White Bread Plus!

I love homemade bread. I used to make 3 loaves every Saturday morning for many years while the kids were growing up. I don't think I have made bread in about 8 years but was inspired to make some on Sat and it is SO YUMMY. 

Makes three 5x9 inch loaves.   Plus for the flavor, keeping quality and nutrition. You can substitute some wheat flour for the white flour if you wish.

Have ingredients at about 75 °. Dissolve the following in ½ cup 85 º water. Correct temperature is important or you under activate the yeast or kill it. 

1 cake or packet of yeast (2.25 tsp dry)  +   1 tablespoon sugar

Permit to stand in a warm place for about 10 minutes until it visibly ferments. It will be a light tan and visibly bubbly looking. I do this in the bottom of my Kitchenaid bowl, while I mix the following in a large 4 cup measuring cup.

Mix together and then pour into the yeast mixture:

1 beaten egg

½ cup melted shortening

2 cups lukewarm water

½ teaspoons salt   

½ cup sugar

Sift and slowly add: 8 cups all purpose flour

Mix, beat, knead, shape and proof allowing the bread to rise once in the mixing bowl and once in the baking pans. I make mine in my Kitchenaid using the bread hook to mix and knead. Add the flour until the dough is soft and pulls away from the walls of the bowl. Once it pulls away, take the dough out. Put a little flour all over the counter top and knead it for 1-2 minutes on the counter top until you feel the dough is soft and pliable without sticking to your counter or your hands. 

Using shortening, lightly coat a large metal or glass bowl. I use a metal one that is about 14" across. Place your dough in it making the bottom side move around in the shortening, lift it and turn it over so that side is up. Cover it with a towel and put it in a warm place to rise. When the kids were small, we used to put in in the waterbed, it was the perfect temperature! Now, I turn on my oven for about 1 minute, open the door to feel that it is warm but not hot, and put the bread in there to rise with the temperature off and door closed. It stays about 75 - 85 degrees in there. It will take 1-2 hours to double its size and rise. Be patient. It will crest the top of the bowl.

Once it has risen, punch your fist into the middle of the risen dough, my favorite part, and remove it from the bowl to the counter. Knead it until soft and all large bubbles are gone. Divide the large ball with a large knife into 3 equal sections. Knead and shape each section into a rectangular loaf and place into a shortening greased bread pan, I prefer glass.

Place the 3 loaves back into the very slightly warm oven, not warmer than 80 degrees. Let it rise again until the loaves top the glass. This takes 1-2 hours.

To bake, place loaves in a cold oven. Turn the heat to 400 º. After 15 minutes, reduce heat to 375º and bake 25 minutes longer. Test for doneness. Remove the loaves at once from the pans and cool on a rack before storing. Then get ready to eat some wonderful bread. Mine doesn't usually make it past cooling before we have cut off the crust, added melted butter and enjoyed a bite. Enjoy!