Italian bread

From Food.com

• 5 1/2-6 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 5 teaspoons active dry yeast ( 2 packages )
• 1 tablespoon butter or 1 tablespoon margarine, softened
• 1 3/4 cups very warm water ( 120 -130 F)
• cornmeal
• peanut oil or light olive oil
• 1 egg whites
• 1 tablespoon cold water

Directions

• In large bowl thoroughly mix 1 1/2 cups flour, sugar, salt and undissolved yeast.
• Add butter.
• Gradually add warm water to dry ingredients and beat 2 minutes with mixer at medium speed, scraping bowl occasionally.
• Add 3/4 cup flour.
• Beat at high speed for 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally.
• Stir in enough additional flour to make a stiff dough.
• Turn dough onto a lightly floured board and knead until smooth and elastic (about 8-10 minutes).
• Cover dough with plastic wrap and then a towel and let it rest for 20 minutes.

To make loaves:
Divide dough in half.
Roll each half into a 15x10 inch rectangle.
Starting at wide side, roll up tightly; pinch seam to seal.
Taper ends by rolling gently back and forth.

To make rolls:
Divide dough into 6 equal pieces.
Roll each piece into a rectangle 8x5 inches.
Starting with wide side, roll up tightly; pinch seam to seal.
Taper ends.

• Place the shaped dough seam side down on greased baking sheets sprinkled with cornmeal.
• Brush dough with oil. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerate 2-24 hours.
• When ready to bake, remove from refrigerator and uncover carefully. Let dough stand at room temperature for 10 minutes.
• Make 3 or 4 diagonal slits in dough with a sharp knife or razor blade.
• Bake at 425°F for 15 minutes for rolls, 20 minutes for loaves.
• Remove from oven and brush with egg white beaten with cold water.
• Return to oven; bake 5-10 minutes longer, or until golden.

 **Optional: add 1/2 to 1 teaspoon (adjust amounts to your preferences) of dried oregano OR basil OR rosemary to the dry ingredients. May also add 1 bulb (head) of roasted garlic cloves to the dry ingredients.

Results
I'm not posting this because I thought it was an awesome recipe, and it's not really what I think of when I think of Italian bread (although Betsy might disagree). Italian bread to me is crusty and flaky. This was more like a sweet French bread. Anyway, I'm posting it because 1) Chris liked it and I don't want to lose the recipe, B) it was pretty fast. I didn't put the dough in the fridge, so it was ready to go in the oven after about an 1.5 hr of rising, and finally) I think it has potential. We were talking and it would be a really great breakfast roll with cinnamon or honey butter, or (as I had for my breakfast this morning) with PB&J. I don't think it worked as a dinner roll, but that doesn't mean it might not work for other purposes, with some tweaking.