Basic Bread

Basic Bread

This recipe yields two loaves.

 

Ingredients

1 cup milk
2 TBSP unsalted butter
1/2 cup warm water
2 packages active dry yeast
2 TBSP sugar
1 TBSP salt
1 cup warm water
6-7 cups unbleached all-purpose or bread flour

 

 

Instructions

Heat milk and butter in small saucepan until butter melts.Set aside to cool.

Mix yeast with 1/2 cup warm water (100-110°F) and set aside.

Add sugar, salt and 1 cup warm water (100-110°F) to large bowl. Stir.

Add milk and butter mixture to the sugar/water mixture.

Add yeast water to bowl and stir.

Start adding the flour to the large bowl, 1 cup at a time. After 4 or 5 cups of flour have been added, it gets harder to stir, so turn it out onto a floured surface. Continue to work in flour until the dough is no longer sticky.

Place dough into a large bowl that has been greased. Turn dough several times to coat it with the shortening. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour, or until doubled in size.

Punch down dough. This should be done gently.  

Turn dough out onto floured surface. Knead for approximately 5 minutes.

Divide dough in half. Roll it around a little and then press into a rectangle. Roll up dough jelly roll-style. Pinch the seams and turn under the ends.

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Place dough into 2 greased loaf pans. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled again, about half an hour.

Bake for approximately 45 minutes. The crust should be a golden brown.

Flip loaves out of pans onto a clean kitchen towel. Let cool before cutting.