Our Daily Bread. . .

If you know me at all, then you knew it was bound to happen. . .


I have started making our bread.


 I was tired of looking at the never ending ingredient list on the bread at the store, and was frustrated that with the decrease of ingredients came the increase in price.


I set out to come up with a light and fluffy bread using basic ingredients.


And, yes, this is white bread. I have plans on attempting a wheat version, but not just yet. My family loves this bread, and they love their veggies. . . It's all about balance, right?


Here is the recipe that I came up with.


Note: This recipe is made for a 4 1/2 quart stand mixer and makes only one loaf. Most bread recipes make two loaves, but my mixer can only handle enough flour for one loaf.  If you decide to make this by hand (or have a larger mixer) you can easily double it and make two loaves.





Assemble all of your ingredients.

 Cut butter into cubes, place it into the milk and microwave until butter starts to melt

 (approximately 1 minute).

 Put remaining ingredients into the mixer with a dough hook attached.

This is a dough hook. This little miracle takes all the "work" out of bread. Having had surgery on both of my hands I am not in the Knead Your Own Bread by Hand club.

This is what your butter should look like.





 Mix for 10 seconds then add milk/butter. Turn to speed 2 and knead for 10 minutes.

Here comes the tricky part. You have to decide by look and feel if you need to add more liquid or more flour.


The above picture needs a little more four (about 2 Tablespoons).

For a tender bread you want it a little moist. It should be just sticking a little bit to the bottom of the bowl. It should feel tacky to your fingers, but your finger should not have any dough stuck to it.

After is is done kneading, remove dough from hook and shape it into a ball.

 Lightly grease the bowl. Turn dough over once to coat. I just sprayed the bowl with Pam and then sprayed the top of the dough as well.

Cover with a damp towel and place in a warm oven. I usually turn my oven on until it just kicks on then shut it back off.

Let rise until double (approximately 1 hour).

Punch dough down, roll into a rectangle,

 roll into a loaf shape 

pinch to seal the seam

and then press (seam side down) into a greased loaf pan.

 Cover with a towel and let rise until dough comes to the top of the pan (approximately 45 minutes).

 Bake in a preheated 350ºF oven for  30-40 minutes.

 Place piece of foil over bread during last 10-20 minutes to keep from over-browning.

Turn out of pan and then cool completely before slicing.

Try not to let your kids (or your mouth) scarf the whole loaf down before it even cools. 

Try. . .

Here is the printable recipe. Enjoy!