Everyone loves the smell of fresh baked yeast bread. However getting everything just right for baking the bread can be quite a pain. This recipe is so simple children can help make this delicious treat.
The hardest part of making bread is getting the liquid for the yeast exactly the right temperature. If the liquid is too hot the yeast will die. A good rule of thumb is test the liquid with your wrist. It should feel like warm bath water. The actual temperature is 100 to 105 degrees Farenheit.
The next tricky part is kneading. Kneading dough involves folding the dough in half and pushing with the heel of the hand. The dough is then rotated. These steps should be repeated until the dough is smooth and elastic. Kneading dough can take up to 10 minutes.
Ingredients
- 2 cups warm water (for a tender brown crust use 1/2 cup warm water and 1-1/2 cups warm milk)
- 1 packet active dry yeast
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 5-1/2 to 6 cups all purpose flour (whole wheat can be substituted for all the white or just half)
- 2 teaspoons salt
Procedure
- Put the water and/or milk into a medium bowl
- Add the yeast and sugar.
- Whisk until the sugar and yeast are gone.
- Add two cups of flour and whisk the mixture well.
- Let sit for 10 minutes. Tiny bubbles should begin to appear and the batter should look slightly expanded.
- Stir in the salt. Add the remaining flour, one cup at a time. This can be difficult with a spoon, so hands can be used to mix the dough.
- Turn the dough onto a lightly floured countertop and knead.
- Form a ball from the dough and place in a bowl greased with nonstick cooking spray. Roll the dough to coat with the spray.
- Cover with a plastic wrap and let rise in a warm draft-free area for one to two hours or until doubled in size.
- Punch down the dough.
- Knead again to remove air bubbles.
- Roll into a rectangle and split in half.
- Turn the ends of the half rectangle under. Place in a bread pan with the seam down.
- Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for another 45 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Bake bread for 30 minutes. To test the doneness, tap on the bottom of the pan. It should sound hollow.
- Cool in pan for 10 minutes and transfer to wire rack.
- Cut and enjoy!
Yeast breads have been baked by mothers and grandmothers for generations. This tradition can be shared by the youth of today with this simple bread recipe.
