida, claiming to be the home of the authentic version. With regards to where it originated, the first commercial bakery in the U.S. to produce Cuban bread was most likely La Joven Francesca bakery, which was established by the Sicilian-born Francisco Ferlita in 1896 in Ybor City, a thriving Cuban-Spanish-Italian community in Tampa.{{cite web |title=Ferlita Bakery in Ybor City: Florida State Parks |url=https://www.floridastateparks.org/learn/ferlita-bakery-ybor-city |website=www.floridastateparks.org |language=en}}{{cite web | author=David Grimes | url=http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20091021/article/910211001 |title=That Cuban beat presses on | website=HeraldTribune.com | date=2009-10-21 |accessdate=2010-09-03 |archive-date=2012-10-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121004142338/http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20091021/article/910211001 |url-status=dead }} The bakery originally sold bread for 3 to 5 cents per loaf which could be delivered across Ybor City every morning like milk. Customers were asked to drive a sturdy nail halfway into the door frame so that the bread deliveryman could hang the fresh loaf in the front porch in time for breakfast.{{cite web|last=Otto |first=Steve |title=Cuban Is Ours, Any Way You Try To Slice It |url=http://www.tbo.com/news/metro/MGBQAS0758F.html |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090507190125/http://www.tbo.com/news/metro/MGBQAS0758F.html |website=The Tampa Tribune |date=24 October 2007 |archivedate=7 May 2009}}{{cite web | title=Historical Marker | website=Waymarking.com | url=http://www.waymarking.com/gallery/image.aspx?f=1&guid=9e5ac378-0a8b-4ac9-a7fe-a69902022e83&gid=3 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606161818/http://www.waymarking.com/gallery/image.aspx?f=1&guid=9e5ac378-0a8b-4ac9-a7fe-a69902022e83&gid=3 | archive-date=June 6, 2011 | url-status=live | accessdate=2008-12-22 }}
Ferlita's bakery was destroyed by fire in 1922, with only the large brick oven remaining. A second oven was added when the bakery was rebuilt, and the expanded operation became the major supplier of Cuban bread for the Tampa area. The bakery also added a dining area which became a place to congregate, drink a cup of Cuban coffee, and catch up on the local news.{{cite web | title=For 65 years, he brought Cuban bread all over town | author=Marty Clear | date=November 28, 2003 | website=Sptimes.com | url=http://www.sptimes.com/2003/11/28/Citytimes/For_65_years__he_brou.shtml | archive-url=https://archive.today/20121203032242/http://www.sptimes.com/2003/11/28/Citytimes/For_65_years__he_brou.shtml | archive-date=December 3, 2012 | url-status=dead | accessdate=2008-12-22 }} La Joven Francesca closed in 1973, but soon found new life when it was renovated and converted into the Ybor City State Museum. The original ovens where the original Cuban bread was baked are still viewable inside.{{cite web|url=http://www.ybormuseum.org/museum/index.html |title=Museum | Ybor City Museum |publisher=Ybormuseum.org |accessdate=2008-12-22 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081216155049/http://www.ybormuseum.org/museum/index.html |archivedate=December 16, 2008 }}
La Segunda Bakery had been a long-time competitor to La Joven Francesca and became the leading producer of Cuban bread in the city and worldwide, with its products shipped across Florida and beyond.{{cite news |title=Machines lend a hand to Cuban bread bakers at Tampa's La Segunda |url=http://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/machines-lend-a-hand-to-cuban-bread-bakers-at-tampas-la-segunda/1144135 |last=Morales |first=Ileana |date=7 January 2011 |website=Tampa Bay Times |accessdate=2015-04-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150413112848/http://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/machines-lend-a-hand-to-cuban-bread-bakers-at-tampas-la-segunda/1144135 |archive-date=13 April 2015 |url-status=dead }}{{cite news|last1=Reiley|first1=Laura|title=La Segunda Bakery to open new South Tampa location|url=https://www.tampabay.com/things-to-do/food/dining/La-Segunda-Bakery-to-open-new-South-Tampa-location-with-seats_164355899/|access-date=10 January 2018|work=Tampa Bay Times|date=10 January 2018}} It was co-founded by Juan Morè, who migrated to Tampa from Spain via Cuba and became a partner in a bakery co-op with three locations: "La Primera", "La Segunda", and "La Tercera" (literally, The First, The Second, and The Third). Morè had been running La Primera, but when the other two bakeries closed in 1915, he moved his operations to the larger La Segunda building and kept its name in place. His descendants have been running the bakery ever since, and it still uses Morè's original Cuban bread recipe and many of the same bread-making techniques.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/nov/02/cuban-bread-birthplace-100-year-old-florida-bakery-tampa|title=Business still booms at Cuban bread's birthplace: 100-year-old Florida bakery|author=Helen Anne Travis|work=The Guardian|date=2 November 2015 |accessdate=13 March 2016}}{{cite web|url=https://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/one-hundred-years-of-cuban-bread/2218527|title=Carlton: 100 years of Cuban bread at Ybor City's La Segunda Central Bakery|work=Tampa Bay Times|accessdate=13 March 2016}}
Characteristics
File:Versailles, Calle Ocho, Miami - Cuban Sandwich.jpg
It is not amiss to say that the Latins in Ybor City make a very fine bread, equal in all respects to the French article of that kind and unexcelled by the Vienna product.
