Amish White Bread (SO YUMMY)

I had 2 complete fails while making bread. I just couldn't get it figured out. I was in tears. I was ready to give up. Then I found a group on Facebook for Recipes and I started asking tons of questions. They were all so amazing to me. They held my hand each step of the way so I could do it. It turned out so yummy. I am so happy. I am posting each step I did here so I won't forget what I did. The recipe I used is from All Recipes and is called Amish White Bread. Normally I don't ever post the recipe but since I want to remember each step I did I am posting it so I won't ever forget. I am so happy I found this group and recipe. And I have joined the group on Facebook.


Amish White Bread

Ingredients:
2 Cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)  
2/3 cup white sugar
1-1/2 TBS Active Dry Yeast
1-1/2 TSP Salt
1/4 Cup Vegetable Oil
6 Cups Sifted All Purpose Flour


Directions:
1. In mixer bowl, add sugar. Using a thermometer (I used a candy one because that is all I had) make sure your water is about 110 degrees. Add that to the sugar and stir.

2. Add yeast and stir once. Let it sit for about 5 minutes to proof. Proofing just means that it will bubble up and create a creamy foam. Sometimes it will take longer. It will depend on the humidity and temperature in your home.

3. When yeast is ready mix in salt and oil.

4. In a large bowl sift six cups flour.

5. Using a measuring cup add 1 cup flour at a time to the mixer and using the dough hook knead. Slowly adding the other flour. Some tricks to note are below for when the dough is ready.
As a note. Once sifted you will not use all the flour. That is why you want to sift it to a bowl first before measuring so it is not too much flour, which will make the bread too dense.

6. Knead your dough for about 8-10 minutes in your mixer.

7. If you don't use a mixer or you need to knead by hand, knead until dough is smooth but tacky. Too much flour will make your bread dense. I don't like it that way so I made sure to be careful with the flour.
Just a note. Halfway through the mix my mixer decided not to work anymore so I had to finish by hand. I lightly floured the drain board and kneaded about 110 times.

8. When you are done, take a large glass bowl and make it well oiled and place dough in a ball in it. Turn it over to oil all sides.

9. Cover with a damp cloth and sit in warm area to rise. Let it rise for an hour or until it's doubled in size.

10. Punch dough down from the middle.

11. Cut dough in half.

12. Using a rolling pin, roll dough out on lightly floured drain board until it's a rectangle.

13. Fold one side in and then the other and pinch together. Fold ends in and turn over.

14. Place dough with the folded sides down in a well oiled bread pan. Do this for the other half of the dough. The size of pan I used is 9x5 bread pan.

15. Place damp towel over the pans and let dough rise again for about 1 hour (or until dough has risen about 1" above the pans.

16. While they are raising preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

17. Cook at 350 for 30 minutes.

18. When done, take out of pan but let sit until cooled before cutting.

These are some tips given to me by the group on Facebook. What a bunch of helpful people they are! I love that group!!!!

Dough should be smooth and soft after kneading it.
Sift flour into large bowl before measuring it so you don't end up with too much flour for bread
You want to make sure that you only use enough flour so that your dough is smooth but tacky when touched with your finger
You can replace part of your liquid with half and half for a lighter, fluffier bread
Sometimes it takes a while longer to get the yeast to proof. If it doesn't start foaming you need to start over.

Photo by KCK Photography