January 19th, 2011
Our family has been on a quest for years to find the easiest yet most delicious homemade white bread. We’ve settled on a recipe we’ve decided is the Holy Grail of them all. This bread recipe doesn’t require butter or milk so you can actually keep the expense down far below the cost of store bought bread. This light fluffy bread has all the flavor you’d expect from homemade bread and without all those nasty additives you’d find in bread from the supermarket.
| Perfect and Easy Homemade White Bread Recipe |
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Recipe Type: Bread
Author:
Prep time: 2 hours
Cook time: 30 mins
Total time: 2 hours 30 mins
Serves: 8
Ingredients
- 6 cups all purpose flour (sifted)
- 2 cups warm water (110°F, 45°C)
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1-1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast
- 1-1/2 teaspoons salt
Directions
- In large glass two cup measuring cup, measure out 2 cups warm water. Keep in mind the sugar will drop the temperature a couple degrees so you might want to make it a bit warmer.
- Add 1/4 cup sugar directly into the water and recheck the temperature. Wait for it to cool, or microwave for a few seconds at a time until 110 degrees is reached.
- Add 1-1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast to the sugar water mixture and stir a little. You will notice the yeast will settle to bottom of the measuring cup and then all rise to the top in a few minutes. The yeast will form a creamy froth. At this point your yeast has proofed and is ready to use.
- In a large bowl, add your salt and oil. Pour in your proofed yeast water and stir in one cup of flour.
- One cup at a time mix in the remaining flour. By the time the rest of the flour is in the bowl, mixing with a spoon will become nearly impossible as the dough is beginning to form.
- Dump dough onto a lightly floured surface, making sure all remaining flour and dough crumbs are out of the bowl.
- Knead dough while turning until it is smooth and elastic. (8-10 minutes). Form it into a smooth ball and place it into a well oiled bowl. Pick up the dough and turn it over to coat it completely with the oil.
- Cover bowl with a damp towel and place in a warm place until it has doubled. A cool oven with the oven light on will often be the perfect temperature. A easy test to see if the dough has risen enough is to poke two fingers about a half of a inch into the dough. If the impressions remain without going immediately back into place… it is ready. This will take about a hour.
- When doubled, punch down dough and knead for a few minutes. Divide in half and form two loaves in well oiled 9×5 bread pans. Let loaves rise in warm place for another 30 minutes, or until most of the dough has risen about a inch above the top of the pans.
- Bake at 350°F, 175°C for 25-30 minutes or until the tops are a rich brown and tapping on the tops sounds hollow. Brush tops with a light coating of vegetable oil and let cool for about five minutes before taking out of pans and cooling on wire racks.
Notes
Yields 2 9×5 loafs of delicious white bread perfect for sandwiches or most anything else. Try using 2/3 cups white sugar for a sweet bread that will knock your socks off!
You will find yourself making this bread often, so check your local bulk food store for yeast! You will pay a fraction of the price as buying the little containers at your traditional grocery store!
This dough has become the beginning for everything yummy for us. Makes great cinnamon rolls, a decent pizza dough. Don’t even get me started with fried dough *faints*
This recipe doubles perfectly. It quadruples as well if you have the strength (and the bread pans).
Use 50% whole wheat, or white whole wheat with extra sugar for a great wheat variation.
Or replace 1-1/2 cups flour with oatmeal. Then work in more flour until dough is a bit stickier then normal. Good stuff