Our Daily Bread

I actually baked two loaves of bread today! Has been years. I used to bake 7-8 loaves at a time, every week, and even sold them, but that was a LONG time ago. But guess what, the old kneading moves come back to ya'! It was actually great fun. Hopefully, I can keep from devouring too many slices this first night...

[September 20--One month later, I have continued baking and giving my loaves away. It's turned out to be quite a ministry for me at church. People have donated for the price of the ingredients. I love it!]

Here's my recipe, in case you feel the culinary urge. It's really not that much work--mostly a lot of waiting for it to rise. The smell of homebaked bread is well worth the effort though.

TERESA'S HOMEMADE BREAD RECIPE

Makes 4 loaves (8"x4" pans)

• You might want to half the recipe and just make 2 loaves, till you get used to kneading. It's a lot less work.
• You may also want to half the recipe, if you use a dough hook on your table mixer for the kneading. Most mixing bowls aren't big enough for this 4-loaf recipe. So, by all means use the biggest bowl you have. 

But,...

if it's your first time baking bread, use the "halved" ingredients for two loaves!

4 Cups of Warm Water (or 2, if you're halving) use as hot as my tap water gets.

1 Cup Sugar (or 1/2 cup, if you're halving)

3 Tablespoons Active Dry Yeast (or 4 1/2 tsp, if you're halving) Make sure it is “active dry yeast” and not “rapid rise" or "breadmachine". You should measure it, if you are using envelopes…but, if you buy by the jar, be sure to keep refrigerated. It freezes well too (for up to 2 years!). Let sit out for a short while to get to room temperature, before using.

9 Cups Bread Flour (or 4 1/2 cups, if you're halving) Bread flour is best, as it will have more gluten, which gives structure to your loaf. 

2 cups whole wheat flour, 1/2 cup ground flax seed, and 1/2 cup quick oats (or 1 cup ww flour, 1/4 cup flax seed, and 1/4 cup oatmeal, for the half amounts)

3 Teaspoons Salt (or 1 1/2 tsp., for the half recipe) Don't forget or leave salt out, it really adds flavor!

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a very large mixing bowl, measure your water, then sugar, and gently whisk or stir together. Add yeast, stir again, and cover bowl with a towel.
2. Measure your dry ingredients in another large bowl.
3.  After about 10-20 minutes, your yeast mixture should look delightfully frothy on top, like the top of a root beer--and will smell like a real beer. (This is called "proofing".) Stir it gently and begin to add the dry ingredients to it, one cup at a time, stirring the flour gently first with a whisk, and then with a spoon, until all 12 cups of flour are in the bowl.
4. Add a little extra flour to your hands, if you want, and knead the dough, at least 20-30 minutes, either in the very large bowl, or on a lightly-floured counter or tabletop. Kneading consists of turning the dough a quarter of a turn, folding the dough over from the top toward you, and pushing it down with the palms of your hands. That's turn, fold, and push. Knead till all the flour is assimilated and your loaf is fairly smooth and not sticky or dry, not falling apart or too bumpy. (If you choose to use a table mixer with a dough hook, be sure to half the recipe and only bake two loaves, or even cut it down to one loaf. Mix with the dough hook for about ten minutes or so, after all the dry ingredients have been added, a cup at a time.)
5. Place kneaded dough in a large, sprayed-oiled bowl and cover once again with the towel. It's good to have both sides of your dough oiled, so put it in the oiled bowl smooth side down, then turn it over so both sides are oiled, smooth side on top. You can even spray a bit of oil on top of dough, if it seems particularly dry.
6. After an hour of rising, your dough should have risen significantly, almost doubled. (Spray-oil your 8"x 4" baking pans while you wait.)
   
7. Punch the top of the dough for awhile to deflate it, or get some of the air out. Turn dough out onto a counter or table and divide into loaves, using a knife (serrated is best). It helps if you have a food scale to make sure the loaves are divided evenly. Otherwise, just guess as best as you can.
8. Then knead individual loaves briefly, if desired, shaping each one into a round or oval ball. With a rolling pin, roll the ball down to a rectangle shape, getting all the air bubbles out, as much as possible. Roll the flattened shape tightly, like a jelly roll, pinching it shut. Fold the ends under, and place in a oiled baking pan, smooth side on top. (You can also braid a loaf, or roll out and make cinnamon or dinner rolls, etc. and put on a greased/oiled baking sheet with all or part of the dough.)
9. Place the loaf pans on top of your stove and allow to rise again for about 30 minutes—where the heat from your oven, preheating those last 10-15 minutes or so, will help them rise.
   
10. After allowing the dough to rise for 30 minutes in the loaf pans, bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
11. Take the loaves out of the pans right away. You might want to shake the pan a bit to loosen it from the bottom. Should come sliding right out. Put them on a cooling rack and brush with melted butter, if desired (or just slide the end of a stick of butter from the fridge on the loaf tops--this mostly makes the crust a little softer, looks shiny and pretty, and adds a bit of flavor).
12. The loaves will slice better and be less doughy, healthier to eat, if you wait for the bread to cool for at least an hour or two before indulging.