Homemade Bread

While I’m partying it up at Disney World, this is the long awaited homemade bread post!  I’m sorry it’s taken a dog’s age.  In fact, since we made this video, we have not only tiled our backsplash, but I’ve found a new recipe and a quicker, easier way to combine ingredients and get the flour incorporated with the mixer.  But I put too much work into this video to scrap it, so I’m posting it anyway!  It’s a completely legitimate method, but I’ll tell you both ways.

In the video, I’m using this recipe from Passionate Homemaking.  I love this recipe; it’s delicious.  But my family prefers a simpler recipe for sandwich bread.  This does make a mean piece of toast, though.  And it’s great hot out of the oven, slathered with fresh butter.

For the method that I used in this video, you can click on this link.  It should take you to a Google Document where you can print it out if you want.  And if you have 7 minutes and nothing better to do, you can view my video.  We tried to shorten it as much as possible, but it’s still kind of lengthy.

As I said, since we shot this video, I have switched to another recipe — one I found in my trusty Betty Crocker Cookbook — Old Fashioned Honey Whole Wheat Bread. My family likes this recipe because it makes a nice, mild sandwich bread. I like it because it doesn’t require me to proof the yeast, and I’ve learned that I can put in the first 3 cups of flour all at once (I use whole wheat, part spelt, for this portion), using my paddle attachment. Then I switch to the dough hook and start adding the white flour a cup at a time until I get the right consistency.  It’s come out great every time.

The other thing I’m doing now that I said in the video was too much trouble is rolling out my dough and pressing the ends under.  It makes a prettier loaf, and it’s easier to make sandwiches that way.

So far, this method is working quite well.  It makes two loaves of bread, like the first recipe, and it doesn’t last long around here.  We go through anywhere from 2 to 4 loaves a week.  I’d love to have a mixer that would handle 4 loaves of dough at once, this one, to be exact.  Maybe Santa’s reading!