I've been making bread on the weekends for a few months now. This past weekend I got really ambitious. I decided to make twice as much as I had been making.
My mom came by while it was rising so I told her she could take a couple of pans home and bake some fresh bread for them. I knew by then that 4 loaves were going to be duds and directed her to the other 4 loaves. She took 2 really pretty loaves home.
I started baking the rest. Sure enough 2 came out nice (but small) and the other 4 were a sight. I couldn't even put the one loaf in the oven. I took it out of the pan and reworked it to make cinnamon rolls for Sunday morning. Trying to make lemonade out of some lemons for sure. (They were OK. . .didn't rise enough but we ate them.)
This weekly breadmaking adventure began slowly. I remember my mom making bread when I was a little girl. She got out a big white tub to mix up six loaves at a time. It was always an all day affair that started with a mess of flour on the kitchen table. But it smelled so good as it baked. When it came out of the oven we'd smear butter all over the tops and sides and wait, quite impatiently, for Mom to start cutting it so we could eat it right away. To a little girl, homemade bread is best when it comes out of the oven and then not again! (Although I admit, it did make some really good French toast.). When I got older I realized that toasted homemade bread was an amazing late night snack.
So with memories of Mom's bread, I decided I'd try to make my own. I have a bread machine and it makes pretty good bread but not like Mom's. She told me where to find her recipe (Better Homes and Gardens plaid cookbook) so I tried making it in the bread machine. Nope. It was a 2 loaf recipe and too much for the bread machine to handle. A friend makes bread using a food processor so I tried Mom's recipe in that. Nope. Too much for it to handle. It has to be done by hand.
But it's worth it. Put on a little music like we listened to at home on a Saturday when Mom was baking. Plan for a mess of flour on the kitchen table. Heat the milk, sugar, salt, and shortening. Let the yeast proof. And pull out your own white tub to mix it all in. When it's finally done, watch the kids clamor around for fresh bread. After all, they don't like it any other time. So once they work their way through the first loaf, the rest is yours. It's a good hearty bread. Perfect for toast or for grilled cheese sandwiches.
Mom's Homemade Bread (2 loaves, approx 18 slices per loaf and 90 calories per slice)
In a medium saucepan heat
2 cups of milk
2 tablespoons of sugar
2 tsp of salt
1 tablespoon of shortening
Stir while it heats. It should not boil. Heat just until the shortening melts. Turn off the burner and set this pan aside for the moment.
Mix 1 packet of yeast (2 1/4 tsp) with 1/4 c of warm water. You may add 1 tsp sugar as well. Let this sit.
Pour milk mixture into the big white tub. Add 2 cups flour and mix until smooth. Then add the yeast water. Again, mix until smooth. Stir in another 3 cups of flour.
This is where it gets tricky. Depending on the humidity you may need as much as another cup of flour. It should knead and NOT stick to your hands but be easy to work with.
Once you have the dough completely mixed and kneaded, let rise, covered, in a warm draft free space for at least 1 hour. The dough should double in size.
Punch dough down then divide in half. Roll each half into a ball and let dough rest for 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes shape each ball into a loaf and place in a baking pan. (Mom's are rectangular and at least 30 years old. They are metal pans with a coating in them. I do not have to spray them. If you are using glass pans or an uncoated metal pan you might want to lightly spray with cooking spray). Let dough rise in the pans for at least 45 minutes to an hour.
At this point, preheat your oven to 350 F.
The bread will need to bake for at least 40 minutes. My oven is wonky right now so I usually have mine out of the oven by 40 minutes. In a proper oven it may be closer to an hour. You'll know the bread is done when it is lightly golden brown and sounds hollow if you knock on the bottom of the loaf (out of the pan).
When you remove it from the oven let it cool for about 10 minutes then flip it out of the pan onto a cooling rack. I use fresh stick of butter and just peel back the wrapper so I can smear butter all over the top and sides.
Let the bread cool for 20-30 minutes before cutting (if using an electric knife).
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