Some background - I have been making all of our sliced bread, and some of the rolls, etc for my family for almost two years. At first, it was just an attempt at something new and then I found I like the kneading, the pounding and just the creation of the dough out of a few ingredients. It made me feel proud to serve (and give away) fresh bread because people just respond to it in a way that is reserved for the elite of the homemade items. I daresay it's in the category of homemade jams and jellies. Dessert items, for the most part, just don't command the same respect. Just my curious ramblings on an early Saturday morning.
So, in an effort to demystify breadmaking, I have posted before about my Oatmeal Bread experience but thought it might be nice to share my go-to, easily adaptable, everyday bread recipe. I say easily adaptable because it really takes change easily and the end result doesn't suffer usually. I have had some loaves that are better than others and I can usually pinpoint the reason, but that is something that comes in time with breadmaking. You learn the process and know what causes what after a bit.
My Everyday Bread
Ingredients:
6-7 cups of flour - I use my own combo of fresh ground whole wheat, store bought bread flour but this is very flexible! The only suggestion I would make is if you use all whole wheat, add a bit of gluten in or it won't rise easily
4 1/2 teaspoons of instant yeast - I use Red Star because I find it in bulk but any brand will do. If you have packets, it's 2 packets.
3 tablespoons of sugar or honey or agave syrup, I've used them all
1 tablespoon salt - don't omit this or your bread will not be as flavorful
2 tablespoons of shortening or oil or melted butter, again, I've used them all with great results.
1 1/4 cup of hot water - not boiling, but not warm. Should be a little hot to the touch.
1 cup of milk that's been warmed. I put mine in the microwave for about a minute and a half and it's perfect.
To start, I mix the water, milk and sugar together and then gently stir in the yeast. I allow it to "proof" for about 5 to 10 minutes. Proofing just means that the yeast starts to look a little puffy for lack of a better term and it really has a soft look to the whole mixture.
Once that is done, I add 3 cups of flour, salt and whatever variation of fat is being added. I use my mixer to work it together until it's well mixed and has a stringy look to the dough. I then add cup by cup of flour until it's a workable texture that isn't sticky. Carefully add flour at the end, even going to 1/2 cup increments because dry dough is bad! You can always add more flour, but it doesn't work the same way to add water at the end. I leave my dough just barely not sticky in the mixer and knead in the rest of the flour by hand to get a good feel for the dough.
Then I oil the bowl and toss the bread dough ball to coat it and cover it with plastic wrap, a towel over all of it and put it somewhere warm. When it's risen and doubled in size (about 30-45 minutes), I roll it out to a large rectangle. I cut the triangle in half, roll each side up and put into a greased loaf pan. I cover it again with the plastic wrap and towel and let it rise to about 1 inch over the loaf pan. Preheat the over to 400 degrees and do not put the bread in until it's hot! Once baking, check at about 25 mins to see if the bread sounds hollow when you tap on it. If so, remove from the oven, pop out of the pan and put on a cooling rack. Once it's completely cooled, wrap in foil or plastic wrap and it will keep for a few days on the counter. You can also freeze it but don't put it in the refrigerator.
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| Wrapped and ready to go! |
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