It's bread, it's the stuff of life.
I'll admit, I do this well. It's easy, it's tasty, it's CHEAP and it's fresh and it's infinitely better than any $7 "artisan" loaf you'll buy.
I make this loaf every few days. More often when Connor was in school but since he's been home schooled, we don't eat so many sandwiches mid day, hopefully that'll change, full kitchen duty 3 times a day, although fun, isn't necessarily the way I saw my day being spent. I have, apparently, turned into a diner.
That being said, I have been asked many times for the play by play of the daily white bread. I may have done it before, here and on other sites, but here's a new one.
I use 3 cups of a/p flour for this. You can substitute up to 3/4 cup whole wheat, much more and it gets a bit stodgy and you have to futz with the liquid levels so really, just use another recipe.
TRACYS BORING OLD (delicious) WHITE LOAF
This is my tried, true and I make it in my sleep bread. I only ever make it in the Kitchen-aid. I CAN make it by hand, I just don't want to :)
COMBINE and allow to bloom:
1 cup milk, body temperature
2 Tablespoons melted butter
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp yeast
ADD, MIX to beautiful soft dough.
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 egg
3 cups a/p flour (or a/p whole wheat blend)
RISE till doubled
DEFLATE, SHAPE, put in loaf pan, RISE till doubled
BAKE 375, 25 minutes
REMOVE from pan, leave to cool on rack
Yeast blooms in about 3 minutes. The first rise is about 1 hour, second is the same. I beat the heck out of the dough for 5 minutes from when it starts to come together. IF it's too sticky, like this day, add a little flour just to keep it off the sides. Sometimes it sticks, that's fine.
I put the plastic container, with lid, in my oven with the light on purely to keep it off the counter. My house is full of yeast in the air and things tend to rise faster now ??? so here, the rises are each about 45 minutes.
Usual bread making rules/system apply. Here's the shots:
/enjoy