First off I want to explain why I choose to make bread. We began to cut highly processed foods a long time ago and bread was a product I had a hard time finding that measured up to what I felt comfortable feeding my family. I decided I would try my had at making bread myself and started with a basic Amish White Bread. Generally we eat a clean diet. White bread is not a "clean" food but I do use an unbleached organic flour, organic oil, and organic sugar. So, my bread probably would not be considered clean but it is organic and made from whole ingredients. I have made this same recipe with wheat and white wheat flours but my kids and husband won't eat it because they don't like any kind of wheat bread. They are just made that way. So I have chosen to make bread for them they I feel better about them eating. So let's get started!
This recipe makes two loaves. If you only want one you may be able to half it. I've never tried it so I can't say how it turns out. Before I begin I preheat my oven to 350 degrees. Even though the bread will not go in to the oven for a couple of hours the heat will help the bread rise quicker. Making bread does require some time in the kitchen so I usually put dinner in the slow cooker to give myself a break when dinner rolls around. The heat from the slow cooker also helps the bread rise faster. This is helpful because the bread is going to need to rise twice. You want to cut this time down as much as possible! Here I will list the ingredients I use and where I find them:
- 6 cups organic unbleached flour (This can be hard to find. I order mine in bulk from Amazon Pantry.)
- 2/3 cup organic sugar (I buy in bulk from Costco but I have seen it reasonably priced at Target.)
- 2 cups water (My faucet :)
- 1 1/2 TBS yeast (I buy the jars because I have ruined several loaves not measuring the packets correctly. Just keepin' it real.)
- 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/4 cup grape seed oil (The original recipe called for vegetable oil, or something like that. I do not use vegetable oil anymore. I have made bread with organic olive oil too and it came out fine.)
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| The ingredients and supplies are pretty basic. No need to get intimidated! |
To begin I get warm water from the tap and then microwave the water for 1 minute. I would measure the temperature so that you can make sure it is hot enough to activate the yeast. Be sure to check your yeast container for the required temp. It is usually around 110 degrees. My water comes out of the microwave at around 140 degrees. I add the sugar to the warm water and it brings the temperature down. At this point I add the 1 1/2 tablespoons of yeast and stir it in. This is what it looks like after I have stirred in the sugar and yeast.
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| Warm water, sugar, and yeast mixture. |
Next I add 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt and 1/4 cup of grape seed oil to the yeast mixture and stir. this is what it will look like.
I then add the flour one cup at a time. You will see the texture change with each cup that you add.
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| 2 cups of flour added |
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| 4 cups of flour added |
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| 6 cups of flour added |
I place the dough in a greased bowl and turn it to make sure it is covered and then I cover it with a warm wet towel to rise. I place it on my stove where the warm oven and slow cooker create a warm and cozy environment for my dough. Can you tell I have an emotional attachment to my bread?
I leave the covered dough to rise until it is doubled in bulk, usually at least 1 hour. It will look like this:
So here is where I am going to interrupt myself. Like I have said, having dinner going in the slow cooker is usually what I do while my bread rises but on this particular day we were having left overs. To create a little more heat I decided to peal some tomatoes from my garden that I wanted to use to make some salsa. Pealing tomatoes is super easy! Get a BIG pot of water and bring it to a boil. I score the bottom of my tomatoes with an X and then drop them in the boiling water. After about 30 seconds you will see the skin start to peel away. At this point I bring them out of the water and put them in an ice water bath. When making salsa I want them to cool quickly because I don't want them to stew. They are so easy to then peel and dice!
Now, Back to the bread! After it has doubled in bulk I turn it back out on my counter and knead it for a minute or two and then divide it in half. I place each half in a greased loaf pan and set it back on my stove to rise for a second time. It needs to rise until it is about 1 inch above the pan. On this particular day that took another hour. It was pretty humid that day and I didn't have the slow cooker going so that may be why it took longer. I have used glass and metal pans and have found that the finished bread falls right out of the metal pans and tends to stick to the glass.
After the bread has risen for a second time it bakes for 30 minutes and is perfect and yummy and delicious and I love it!
I totally forgot to take a picture when they came out of the oven but here is one of the loaves before we cut it. The recipe makes two loaves. Some weeks I make bread twice and other times just once. I have frozen and then thawed loaves and they still taste great!
My salsa was yummy too! I diced the tomatoes I peeled, it was 9 or 10. I just put all these ingredients in a blender. It was that simple!
- 9-10 diced tomatoes (from my garden, you can also buy in bulk at the farmer's market)
- 3-4 hot peppers (from my mil's garden)
- 3 garlic gloves (from the farmer's market)
- 1 large sweet onion (fm)
- 1 red onion (fm)
- 1 bunch of cilantro from the grocery store
- kosher salt to taste
The cilantro and garlic will stick with you so if you aren't a fan of those flavors I would cut back on the amount you put in the blender!
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