8 cups of bread flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tsp instant dried yeast
4 tsp salt
4 cups warm water
In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, salt together. Add the instant dried yeast to to the bowl of flour, along with the remaining 4 cups of warm water & the olive oil. Mix it with your hands, adding additional flour until you have a smooth ball of dough, then cover the bowl with a damp towel & place it in a warm spot to rise.
In a couple of hours, the dough will double in size. At this point, de-gas the dough by kneading it with your fists (while continuously folding it in thirds). Then place it back into the bowl to rise a second time (about an hour).
When that is done, it is time to form the dough into loaves. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured board, divide the dough in half and gently shape into ovals or circles. Dust with flour and set aside to rise for about 30 minutes while the oven is preheating to 400 degrees.
Gently lift the bread and place it on a well-floured pizza peel or a well-floured piece of heavy cardboard. Slide onto the baking stone or cookie sheet in an oven.
I bake the bread for approximately 30 minutes in our oven, but each oven is different. If you thump on the bottom of the loaf and the sound is hollow, the bread is done.
When done, remove from the oven and allow to cool. We store them in a brown paper bags.
Yields two 2+ pound loaves.
