Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Homemade Fresh Bread

So it's been quite a while since I posted anything but here I am again, this time it's a fabulous recipe for fresh homemade white bread.


Ingredients:

3 3/4 cups of AP Flour (I use King Arthur, but others have had a reaction to this who are allergic to corn, so far it does fine for us, another alternative is Daisy from Amazon)
2 tsp. sea salt
2 T butter
3 T local honey (make sure that your source does not use corn syrup to feed the bees)
1 cup of warm milk
1/3 warm water
1 envelope red star yeast

melt butter in a small sauce pan, add the honey and 1 cup of milk, warm until it is just warm to the touch but not too hot as to burn your finger,  remove from heat and add the yeast, let sit for about 7 minutes.  In the bowl of a mixer add 3 cups of flour and salt, mix lightly to incorporate salt.  Add the yeast mixture and mix using the dough hook, add the water and enough of the reserved flour to create a soft ball of dough.  Knead about 3 minutes then transfer to an oiled or buttered bowl and let rise for 1 hour in a warm place.  Remove dough from bowl and form into a loaf shape and place in an oiled (I use olive oil) loaf pan.  Cook in a 375 degree oven for 35 minutes or until golden brown and crusty on top.

Try and mix it up a bit, instead of AP flour try 3/4 cup potato flour instead, or whole wheat flour, the sky is the limit!!

*Note, I live at a high altitude (7,000 feet above sea level), so you may need to adjust the baking time a bit, maybe a little less or a little more.  You may also notice that you don't need anymore flour or may have to add a bit more.  It is also very dry where I live to I usually don't have to add a lot of extra flour because it seems like mine always dries out a bit.

Happy Baking!!
Lisa