Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Homemade White Bread




This is Craig's (my husband) grandma's recipe for bread. It is soo delicious and really easy to make. You don't need a kitchen aid or bread maker, it's all done the old fashioned way - by hand!

2 T. Salt
4 T. Shortening
8 T. Sugar
4 c. Water
4 - 41/2 tsp. Active dry yeast
12 c. Flour
melted shortening (or vegetable oil) - to oil the baking tins

- Combine the salt and sugar in 1 cup of water then microwave until the water is realllly hot. Then, add the 4 T. of shortening to the hot water. Stir it all together.

- Pour the hot water mixture into the largest bowl you have. Then, add the remaining 3 cups of water. Make sure the water is at room temperature now. If you have to add cold water that's fine, just make sure the water mixture is at room temp.

- Add 2 cups of flour and stir together. Then add the yeast and stir it in with another 2-3 cups of flour. It should be the consistency of thick, goopy pancake batter. Cover with a dish towel and let rise for 1+ hour, until the dough has doubled in size.

- After the dough has risen to double in size, stir the mixture with a large spoon so it returns to a goopy mixture. Then, add the remaining 7 cups of flour. When the mixture gets too hard to stir with a spoon, knead it with your hands. Once it has been all kneaded together (it should still be a little sticky) put it back in the bowl and cover with a dish towel and let it rise for another 1+ hour, until it has doubled in size.

- Once it has doubled in size again, take it out of the bowl and knead it some more. You can add a little more flour to help it knead better. Cut it into quarters and knead a little more. Each quarter should be the perfect size for a bread pan. Place the dough in an oiled bread pan and cover and let rise for 1+ hours, until the bread has doubled in size.

Bake at 350 for 23 minutes.

You can bake all 4 loaves at the same time.






No comments: