Thursday, September 24, 2009

Easy, quick, delicious white bread recipe


Amish White Bread
(from allrecipes.com)
  • 2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
  • 2/3 cup white sugar
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 6 cups bread flour
  1. In a large bowl, dissolve the sugar in warm water, and then stir in yeast. Allow to proof until yeast resembles a creamy foam.
  2. Mix salt and oil into the yeast. Mix in flour one cup at a time. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Place in a well oiled bowl, and turn dough to coat. Cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour. KitchenAid Users: Proof yeast, sugar, and water in bowl. Add oil and salt, then flour one cup at a time. After all flour is added knead on medium speed for 5 more minutes. I used more flour than called for; just add flour until dough forms a ball on dough hook and scrapes sides of bowl. Follow rest of directions as written.
  3. Punch dough down. Knead for a few minutes, and divide in half. Shape into loaves, and place into two well oiled 9x5 inch loaf pans. Allow to rise for 30 minutes, or until dough has risen about 1 inch above pans. (I like to preheat oven to 100 degrees, turn oven off and place pans in and let rise about 30 minutes. Without removing pans from the oven, heat oven to 350 and bake for 30-35 minutes.)
  4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 minutes.
Holy cow, this is good bread! Soft, slightly sweet (though you can cut the sugar by a couple T if you'd prefer) and delicious! And really not hard or long to make at all. Not sure about the "Amish' part of it, but it makes for a more interesting title than just White Bread, I guess.