Cuban bread

I've been dreaming about a delicious Cuban sandwich for a while now, and since I got my Cuisinart panini griddler, I could finally go for it.

Ingredients
preferment:
0.75 tsp dry yeast
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup flour

dough:
1.5 tbsp sugar
6 tsp dry yeast
6 tbsp lard
1.5 tbsp salt
6-8 cups flour
2 cups water

Preparation
Mix the preferment and allow to sit for 24 hours in the fridge. Remove and equilibrate to room temperature, along with other ingredients.

Dissolve yeast and sugar in 0.25 cup water, wait until foamy. Mix in preferment, water and lard.

Stir in flour and salt one cup at a time. When a non-sticky dough forms, pour onto a well-floured surface and knead for 8 minutes, adding more flour if necessary.

Allow to double in size in a lightly greased bowl, then cut into 8 pieces.

This should take about 45 minutes. Roll and tuck ends under to form elongated bread rolls. Brush with oil and cover with plastic foil. Allow to double for an hour.

Preheat the oven to 350F with a pan in it. Add boiling water to the pan, and place the rolls on the middle shelf, after spraying them with water. Bake for 30 minutes. Cool on a cookie rack.

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