The Handmade 365 isn’t just about gift giving. When I started working part-time, I decided that I would start baking our own bread for two reasons. One, to help reduce the grocery bill. And two, because I needed something to do on my days off so I wouldn’t be so bored! Now, I took just about every 4-H cooking project that was available while I was growing up. I loved cooking and still do. But baking breads on the other hand… I didn’t care for so much. I LOVE bread, don’t get me wrong. I love every kind of bread there is: white, wheat, oatmeal, garlic, etc. If you can find it in the bread aisle, I love it. But baking bread… that’s a different story. Baking bread meant that I had to knead the dough and as a kid, I strongly disliked the feeling of dry floury hands and the amount of time it took to knead the dough.
After baking my very first loaf of white sandwich bread a year ago, I was hooked! It wasn’t nearly as horrible as I remembered it being as a kid. I guess it’s all a matter of perspective. I’m still not a fan of the dry floury hands, but it’s well worth the end product. And kneading, isn’t as bad as I remembered it either. I will admit, there are times that I do cheat and use my bread machine to mix/knead the dough. But I can’t remember the last time I used it to bake my bread. My kitchen aid stand mixer is one of my favorite appliances in our kitchen. A huge time saver!
What started as me just baking a few loaves of white sandwich bread when we needed it, has blossomed into me baking pretty much all of our bread products. If you can find it in the bread aisle, I’ve probably made it… or it’s on my list to try.
Here is one of my favorite white bread recipes. I found it on a blog that I enjoy following. I made a few very minor changes from the original which you can find here.
White Sandwich Bread
5 3/4-6 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 package (2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast
2 1/4 cups milk (you can use water if you don’t do dairy)
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon butter
2 teaspoons salt
1. In a large mixer bowl, combine 2 1/2 cups of flour and yeast.
2. Heat milk, sugar, butter, and salt to 115-120 degrees. (I don’t usually get to particular with the degrees and it always turns out great.)
3. Add warm liquids to flour and yeast. Beat at low-speed until combined, then beat at high-speed for 3 minutes.
4. Add enough additional flour to make a soft dough that you can knead, turn out onto a floured surface. Knead for 5 -10 minutes or until smooth and elastic.
5. Put dough back into mixing bowl, cover with wet tea towel, and let rise 1 hour, or until doubled.
6. Punch dough down, divide into two pieces, and roll into a rectangle, about 6″x18″. Starting from the short end, roll up jelly roll style and place into two greased 5×9 inch loaf pans. Cover with wet tea towel and let rise 30-40 minutes, or until doubled.
7. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 25-30 minutes. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool.
Because we keep our house cooler than most people do, I had a hard time getting my dough to rise. So, I just preheated my oven to 170 degrees, then turned off the oven and placed my dough in there to rise. Since I have been doing this, I have not had problems with it rising.
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