Amish White Bread

My friend over at Evolving Mommy has challenged herself to make a new type of bread every week this year. I must admit, she is my hero when it comes to baking. I look forward to reading her blog every week to see what kind of bread she has made and if it turned out okay.

I have been on a mission to try and start making my own bread for the family. The first step in this process has been to find a recipe that I can make and have it turn out every time, something that not only tastes good, but something everyone in the family will eat. I wanted a recipe that was good for sandwiches, good with soup, and overall just plain great alone or with butter.

One of my favorite websites is allrecipes.com. I have found more fantastic recipes on this site. Some of course are not so good, but I have begun to be able to read through people's reviews and even the recipes themselves and determine if it will be worth the trouble. This said, I turned to the site for a great bread recipe. No offense meant to my friend Catherine, but her Honey Whole Wheat Bread, while good, did not do it for the family. Maybe it's because we're more of a white bread people, or maybe I just had to figure out how to make my yeast foam....whatever it was, I tried it, it was yummy, but the family wasn't sold.

After some trial and error, I came across the following recipe for Amish White Bread. I love that it is simple, the ingredients are simple, and that I can alter it, add to it, and it has always come out great. Add to the fact that hubby and kids like it. The family prefers the recipe as is below. But I have switched out 2 cups of the bread flour for whole wheat flour. I always add about a tbsp of flax seeds to each loaf. And I have also made this a breakfast bread. Since the recipe makes two loaves, I will take half and add cranberries, chopped up cashews, and some cinnamon. Yummmy.

Amish White Bread

2 cups of warm water
2/3 cups of sugar
1 1/2 tbsp yeast
1/4 cup of vegetable oil
1 tsp salt
6 cups of bread flour

1. Dissolve the sugar in the water in mixing bowl. Mix in the yeast. Allow yeast to activate about 10 minutes (should be foamy)
2. Mix in the oil and the salt. Add the flour one cup at a time. Knead Dough about 10 minutes (I use my Kitchen Aide with the dough hook).
3. Place Dough in a well oiled bowl. Cover with a damp towel and allow to rise about 1 hour until double in size.
4. Punch down dough and knead about 2 minutes.
5. Separate dough and place into well oiled bread pans, shape into bread shape. Cover both with damp towels and allow to rise about another hour, until dough is about 1 inch above pans.
6. Bake about an hour at 350 degrees. (I know when mine is done by sticking a temp. gage into the loaf and when it reads 180 degrees, bread is done.)

* I add flax seed when I add the flour. Also, if I want to add anything extra to one loaf and not the other, I separate the dough after the first rise, and then add to one half, and knead them separately.