I love baking my own bread. There is just something truly satisfying about making the dough and watching it rise into something amazing.
Baking your own bread isn’t that hard at all it just requires a little bit of patience. Once you bake your first successful loaf of bread you’ll feel very accomplished.
I have gotten so good at making bread I think I should open up my own bakery. Okay, maybe that is pushing the envelope a little haha!
Ingredients
2 1/2 teaspoons Red Star active dry yeast or instant yeast (1 packet)
7/8 to 1 1/8 cups lukewarm water
3 cups Gold Medal unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons Morton kosher salt
3 tablespoons Domino granulated sugar
6 tablespoons Land O Lakes unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup nonfat dry milk
1/2 cup instant mashed potato flakes
Instructions
If you’re using active dry yeast, dissolve it with a pinch of sugar in 2 tablespoons of the lukewarm water. Let the yeast and water sit at room temperature for 15 minutes, until the mixture has bubbled and expanded. If you’re using instant yeast, you can skip this step.
Combine the dissolved yeast (or instant yeast) with the remainder of the ingredients. Mix and knead everything together—by hand, mixer or bread machine set on the dough cycle—till you’ve made a smooth dough. If you’re kneading in a stand mixer, it should take about 7 minutes at second speed, and the dough should barely clean the sides of the bowl, perhaps sticking a bit at the bottom. In a bread machine (or by hand), it should form a smooth ball.
Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl. Cover the bowl, and allow the dough to rise, at room temperature, for 1 to 2 hours, or until it’s nearly doubled in bulk. Rising may take longer, especially if you’ve kneaded by hand. Give it enough time to become quite puffy.
Gently deflate the dough, and shape it into an 8″ log.
Transfer the log, smooth side up, to a lightly buttered 8 1/2″ x 4 1/2″ loaf pan. Tent the pan loosely with lightly greased plastic wrap.
Allow the bread to rise till it’s crested about 1 1/4″ over the rim of the pan, about 1 hour. Again, it may rise more slowly for you; let it rise till it’s 1 1/4″ over the rim of the pan, even if that takes longer than an hour. While the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 350°F.
7) Bake the bread for 15 minutes. Tent it lightly with aluminum foil, and bake for an additional 20 to 25 minutes, till the crust is golden brown.
Remove the bread from the oven, and gently loosen the edges with a heatproof spatula or table knife. Turn it out of the pan on a cooling rack and allow the bread to cool completely before slicing. As soon as it’s completely cool, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap.
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Quick Tip: Allow yeast to proof until it resembles a creamy foam; about 10 minutes.