My dad loves homemade bread. In particular, he loves a sourdough bread recipe my friend, Kate, shared with me years ago. It’s dense and sweet and wonderful toasted. But I have to be honest, it’s a little high maintenance. Remembering to feed the starter and then dealing with the sticky dough ~ well, I fell down on the job. I’m just no good at high maintenance starters.
But I love making bread. And dad (and the rest of my family) loves eating it. So for my dad’s birthday last week, I decided to find a new white bread recipe.
Oh, y’all. I fell in love. It’s delicious, easy and low maintenance. So crazy simple, I just keep making it.
I found the recipe at All Recipes ~ and adapted a bit. If you like a sweet white bread (more like sourdough), use 2/3 c sugar instead of honey.
Amish White Bread
2 c warm water * 1 T sugar * 1 1/2 T active dry yeast * 1 1/2 t salt * 1/4 c vegetable oil * 1/4 c honey * 6 c bread flour
In a large bowl, dissolve the sugar in warm water, and then stir in yeast. Allow to proof until yeast resembles a creamy foam. Mix salt, oil and honey into the yeast. Mix in 5 cups flour in one cup at a time. Pour the 6th cup of flour on counter top and drop dough on top. Knead dough until smooth. Place in a well oiled bowl, and turn dough to coat. Cover with clean, thin dish towel. Allow to rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour. Punch dough down. Knead for a few minutes (use a little more flour if necessary to keep from sticking), and divide in half. Shape into loaves, and place into two well oiled 9×5 inch loaf pans. Cover and let dough rise for 30 minutes, or so until dough is about 1 inch above pans.Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.
It makes fantastic homemade sandwich bread! Think peanut butter & jelly sandwiches. Or a BLT.
But my favorite way to eat homemade white bread is toasted. Just like my dad. :)
Good gracious, this bread is some good news for people like me who need easy and delicious.
