I remember shortly after Mr. Right and I married deciding to try my hand at yeast bread. I knew nothing on the subject. Seriously. Growing up in the south, I could make a great pan of cornbread or homemade biscuits, but this was altogether different. I cannot even tell you how many loaves came out of the oven overcooked or under-cooked and doughy in the middle, or just went straight in the trash before ever even making it to the oven! But that smell..... It just kept calling to me! And I kept coming back over and over and over again to give it another try.
And then one day, it finally happened! All the recipes and instructions I had read finally made sense (mainly because I "accidentally" got it right, so I could actually see what they were talking about), and the perfect loaf of bread emerged from my oven! It was a happy day!
It took me several YEARS to actually get this bread making thing right. And even still, sometimes I still don't hit the mark with perfection. But most days, I can turn out a pretty amazing batch of homemade bread. I finally found a recipe in a cookbook that I actually LOVE, so it's the one I stick with now. I know it's good.
Several friends have asked for my bread recipe, so today I wanted to share it with all of you lovely readers. It's not a secret recipe. It came out of an Amish cookbook I bought on a trip with Mr. Right to Eureka Springs, AR several years ago. I love sharing it! Really though, most people just don't want to spend the 4+ hours it takes to make it. But if you want to try your hand at it, I encourage you to go for it! I promise, you will be glad you did!
First, you start with a great bowl! My mom bought me this lovely piece from a local antique shop a few years back. She knows I love antique dishes. It takes me back to a slower time. And really, they just had great patterns on their dishes back then!!
In a separate bowl or Pyrex measurer, you'll need 1C lukewarm water, 1 Tbsp brown sugar, and 2 Tbsp yeast.
Tip #1: Lukewarm water means warm bathwater temperature. Nice and warm, but not hot at all. Better to be too cool than too hot, because you will kill your yeast. You'll know it's dead if it doesn't start getting bubbly within a few minutes.
Tip #2: I am currently using Platinum brand yeast, but only because it is what was on sale at my grocery store. Any good active-dry yeast will work great. Each packet contains 1 Tbsp, so you'll need 2 packets for this recipe. (I made half a recipe, so the pictures will reflect this.)
The warm water wakes up your yeast, and the brown sugar feeds it. It causes the yeast to then give off gasses which make it bubbly. This is what makes your bread rise and causes it to be nice and fluffy. So give your yeast/sugar mix at least 5 min to start getting nice and foamy. It should look like this.
While you're waiting on the yeast to rise, grab your lovely bowl again and start mixing up your dough. You'll need 1C sugar, 1Tbsp salt, and 1/2C oil. Give it a good stir with a whisk. Then add a quart of lukewarm water and stir it all together well. Add in 4 cups of plain flour (NOT self-rising!) and mix well.
At this point, your yeast should be ready. Pour it into your lovely bowl and mix it in with the flour mixture.
Add 3 more cups of plain flour to this bubbly mixture.
You should be noticing that the dough is super sticky and you can't really mix it anymore with that whisk. Ditch the whisk and start using your hands. This is the fun part, people, so get your hands in there and get mixing!
Keep adding flour, about 1C at a time, and mixing well. There really is no specific amount of flour to use. It depends on several things, like the weather. Seriously. So don't freak out over that fact. Just keep mixing in flour until your dough isn't sticky anymore, your fingers are relatively clean, and the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl easily. You are going for a dough that isn't sticky and is resembling of a rubber band. Trust me, you'll know it when you get there!
And no worries if you don't add enough flour. Your bread will just have a few more holes in it. Or if you add too much flour, it will be a little more dense. But it will still be edible! Just make notes for the next time you bake bread and adjust accordingly.
Once you get all your flour mixed in, you'll need to give your bowl a good oiling. Super simple! Just lift your dough with one hand, and pour in some vegetable oil using the other. A couple of tablespoons is enough. Lay your dough back into the bowl and give it a good turn. Keep turning it over until it's coated with oil all over. This keeps it from sticking to the bowl or the covering you put on it while it's rising.
Put a wet towel or some plastic wrap over the top, and set this baby aside to rise in a nice, warm place. I usually move mine to my laundry room, since it's usually quite a bit warmer in there than the rest of my house. But really, just leaving it on your counter will do fine.
Let it rise for a few hours until it is doubled in size. It should be trying to grow out of the top of the bowl. At this point, give it a good punching down several times. Set it aside again for a second rise.
When it has doubled in size for the second time, take off the covering and punch it down one last time. Using a sharp knife (or your hands to pull the dough apart), cut it in 5-6 equal pieces. (This recipe makes 5-6 loaves of bread!) Put the dough in loaf pans that have been sprayed with Pam. Cover them and let them rise until they are peeking over the tops of the pans.
Side note: If you don't have 5-6 loaf pans (I don't!), you can also bake in batches or use a 9X13 pan to make rolls!
When your dough has risen to the tops of the pans, start heating your oven to 350 degrees. After it's preheated, bake the loaves for 30-35min.
Something to remember - the tops will be brown before it's actually finished cooking. I like to bake at least one loaf in a glass pan, because I can see the bottom. When the bottom is nice and brown, THEN it is ready! If you take it out too soon, the middle will be doughy. Trust me, you don't want this! Here is what your finished product should look like!
As soon as I take my bread out of the oven, I slather it with melted butter. REAL butter! And lots of it! The warm bread just sucks it right up, and it is just fantastic! You will definitely want to cut a slice immediately to eat. Be prepared to share with the others in your household, though, because the smell while this is baking will be calling to them!
This recipe makes 5-6 loaves of bread. Sometimes I make the whole recipe, and sometimes I cut it in half. Most of the time, I give at least one loaf away. This beautiful loaf pictured above was a gift to a sweet friend at church. I have used this bread as thank-you gifts for any number of things. Or "just-because" gifts, because really, it's fun to just give a gift for no reason at all!
This is one of my favorite slow foods ever! I hope you'll give it a try, and then come back and let me know how it turned out! And if you have any questions or problems with your bread making endeavors, I'd be happy to help you out. Bread making really is an art, and I absolutely LOVE seeing people try their hand at it!
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