White Bread
A delicious soft white with a light crust. The perfect bread for sandwiches, toast or just eating by the slice with butter.
Equipment
- Stand mixer
- Mixing bowl
- Plastic wrap or a clean dish towel
- Two 9x5x3 loaf pans
Ingredients
- 2 envelopes active dry yeast
- ¾ cup warm water
- 2⅔ cup warm water
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 tbsp salt
- 3 tbsp butter softened
- 9 to 10 cups all-purpose flour
- Crisco or butter for greasing
Instructions
- In the bowl of your mixer, dissolve yeast in ¾ cup warm water. Stir in the remaining 2 ⅔ cups of water, sugar, salt and butter.
- Insert the bowl to the mixer and attach the dough hook. Set the mixer on a low setting (2 or 3) and start to add the flour one cup at a time, allowing some mixing time between each addition. Keep adding flour until the dough has pulled away from the sides of the bowl forming a ball and is easy to handle.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board or directly onto your counter and knead until smooth and elastic, about 6 to 8 minutes. If the dough still feels sticky you may need to work in another cup of flour.
- After the dough is sufficiently kneaded place in a large greased mixing bowl and then flip the dough over so that the greased side faces up. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
- Punch down the center of the dough and divide it in half. On a lightly floured counter roll each half out into a log shape. Turn the ends of the log down and place in a greased loaf pan. Brush the tops with melted butter, cover and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.
- Heat the oven to 425°. Uncover the loaves and place them on a rack low enough so that the tops of the loaves hit about the center of the oven. When placing them, make sure that the pans do not touch each other or the sides of the oven to ensure even browning. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until the loaves are a deep golden brown and they sound hollow when tapped. If they seem to be browning too quickly you can cover them with foil for the last 10 to 15 minutes of baking.
- After baking immediately remove loves from the pans and place them on a wire rack to cool. Allow to cool before slicing or the bread will tear.