Homemade Bread

Ooh.....What can I say? 

I LOVE BREAD! I love THIS bread. 

It's the kind I grew up on. It's the kind my mom would saturate in an egg/cinnamon/malted milk mixture and make a kick butt french toast with it. It's the kind where you walk in the house from playing outside because the power of diffusion was just too strong to keep playing.
It reminds me of the times I'd spend with my Aunt  Kathy in UT and she would always have this bread available with fresh, homemade jam. At one point in her life she had all 5 of her sons living at home and would make 10 loaves a week. WOW! What a money saver!

So.......I've now made this available to anyone who wants to make a simply delicious white bread. (I know, I  know, white bread is not the healthiest, but take out all the preservatives and make it fresh? Well...at least there's a step in the right direction....Enjoy this as a treat with your kids too!)

LARGE recipe(makes 5 loaves)

13 C. Flour

5 1/2 C. warm water (NOT HOT)

2 Tbsp. Yeast

3/4 C. Sugar

2 Tbsp. Salt

1/2 C. Crisco

In a LARGE bowl put 13 cups of flour. Make a well in the flour and add in order:

Pour water in well. Sprinkle yeast over water. Sprinkle sugar over yeast (that will help the yeast go down into the water). 

Pour salt over sugar, then scoop the Crisco into the water.

Stir with a wooden spoon as good as you can. Then, you have to get in and work it with your hands. 

When all the flour is worked in, and the dough isn't sticky, knead it for 5 minutes. (You may have to add a little more flour to make it a nice satiny dough that you can knead without it sticking to your hands, or the bowl)

After kneading, cover with a cloth and let it rise about 1 1/2 hours (or until double in size).

After it has doubled in size, punch down.

Then divide dough into 5 equal portions.
(if you want to make breadsticks, open this tab "Olive Garden Breadsticks")
If not, proceed.

Now here comes the crafty part.

I roll out the loaf into a long rectangle, with a rolling pin to pop the air bubbles out. Make sure it isn't wider than the loaf pan. Roll up like a Jelly Roll and seal the ends and edges.

Spray a loaf pan with Pam. Put the rolled up loaf, TOP DOWN into the greased loaf pan, then FLIP over so the seamed edge is on the bottom of the pan.

Do this for each loaf, then cover and let raise for about 
2-2 1/2 hours until the loaves are just about double in size.

Bake in a 350 (preheated) degree oven for about 30 min.

Remove, and cool about 30-45 minutes and put into plastic bags. 

They can go in the freezer for future use!

ENJOY!

SMALL recipe (makes 2 loaves)

6 1/2 C flour

2 1/2 C warm water

1 Tbsp yeast

6 Tbsp Sugar

1 Tbsp Salt

1/4 C. shortening

Follow all the same directions as above, but just change the amount of ingredients to the size you want to make. Mix and raise as directed above.

SMALLEST recipe (makes 1 loaf or 2 small loaves)

3 1/4 C flour

1 1/2 C warm water

1/2 Tbsp yeast

3 Tbsp. Sugar

1/2 Tbsp salt

1/8 C shortening

Follow all the same directions as above, but just change the amount of ingredients to the size you want to make. Mix and raise as directed above.

Recipe Courtesy of my Aunt Kathy