Friday, February 11, 2011

Bread Recipes

**Originally posted in 2006 on my old cooking blog.

 I make almost all of our bread and these are the two recipes I rely on the most. Both are courtesy of our Mom, who in my humble opinion, is one of the very best bread bakers out there!

I use a Bosch mixer to mix my bread dough, so I will give instructions using a mixer. My mixer is big, so it can handle large recipes. The white bread makes about 5 loaves, so check your mixers manual for how much flour it can handle. You can always cut the recipe in half if you need to.

I also add 4 teaspoon of Hodgson Mill Vital Wheat Gluten to each loaf of bread. I found mine fairly inexpensively at Harris Teeter and at the health food store. This helps the bread to rise better and to be softer and not quite so heavy.

Also a tip about bread baking from my mom- don't put milk into any bread, roll or cinnamon roll dough. Milk makes it dry. A lot of cookbooks will tell you otherwise, but this has worked for her.

Honey Wheat Bread
1 tablespoon salt
2 packages or 2 tablespoons yeast
3 cups warm water
1 1/2 tablespoons potato flakes, optional- but makes a softer dough
1/2 cup honey or molasses
2 tablespoons oil
4 cups whole wheat flour
4-4 1/2 cups white flour
12 teaspoons wheat gluten, optional

Combine first 5 ingredients in mixer bowl, starting with yeast and water and mix for a minute. Add 3 cups wheat flour and beat for several minutes. Add 1 cup wheat flour, 4-41/2 cups white four and gluten. Knead for 5-8 minutes in mixer. Dough should be soft and somewhat sticky but easy to handle. Add a little more flour if dough is too sticky. Put in greased bowl, greased side up. Put in warm place to rise. Let double and punch down. Let rise again. Punch down and set for a few minutes, divided into 2-3 loaves. Roll out and form into loaves always "spank" each loaf to get air out and also prick all over top with fork. Let rise to top of pan. Bake at 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Brush tops with butter if desired. Makes 3 smaller loaves or 2 giant loaves. I usually make 2 large loaves and 1 or 2 very small loaves.

White Bread

4-4 1/2 cups warm water
3-4 tablespoons yeast
2 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons potato flakes, optional, but makes a better bread
1/2 cup sugar
4 tablespoons oil
12-14 cups white flour
about 20 teaspoons wheat gluten

Mix all ingredients, except for flour and gluten, in mixer bowl, starting with yeast and water. Mix for a minute and then add 5-6 cups flour. Mix for several minutes. Add about 6 more cups flour and the gluten. Mix for about 10 minutes. Add more flour if dough is too sticky flour, I always start with the minimum and work my way up to the max amount. You can always add, but not take away!:-) Follow the rising and baking instructions for the wheat bread. This recipe makes about 5 regular loaves.

Enjoy! I just love baking bread! It is somewhat therapeutic and the house smells so yummy.

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