HOMEMADE BREAD RECIPE

Ingredients: Supplies:
 1 envelope quick-rise instant dry yeast  1 flour cloth*
 ¼ cup + 2 Tbsp. medium hot water (between 110-115°F)  4 – 9 x 5/8 x 5½ inch bread pans
 2 cups milk  1 large bread bowl
 ¼ cup + 1 tsp. sugar  1 large metal mixing spoon
 1/3 cup shortening + extra to grease pans and bread  Measuring cups and spoons
bowl  Small saucepan
 1 tsp. salt (heaping)  Small bowl
 2 cups cold water  Cutting board
 6-8 heaping cups of flour (all purpose or bread flour) +  Cooling rack
extra for kneading bread  Bread bags or Ziploc Bags
 1 stick of butter or margarine
Mixing Instructions:
1. Pour milk into the small saucepan and turn the burner on medium heat. Heat your milk until scalded.**
2. Combine yeast and 1 tsp. sugar in the small bowl. Add medium hot water and stir until yeast and sugar are
combined. Let it sit until the yeast foams up in the bowl as shown below.

3. In the large bread bowl, combine 1/3 cup shortening, salt, and the remaining ¼ cup of sugar.
4. Pour the scalded milk into the bread bowl and stir until all of the ingredients are dissolved.
5. Add the cold water to the mixture in the bread bowl and stir.
6. Once the ingredients are combined, add the yeast mixture to the bread bowl and stir.
7. Add flour slowly and start mixing the dough with the metal spoon. When the dough becomes too stiff to stir
by hand (after about 4-5 heaping cups of flour), begin mixing it by hand. Add enough flour so that the dough
sticks to your finger slightly when you poke the center of the dough (see picture below for consistency).

8. Lift up the dough and grease the entire inside of the bowl with shortening.
9. Cover the bowl with a flour cloth* and place it in a dry, warm place to rise until it is twice its size (this should
take approximately 1 ½ to 2 hours).

10. Once the dough has risen, punch down the dough with your hands and let it rise again to twice its size (this
will take about 1 to 1 ½ hours).
Baking Instructions:
1. Preheat the oven to 400°F and prepare your bread pans by greasing the sides and bottom with shortening.
2. After the dough has risen for a second time, punch down the dough and cut it into 4 pieces.
3. Lightly sprinkle your cutting board with flour and knead the dough until all of the bubbles inside of it pop. Form
each piece of dough into a loaf and place them into individual bread pans as shown below.

4. Cover the bread pans with your flour cloth and allow the dough to rise until it is slightly above the bread pans
(this should take approximately 30-45 minutes).
5. Place the bread pans into the preheated oven and bake for 10 minutes.
6. Turn the oven down to 350°F and bake the bread for an additional 25 minutes.
7. Once the bread is golden brown on the top, remove the pans from the oven and place them on a cooling rack.
8. Allow the bread to cool until it is cool enough to handle. Remove the bread from the bread pans and place the
loaves on a clean cutting board and grease the tops with butter or margarine.

9. Once the bread has cooled completely, place each loaf of bread into an individual Ziploc bag or bread bag to
store.
Helpful Terms :
*Flour cloth: A light, thin towel.
**Scalded: Milk that has been heated almost to boiling point and has a film over the top.
Alteration :
Instead of making 4 loaves of bread, you may also choose to make 3 loaves of bread and use the remaining dough to
make buns. To do this, you will need a greased cookie sheet along with your 3 bread pans. Knead the dough in the
exact same way as when making the loaves, but shape them in small, round loaves (resembling buns) and place them
about an inch apart on the cookie sheet. Allow them to rise to twice their size and bake them following the same baking
instructions as you do while making the bread.