Baking bread isn’t new to me but baking GOOD bread is. My loaves are were always heavy and seem to be too crusty on the outside and too mushy on the inside.
I happened across a very easy recipe for white bread yesterday and it turned out so good, and cost under $1/loaf so I wanted to share. Dough hook not required!
I changed it up just a little, the original recipe & instructions on how to knead and form a loaf can be found here.
-3/4 C warm water (not hot!)
-2 1/4 tsp dry active yeast (or 1 packet)*
-1 tsp salt
-1 1/2 Tbsp sugar
-2 Tbsp butter, divided and softened
-1/2 cup milk
-3ish cups white flour (I used unbleached all purpose)
-Pour warm water into a small bowl, add yeast and stir. Let sit for 5 minutes.
-Add salt, sugar and 1 Tbsp butter to yeast water, stir well and let sit for 5 more minutes.
-In a large mixing bowl put 2 cups flour. Make a hole in the middle of the flour and pour the yeast water into it. Mix very well
-Add flour a few Tbsp at a time until the dough isn’t sticky and starts to form a ball. You want to be able to put your finger in the dough and when you pull it out the dough doesn’t stick but does form some suction. You may need to use more or less flour than called for.
-Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead until it’s pliable
-Grease the inside of a deep bowl (I used cooking spray) and put the kneaded dough into it, turning it over so the dough is coated in the grease.
-Run a clean dish towel under hot water and use it to cover, allow dough to rise for 1 hour.
-Punch dough down and knead for another minute or so.
-Form the dough into a loaf (or rolls, breadsticks, etc) and put in greased loaf pan, allow to rise 30 minutes.
-make 3 slashes on top of the dough with a knife and bake for 30 minutes at 375.
-At 30 minutes brush top of loaf with softened butter and bake another 15 minutes (you can skip the butter if you want, you can also add herbs to give the loaf a nice smell and rustic look)
-After cooking turn the loaf out onto a cooling rack or dish towel and allow to cool before cutting (if you can wait that long, that is!)
*To save money buy yeast in large packages and store in freezer
I love baking bread! I will definitely try this one. I have a pizza dough via bread machine and one no machine if you'd ever like to try them!
This bread looks amazing! I’d love to try it, but we have switched to 100% wheat bread. Do you mind sharing your wheat bread recipe?