Raise your hand way waaaay up if you LOVE homemade bread! Isn’t the stuff just amazing. I swear just the smell of it cures the most horrible mood.
Which is good because in the last three weeks we’ve been through 6 colds and 5 cases of pink eye. It’s been a bit moody around here.. ahem, I have been a little lot-a moody…. eek!
So thank heaven for this! My gorgeous mom gave us all this recipe for Christmas one year. Just a little recipe card has blessed my family over and over and over again. Incredible how food from people you love does that hey?
This bread is so awesome. And I’ve made a lot of different breads, so that’s a big deal. (Currently mastering sourdough).
It’s SOOOOOOOO easy. Like seriously, you can’t mess it up. Well you can… it’s just really REALLY REALLYhard to. And it’s all based on your perspective anyway. What I thought was “messed up” my husband thought was fabulous toast… so…..
Start off with putting two cups of very warm water in your stand mixer. NOT hot. But… like you’d want to take a bath in it. Comfortable, warm, but doesn’t make you sweat. That just ruins bathtime… and yeast. Mix the water, sugar and yeast together in your stand mixer and let it get all frothy till it smells like a Parisian bakery. Yes.
Then add your melted butter, honey, salt, powdered milk, and three cups of flour. Turn your mixer on medium speed and let mix for 2-4 minutes straight. I feel like this really helps the gluten get stronger and makes the bread nice and…. not crumbly.
Then slowly add the rest of your flour a half cup at a time. I like to sprinkle each half cup in slowly. I just can’t handle any more flour explosions from my Kitchen Aid. Nope.
Keep adding your flour until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl and makes the bowl look all nice and clean again. Test it by turning your mixer off, then turning it back on again. Sometimes the dough will start to stick again and you need a little bit more flour. Add it if you do. If not, the dough will whip off the bowl again leaving the bowl dough free.
Put the dough into a greased bowl and let rise a half hour and PUNCH down. So fun… and so fulfilling for some reason. Let rise another half hour, then PUNCH down.
Separate the dough into three equal parts and place them into three greased bread pans. Let rise until the dough just starts to peek over the top of the pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes.
Remove immediately from the pans and grease the heck out of those puppies. This bread is meant to be soffffftttt. Everywhere. And for heaven sake DON’T let it cool! Cut yourself a huge slab of that bread, lather it in salted butter (unsalted butter has it’s place… but it’s not welcome here) and enjoy your moment in homemade bread heaven.
Yum! Thanks mom!
Mom’s Quick, Never Fail White Bread
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp Yeast
- 2 Cups Warm Water Not hot… like bath water
- 1 tsp Sugar
- 2 tsp Salt
- 1/2 Cup Melted Butter
- 1/2 Cup Honey
- 5-6 Cups Flour give or take
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease three bread pans and one large bowl (for dough to rise in) and set aside.
- Using a stand mixer, mix together water, yeast and sugar. Let it sit until nice and frothy and it smells like you’re walking past the best bakery en Paris
- Add melted butter, honey, salt, powdered milk (mixed in with a little four) and two to three cups of flour to yeast mixture and mix for 5 minutes.
- Add the remaining three cups of flour (give or take) one half cup at a time until the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl making it look all nice and clean again.
- Place dough in greased bowl and cover with greased plastic wrap. Let rise until double. Punch down.
- Separate dough into three equal sections. Knead each section in your hands until all the big air bubbles are out and you’ve made a nice little ball. Place each little ball into the bread pans.
- Let rise until dough starts to peek over the top of the pan. About 30-40 minutes.
- Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees F. Remove immediately from pans and grease with shortening. Eat your heart out.
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