Homemade Bread for the Holidays

Make some Good Bread for this Thanksgiving!

 We make our own bread for meals as well as for potlucks at church on Sundays and holidays. This is our favorite recipe.

3 Cups of water. Since we store our yeast in the freezer, we use hot water from the tap. If your yeast is room temperature, use room temperature water. You can also replace the water with 2 eggs and enough milk to equal 3 cups, or even use fruit juice for a unique flavor.


1 Tablespoon Yeast 
Give it a minute to dissolve.








2-4 Tablespoons of butter (optional, but it helps the loaf hold together better through cutting. We like the taste as well.)

2-4 Tablespoons of honey (optional. We like the taste. You could use sugar, maple syrup, or whatever sweet you want, or leave it out all together.)

1 Tablespoon salt. Trust me. You need this for the flavor. Helps the yeast to grow at the right pace, too.

We use our Kitchen Aid mixer, but you can do this all by hand.



3 Cups fresh-ground whole wheat. One reason I love my Kitchen Aid is because of all the attachments you can get for it; makes it a food processor, juicer, wheat grinder, meat slicer, pasta maker, etc (and no, I didn't get paid to say that). 

3-5 cups of white flour. We use All natural, unbleached white flour. The bleach they use to make flour pure white is also one of the chemicals they use to give rats diabetes in labs so they can find a cure for the disease. We'll just avoid that all together, thank you very much.

Honestly, this flour looks white unless you put it next to bleached flour. Than it looks creamy.
 

The amount you need depends on the brand of flour you are using and the humidity in the air. Just add it 1/2 cup by 1/2 cup (while mixing and kneading) until you get the right texture. If you are doing it by hand, it will get too stiff to stir in a bowl. When that happens, turn it out onto a clean, flour covered counter and knead the rest 
 
It is done when it is cleaning the sides of the bowl. By hand, it will have the texture of playdough or a hacky-sack.

Let it rise in a draft-free, warm place until it doubles in size (about 1-2 hours). The dough in these two pictures is the same dough, pictures taken 1 1/2 hours apart.

 

It is doubles when it looks like it or when you poke your finger in and it looks like this:





You can go ahead and put it in the pans after the first rising, but the crust and flavor will be a bit nicer if you let it rise and double a second time. The second rising will be quicker.


Then divide the dough in half and shape like loaves (or divide into balls and shape like rolls:-) Let it rise again. This should only take half an hour. 

Bake at 450 for twenty minutes, then lower the temperature to 400 and bake for another 10-20 minutes. Rolls will bake a bit faster. It's done when it's golden on top (see picture), or when you tap it and it sounds hallow.
Rub the top with butter and let it cool for at least 20 minutes before slicing (it will slice neater if you wait).

Eat and Enjoy!