Basic (& Best) Bread Recipe
Homemade bread can tend to be really dense and not very appetizing. I have used a few different recipes and finally I found the perfect one. And funnily, it was my mom’s! Should have tried that one first. This dough I use for cinnamon rolls, pizza dough and of course bread.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon yeast (one package)
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1-3/4 cups warm water
- 1-1/2 teaspoons salt
- 2 tablespoons shortening
- 3-1/2 to 5 cups white or wheat flour
Directions
- Mix yeast, sugar and warm water. Let sit for 5 minutes.
- Add salt and shortening.
- Stir in flour one cup at a time, then kneed until dough is smooth and elastic. Place in greased bowl, turn creased side up. Cover; let rise in a warm place until double, about an hour. Punch down and let rise again.
- Divide dough in half, shape loaves. Place dough smooth side up in greased loaf pans. Brush lightly with butter. Let rise until double, about an hour./li>
- Heat oven to 425. Place loaves on low rack so the tops of the pans are at the center of the oven. Pans should not touch each other or the sides of oven. Bake until loaves are deep golden brown and sound hollow when tapped, 20-25 minutes. Immediately remove from pans and brush loaves with butter.
Makes 2 loaves, 2 pizzas, or 24 cinnamon rolls (or a combination!)
You can freeze dough after rising. Let thaw in fridge, then shape and rise again.
First rise can be punched down several times for richer texture or overnight in the fridge.
Try with a mixture of white and wheat if you don’t want to do a full wheat loaf.
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