Baking Bread

One of the greatest joys in life is my mother’s homemade bread. I was so excited when she sent me the recipe a couple of weeks ago. But I have to admit that I didn’t get around to baking bread until this morning when we ran out of bread and my husband had the car.

I have only baked bread a handful of times since being married. Since we don’t have a wheat grinder, I rarely have fresh whole wheat flour to make bread with. On a side note, I really, really hope to buy a wheat grinder before the end of the year so that we can eat healthier bread and save a few bucks. I also only have one bread pan, so making only one loaf seemed like a waste of energy.

But this morning I decided to forgo my excuses and make some bread. I used some whole wheat flour I found on sale a few weeks back (I know it’s not as nutritious as freshly ground flour, but it’s what I had). Thanks to my mom’s suggestions I realized that I could just make french loaf style bread in addition to my one loaf in the pan. The bread was a different shape, but it still tasted yummy.

Here is my mother’s recipe. I’m sure you could substitute honey for the sugar for healthier bread. Also, I only used 1 1/2 Tablespoons of salt instead of 2 because 2 seemed a little large. Oh, and we used water instead of milk because of food allergies.

My Mother’s Homemade Bread Recipe  Makes 4 loaves

3 T yeast
1 c water
3 1/2 c warm milk ( you may just use water or use powdered milk..I just heat the water in the microwave and add 1 cup dry powdered milk)
1/4 c sugar
2 T salt
1/3 c oil
12 c flour  (about) (I use half white and half wheat.)

Add yeast to 1 cup warm water and let sit for 2-3 minutes.
Add sugar, salt, oil to warm milk.
Add flour 2-3 cups at a time, stirring several times. Dough should be soft, but not too sticky.

Knead for 2-3 minutes. I just use a plastic grocery bag and knead it on the counter. You may need to add a little more flour. Place back in greased bowl.
Let rise in warm place until double. You may want to set bowl of dough in sink with warm water for 3-4 minutes to warm it up, then set it on sideboard to continue.

Punch down and let rise a second time.. Punch down again and form into loaves and place in greased pan. (If you don’t have enough loaf pans you can use a cookie sheet and shape it like french bread or make round loaves in 9″ round pans. My Aunt Marilyn always cooked hers in metal juice cans like tomato juice cans without tops that had been well greased. She set them straight up in the oven to cook. We loved her round bread)
Bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes. Take out of pans while still hot and lightly butter tops if you want.
Enjoy

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