Bread Adventure

 I've tried to make biscuits for years & while they taste good, they never rise much. I even made scones once that had the same problem. I have made a round no knead bread that was pretty good. But until Friday I'd never tried to make bread loaves. But Friday, I did.😁

I can't even remember where I saw the recipe. I saw a video on YouTube but I'm not sure how I got there.  It's called Mennonite White Bread & the creator is Ruth Ann Zimmerman from a site called Homesteading with the Zimmermans.  I didn't watch the entire video (sometimes I don't have the patience for the noise) but got a copy of their recipe. So here we go!

Mennonite White Bread

1cup warm water, 120-130 degrees

1 T instant yeast

1/2 cups honey

Mix together, then let it sit until foam appears, 8-10 minutes

Add:

2 T salt

1 1/2 cups of warm water, 120-130 degrees

3 T oil, butter or tallow, melted

5-7 cups of all purpose flour

Add 2-3 cups of flour & mix dough until smooth, then add more flour,1/2 to 1 cup at a time, until you get to 5 cups. Knead for 5-10 minutes.Let dough rest for 10 minutes and then knead for another 5 minutes. If at this point the dough is still sticky. add another 1/4cup of flour & then start the kneading and resting steps again.

When dough is smooth & no longer sticky, cover & place in a warm place until dough has doubled in size, about 1 1/2-2 hours.  Then separate the dough into 2 pieces & shape into loaves. Put loaves in greased loaf pans & let rise again until it doesn't spring back when you poke it with your finger.

Bake 375 degrees for 25-35 minutes or until center is 190 degrees. Brush tops with butter.

Makes 2 loaves

Ok, real life now. 

First, I used my kitchen aid with the dough  hook to knead. My mom always used her hands but the mixer worked well. 

I used my fancy Kerrygold butter that I bought on sale. I can definitely taste a difference. The baked bread tastes very buttery but we all know that's not a bad thing.

I had to add 6 cups of flour to lose some of the stickiness of the dough. Even then it wasn't completely smooth but it wasn't bad looking. I failed to put flour on the board when I poured the dough out to shape into loaves, so my loaves were a little wonky. 

And I set timer at 25 minutes, then added time because my loaf pans are glass & it didn't look done. I added 5 minutes twice. My bread was a little dark but not at all overdone. And inside was not all pretty & smooth but it holds together well.  I used more Kerrygold on the top. 

Then I had to Google how to store. I at first, put in a freezer bag but that is a bad thing because it retains moisture that causes it to mold faster. So, the research says to use a bread bag instead. On Amazon they have packages of disposable bags but there were way more than I needed so I bought reusable bags. They are lined inside with beeswax that keeps moisture out, to keep fresh for several days. 

    

I'll definitely make again & I'm confident it'll improve with practice.