Monday Baking

Since it's gloomy, cloudy, windy, and rainy out today, I've decided to do a little baking.  This morning I made some sandwich bread.  I was inspired when I saw the posting on The Frugal Girl on how to make your own sandwich bread, that I had to try it out for myself.  And the results were nearly perfect! 

Here is my little helper that LOVES to play with the flour:

And here is our end result, YUM:

And just a dab of butter on warm bread makes the whole day feel a little warmer:

White Sandwich Bread

5 3/4-6 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 pkg (2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast
2 1/4 cups milk (you can use water if you don’t do dairy)
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon butter or vegetable oil
2 teaspoons salt

1. In a large mixer bowl, combine  2 1/2 cups of flour and yeast.

2. In a saucepan or in the microwave, heat milk, sugar, butter, and salt to 115-120 degrees.

3. Add hot liquids to flour and yeast. Beat at low speed until combined, then beat at high speed for 3 minutes.

4. Add enough additional flour to make a soft, but kneadable dough, and turn out onto a floured surface. Knead for 5-10 minutes or until smooth and elastic.

5. Put dough back into mixing bowl, cover with wet tea towel, and let rise 1 hour.

6. Punch dough down, divide into two pieces, and roll into a rectangle, about 6″x18″. Starting from the short end, roll up jelly-roll style and place into two greased 4×8 inch loaf pans. Cover with wet tea towel and let rise 30-40 minutes, or until doubled.

7. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 25-30 minutes. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool before slicing.