Homemade Bread

I wrestled with bread for many years. I finally made friends with yeast. First, let me just say: I'm not a bread professional! I have, however, figured out how to make a fairly tasty loaf of bread. I changed a few of the things I was doing at the same time so I'm not sure which was most effective but I'll clue you in. Use good yeast. Not the little packets that come attached in sets of three. Buy SAF instant yeast, it really is better. Second, use a thermometer to test the temperature of the water, 115 is hotter than you think. So here goes, easy and quick, but oh-so yummy bread.

This recipe makes three loaves, which is about all my mixer and oven can hold at one time anyway. Start with 3 cups of hot water (about 115 degrees) Put half cup sugar in a bowl with hot water, dissolving the sugar. Add 3 Tbsp of yeast, stir gently until yeast is moist and wait.



This is what it looks like at first, after several minutes, it will look like little explosions in your bowl, making a foam like below.

Once you have a good foam (5 - 6 min), Mix in half a cup of oil and about a tbps of salt. As your mixer is going, begin adding the 9 cups of flour. Continue to mix it until the sides of the bowl are clean. If it's sticking to the sides, you need more flour, if it won't stay in a ball, a little more water. Mix for about 5 - 8 minutes.

Now that your sides are clean and it's soft to the touch, but doesn't stick to your fingers, dump it onto a floured surface and divide into three balls. I weigh mine to try and make sure the loaves are equal, but that's not necessary. Once they are divided, knead them into loaves. I kind of stink at this part, but get them as smooth and pretty as you can.

Put them into greased (Pam) bread pans and cover. Let rise until about doubled. (30 - 40 min) A warm humid place is best, like my garage.

Once they are doubled, bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. I start at 25 and sometimes add a few more, but lots of times when I just went for 30 they were a little dark. Make sure you given them plenty of room to continue rising in the oven. I had wire rack marks across the top of some loaves one day!

When done, they should slide right out of the bread pans and on to a wire rack. Take a stick of butter and rub around the top of each loaf. Let cool almost completely before slicing. The inside continues to cook while cooling. When I slice mine, I keep all the "ends" and put them in a Ziploc baggie for my kids to eat after school. This is the only crust they are willing to eat and they love it!

Homemade Bread (3 loaves)

1/2 cup sugar

3 cups hot water

3 Tbsp yeast

1 Tbsp salt

1/2 cup oil

9 cups flour (apprx)

bake 25 min at 350