Basic White Bread

Sometime back, I believe when I posted 'Bread Baking Basics', someone asked me to give a basic bread recipe. I have many bread recipes here on this blog, but they all have some additional twists. I am giving a basic white bread recipe which can be made with ingredients that almost everyone can find. For the first time in 5 years (since I got the bread machine), I made bread by hand today.

Ingredients:

• Warm water - 1/2 cup
• Milk - 1/2 cup luke warm
• Sugar- 2 TBSP
• Oil - 2 TBSP
• Salt - 1 tsp
• Active dry yeast - 2 1/4 tsp or 1 packet
• Bread flour or all purpose flour - 3 - 3 1/4 cups

Method:

In a large bowl, combine warm water, milk, sugar and yeast. Let it sit for about 10 minutes or till frothy. Now add the salt, oil. Mix well. Slowly start adding flour to make a smooth dough. Now comes the fun part or hard work part. Knead the heck out of this dough for about 10  minutes.  

If you are mad at someone, this is the best way to calm yourself down. Yes, it works every time for me.

Coat with oil, cover with a clean kitchen towel and let it rest for about an hour or till double in volume. After the initial rise, deflate the dough gently and on a lightly floured surface, shape into the loaf. Grease a 9 X 5 pan with vegetable oil spray and place the shaped dough in it. Cover loosely with an oiled aluminum foil and place in a warm place till double about 45 minutes to an hour. Towards the end of the final rise, preheat the oven to 375 F. When ready to bake, place the pan in the oven and bake for 20 minutes. Lower the temperature to 325 F and bake for another 15 - 20 minutes or till the crust is nicely brown and bottom sounds hollow when tapped. If you feel it is browning too fast, cover loosely with an aluminum foil and then bake. (Do this after the first 20 minutes of baking) Cool on wire rack. You could brush with some milk or milk and oil mixture before baking to get a nice color.
When still warm, brush with butter to get a softer crust.

Note:
You could use the same recipe for making Wheat bread. Use wheat flour and you will have to knead it for 20 minutes. You can knead it less and get a good bread if you use vital wheat gluten. You might have to use 2 - 3 TBSP of flour less since wheat flour takes more fluid than white flour. I will post the 'Honey Whole Wheat Bread' recipe soon.

I am sending this bread to Susan's 'Yeastspotting'.

Happy Baking!!