Kitchen Magic

Since I'm not one to be shy about trumpeting my culinary pursuits, I present to you Homemade White Bread.



YUM.

This is the first time that I have ever tried white bread (and only the second time with homemade bread) and it was fabulous! I chalk it all up to a wonderfully easy recipe that I found on allrecipes.com. Not only did it come out looking beautiful, it smelled and tasted great. I used it Sunday morning and made some French Toast and then some delish garlic cheese toast that afternoon.

It's not quite the white bread sandwich loaf that you get from the grocery store but it is minus all of the preservatives and has a wonderful 'from the bakery' feel.

If you feel so inclined:

Crusty White Bread

Prep Time: 25 Minutes
Cook Time: 25 Minutes
Ready In: 2 Hours 30 Minutes
Yields: 24 servings

INGREDIENTS:
2 tablespoons active dry yeast
1 tablespoon white sugar
2 cups water
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons margarine,
softened
6 cups bread flour
1 tablespoon salt

DIRECTIONS:
1. In a small mixing bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in the warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.

2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the yeast mixture with the milk, the butter or margarine, 4 cups of the flour and the salt; stir until well combined. Add the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring well after each addition. When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and supple, about 8 minutes.

3. Lightly oil a large mixing bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth and put in a warm place to rise until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.

4. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).

5. Deflate the dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough into two equal pieces and form into loaves. Place the loaves into two lightly greased 9x5 inch loaf pans. Cover the loaves with a damp cloth and let rise until doubled in volume, about 40 minutes.

6. Mist loaves with water and bake at 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) oven for 20 to 30 minutes or until the loaves are golden brown and the bottom of a loaf sounds hollow when tapped.

I halved mine and didn't really have to adjust any of the times. If you take this link you can read what some of the reviewers of this recipe had to say. One even said that she used all purpose flour and it turned out great.