Barb's Kitchen

Sometime during the weekend at our place, you can usually smell fresh bread cooking.  Who can resist a slice of warm fresh bread with butter on it?  Or better yet, sticky buns?  Last weekend, my husband, Mike, made a pot of baked beans to go with our fresh bread – one of our kids’ favorite meals.

Nothing smells better than fresh bread right out of the oven!

Homemade Bread

Ingredients:

• 1 c warm water
• 2 tsp sugar
• 3 tbsp yeast
• 4 c hot water
• 5 tbsp sugar
• 2 tbsp salt
• 1/2 c shortening
• 8-10 c flour

Directions:

1. In a 4c container, add warm water and sugar, mix to blen, then sprinkle top with yeast.  Cover, then put aside for 5 minutes.
2. While waiting for the yeast to rise, put hot water, salt and sugar in a large bowl.  Mix to blend.
3. Add shortening and cut into small pieces while water is still hot.  Shortening should partially melt in hot water.
4. Once yeast has risen, stir with fork and add to liquid in bowl.  Stir together.
5. Rinse yeast container with a bit of warm water and add to bowl.  Stir together.
6. Add flour, 2 c at a time, stirring after each addition, until you have forced as much flour into the liquid as you can (probably about 6-8 c).
7. Add the rest of the flour and mix in by hand until dough is no longer sticky.
8. Grease a clean large bowl.
9. Put dough in greased bowl and flip upside down, so that all sides of the dough are greased.
10. Cover and let rise about 1 hour.
11. Punch down dough and divide into 5 equal portions.
12. Grease 5 bread pans.
13. Knead dough into an oval-shaped ball and place in grased bread pan.
14. Cover all 5 loaves and let rise about 1 hour.
15. Preheat oven to 425F.
16. Bake loaves for 15-25 minutes, until golden brown on top and hollow sounding when you tap the top of a loaf.
17. Remove loaves from pans immediately onto a wire rack.
18. Butter the tops of the loaves.
19. Let cool.
20. Enjoy!

Tags: Baking, bread