Bread making

It has been a tradition, over the past few years, to make bread New Year's eve and this year, head cold or no head cold, wasn't going to be the exception! This is the recipe I used (super simple!):

Arguably Fleischmann’s Yeast’s Best Recipe for a Loaf of Bread .
Makes 2 Loaves

5-1/2 to 6 cups all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons sugar

2 envelopes FLEISCHMANN'S RapidRise OR Active Dry Yeast (I used Active Dry Yeast)

2 teaspoons salt

1-1/2 cups water

1/2 cup milk

2 tablespoons butter or margarine

Directions

Using Active Dry Yeast:

Place 1/4 cup warm water (100° to 110°F) in a large warm bowl. Sprinkle in yeast and 1 teaspoon sugar; stir. Let sit 5 to 10 minutes, until foamy on top. Add remaining water, milk, butter, sugar, salt and 4 cups flour. Mix well using the medium speed of an electric mixer, scraping bowl occasionally. Stir in enough remaining flour to make a soft dough. Knead on lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 8 to 10 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover; let rise in a warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, about 45 to 60 minutes.

Punch dough down. Divide dough in half. Roll each half to 12 x 7-inch rectangle. Beginning at short end of each rectangle, roll up tightly as for jelly roll. Pinch seams and ends to seal. Place, seam sides down, in greased 8-1/2 x 4-1/2 inch loaf pans. Cover; let rise in warm, draft free place until doubled in size, about 45 minutes.

Bake at 400°F for 25 to 30 minutes or until done. Remove from pans; cool on wire rack.

To Make Whole Wheat Bread: Substitute 2 cups whole wheat flour for part of all-purpose flour.

Nutritional Information:
Per Serving
Serving Size: one slice (1/24 of recipe)
Calories: 130; Total Fat: 1.5 g; Saturated Fat: 0.5 g;
Cholesterol: 5 mg; Sodium: 210 mg; Carbohydrates: 25 g; Dietary Fiber: <>

It made two beautiful loaves of bread ~ which, considering that I only have one loaf pan made for an interesting second loaf (a round one that used a pie plate as its pan!). What made this recipe easy was that while the yeast was proofing, I was able to assemble all of the other ingredients, turn the oven to its lowest setting and tidy up the kitchen so that by the time the dough was resting, I only had a bit of light cleaning left! Two hours and a half later (maybe a bit more!), and we had two beautiful loaves of fresh, home-made bread. Fiona asked if I'd learned how to make bread from Nanny ~ I said that I had but that Grampy helped too and that we come from a long line of bread makers (both my grandmothers were bakers, thought my Hamilton Nanny was probably the best!)

Off to feed the small person, make a list of ingredients that I'll be needing for tomorrow's and Saturday's entertaining and doctor my cold!

Here's what I'll take away from 2009 - click this!