Basic White Bread

The Kitchen Aid book had a page and a half of warnings and tips for making bread, which left me a little intimidated.  So I started with one of their recipes, the one labeled “Basic White Bread”.  But I really wanted French bread, so I made two big loaves on a cookie sheet rather than using a loaf pans like the recipe recommended.  I picked up a three envelope pack of Fleischmann’s Active Dry Yeast, and dove into bread making.

Here is the recipe I used:

Bread Experiment #1

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Course Bread

Cuisine American

Ingredients

  

• ½ cup low-fat milk
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 2 packages active dry yeast I used Fleischmann’s
• 1 ½ cups warm water 105°F to 115°F
• 5 to 6 cups all purpose flour

Instructions

 

• Melt the butter in the microwave in a 1 cup glass measuring cup. Add the sugar, salt and milk and stir until the sugar and salt dissolve.
• In a second glass measuring cup, measure out the water and test the temperature, either microwaving or adding ice until it measures between 105°F and 115°F. Dissolve the yeast in the warmed water.
• Run warm water into the mixer bowl to heat it. Add the two measuring cups of liquids, along with 4 ½ cups of the flour.
• Place the bowl in the mixing stand, and use the dough hook to mix on Speed 2 for about 1 minute. Continue to add the flour, slowly, until dough forms on the hook and cleans the sides of the bowl. Continue kneading the dough on Speed 2 for another 2 minutes. Dough will be a little sticky.
• Grease a clean bowl with vegetable oil, and place the dough in this bowl to rise. Turn the dough over in the bowl so all sides are coated in oil. Cover the bowl with a towel or plastic wrap and let it rise for about an hour, or until doubled in size.
• Punch the dough down and divide it in half. Shape each dough into a loaf on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Cover again and let rise for about 1 hour more, or until doubled in size again.
• Bake at 400°F for about 30 minutes.

So this recipe made very soft white bread, kind of like Wonder Bread.  We toasted it to get rid of the spongy texture.  We’re not big fans of spongy bread at our house.  It did make really good toast, and I suspect it would have made great French toast.  But I didn’t really expect my very first bread to be a total success, so I vowed to try another recipe the next week, and keep trying, until I got it right.