:-Tampa Daily Journal, 1896Ingalls, Roberts and Louis Perez, Jr. Tampa Cigar Workers. 2003. University Press of Florida, p. 49.
A traditional loaf of Cuban bread is approximately three feet long and somewhat rectangular crossways (as compared to the rounder shape of Italian or French bread loaves). It has a hard, thin, almost papery toasted crust and a soft flaky center.{{cite web |url=http://www.bread-maker.net/Bread-Types/Cuban-Bread.htm |title=Cuban Bread: A History |publisher=Bread-maker.net |accessdate=2008-12-22 | url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081224091847/http://www.bread-maker.net/Bread-Types/Cuban-Bread.htm |archivedate=2008-12-24 }} In the early days, the dough was stretched thin to make it last, creating the bread's distinctive air pockets and long shape. As they have for over a century, La Segunda and a few other traditional Cuban bread producers lay a long, moist palmetto frond on top of the loaves before baking, creating a shallow trench in the upper crust, producing an effect similar to the slashing or scoring of a European-style loaf.{{cite news |last1=Guzzo |first1=Paul |title=Ybor institution struggles to find people who can bake Cuban bread like it's 1915 |url=https://www.tampabay.com/news/business/Ybor-institution-struggles-to-find-people-who-can-bake-Cuban-bread-like-it-s-1915_166528175/ |access-date=22 March 2018 |work=Tampa Bay Times|date=22 March 2018}} (The frond is removed before eating.)
Cuban bread is the necessary base for a "Cuban sandwich" (sometimes called a "sandwich mixto").{{cite web|author=Linda Stradley |url=http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/Sandwiches/CubanSandwich.htm |title=Cuban Sandwich, History of Cuban Sandwich, History of Cubano Sandwich |publisher=Whatscookingamerica.net |date= |accessdate=2008-12-22}}{{cite web | title=Floridian: The search for the perfect Cuban sandwich | author=Jeff Klinkenberg | date=December 5, 2006 | website=Sptimes.com | url=http://www.sptimes.com/2006/12/05/Floridian/The_search_for_the_pe.shtml | archive-url=https://archive.today/20121203033531/http://www.sptimes.com/2006/12/05/Floridian/The_search_for_the_pe.shtml | archive-date=December 3, 2012 | url-status=dead | accessdate=2008-12-22 }}{{cite web | url=http://www.cigarcitymagazine.com/features/cuban-sandwich.html | author=Andrew Huse | title=Welcome to Cuban Sandwich City | work=Cigar City Magazine | accessdate=2008-12-22 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070704161723/http://www.cigarcitymagazine.com/features/cuban-sandwich.html |archivedate=2007-07-04 }} It can also be served as a simple breakfast, especially toasted and pressed with butter and served alongside (and perhaps dunked into) a hot mug of cafe con leche (strong dark-roasted Cuban coffee with scalded milk).
Because the traditional recipe uses no preservatives, Cuban bread tends to go stale quickly and becomes hard and dry if not eaten soon after baking. However, it can be frozen for shipping or storage.{{cite web|url=http://cltampa.com/tampa/la-segunda-central-bakery-fresh-as-ever/Content?oid=2302215|title=La Segunda Central Bakery, fresh as ever|work=Creative Loafing Tampa|accessdate=13 March 2016}} In Tampa, stale Cuban bread became a key ingredient in other recipes, such as the breading of a deviled crab.{{cite web|url=http://cigarcitymagazine.com/bitter-strikes-brought-deviled-crabs/|title=Bitter Strikes Brought Deviled Crabs|work=Cigar City Magazine | date=September 1, 2006 | accessdate=13 March 2016|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160314045406/http://cigarcitymagazine.com/bitter-strikes-brought-deviled-crabs/|archivedate=14 March 2016}}
Other uses
Stale Cuban bread is the preferred "weapon of choice" in protests performed by the Conch Republic and in mock battles involving the "Ybor City Navy" during Tampa's Gasparilla Pirate Festival.{{cite web|title=History of the Conch Republic|url=http://conchrepublicmilitaryforces.com/|publisher=Conch Republic Military Forces|accessdate=4 February 2013}}{{cite web|url=http://www.tbo.com/gasparilla-news/cuban-bread-flies-during-59th-ybor-naval-invasion-20150118/|title=Cuban bread flies during 59th Ybor Naval Invasion|date=18 January 2015|work=The Tampa Tribune/TBO.com|accessdate=13 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161017100801/http://www.tbo.com/gasparilla-news/cuban-bread-flies-during-59th-ybor-naval-invasion-20150118/|archive-date=17 October 2016|url-status=dead}}
References
{{reflist|2}}
External links
{{Portal|Cuba|Food}}
- [https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/cuban-style-bread-recipe-2013249 Commercial Cuban bread recipe] from La Segunda Bakery in Tampa, Florida (uses the direct-yeast method)
{{American bread}}