White Bread

Confession:  I'm really tired of having to go to the store weekly, sometimes bi-weekly to buy bread. Ridiculous. I know.

Guess what?

I'm going to try to make my own white bread and see if it's worth the effort. If I totaled it up correctly, it should only cost me about $1.10 to make this particular recipe.

My brain had a momentary lapse of sanity and I forgot to take pictures of the first couple of steps. I forget things all the time now-a-days.

You'll need: All-Purpose Flour, 1 Package of Rapid-Rise Yeast, Skim Milk, Sugar, and Salt

First, heat 2 1/3 cups of milk to 100 - 110 degrees. 

Pour the milk into a bowl with the yeast and 2 Tablespoons of sugar and stir until it's all dissolved. This is what it will look like after doing so.

Add in 4 1/2 cups of flour and 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt, and stir until it is all combined.

Pictured is 4 1/4 cups of flour and the salt, but I really felt like it was too soupy, so to make it easier to work with, spare the mess and add in the extra flour. Trust me. 

On a floured surface (it needs to be pretty dag'gum floured), knead the dough until it is elastic in texture and relatively smooth. This will take about 10 to 15 minutes. 

Place the dough in a large bowl coated with cooking spray and turn to coat the dough in the oil.

Cover the bowl with a towel and let it sit in a warm area for 1 hour, or until its doubled in size. Once your hour is up (or its doubled in size), punch it down. 

 Let it rest for 5 minutes. Then, on a floured surface roll the dough into about a 14 by 7 inch rectangle. By no means did I get out a ruler and measure this. Just eye-ball it. 

Starting with a short end, start rollin' 'er up, pinching down the seams as you go. 

Once you've done that, pinch all of your seams closed. 

Plop that baby right down in your greased loaf pan, cover it and let it rise for another hour. 

About 30 minutes in, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Bake for 45 minutes or until the bottom is golden brown and when you tap on the top it sounds hollow. 

It tastes so, so yummy. I'd say it is definitely worth making it on my own instead of going to buy it from the store. 

I got 18 slices out of my loaf, but how many you get out of it really depends on how thin or thick you choose to cut it. 


Oh, and you see all those bread crumbs? I put those in a plastic bag and froze 'em. I can always use them for meatloaf or baked chicken or in burgers. 




Try this for yourself and let me know what you think!! :)