I could eat toast all day I swear. Especially the homemade kind! I first learned how to make bread in middle school and used that as the basis of my science fair project. I don’t know how on earth I got one of the top ribbons, but I’m not complaining lol!
This recipe goes so fast at my house, one whole loaf is nearly gone by the end of the evening! It makes great BLTs, Toast, and French Toast (pain perdu to some). It originally came from a recipe in a Nick Malgieri baking book. I really want to make the challah bread and the Italian cheese bread in there too, but I always come back to this one. Sometimes I’ll tweak it and not add sugar (because it’s in EVERYTHING nowadays!).
Some people are intimidated by bread making, but there really isn’t anything too complicated to it. Plus it makes awesome food gifts!
Sometimes I like to put in flax seeds or sunflower seeds to the mix, but that’s optional.
All-Around Good Homemade Bread
5 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
2 cups (16 fl oz) warm water
1 Tablespoon salt
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 Tablespoon flax seeds (optional)
1 Tablespoon sunflower seeds (optional)
1/3 cup vegetable oil +a separate Tablespoon extra
Mix the yeast into warm water and mix until well combined. Set aside. (Hot water will likely kill the yeast. Believe me I know….)
Combine flour, salt, sugar, and potentially flax or sunflower seeds into large mixing bowl and whisk together.
Add 1/3 cup oil and warm yeast-water to mixing bowl. Stir together until well combined into doughey mass. If it’s too sticky, add a little more flour.
Sprinkle flour on cleared, flat surface and roll dough from the bowl onto it. Add more flour. Knead the dough until it forms a fairly smooth ball that does not stick to your hands. It helps to keep your hands dusted here (it can get messy!)
Pour Tablespoon of vegetable oil into bottom of mixing bowl. Place dough back into bowl and coat so all surfaces are oiled.
Cover bowl with clean towel and let rise in warm place until dough has doubled. (About 1-2 hours depending)
Once doubled, bring back in and punch down the dough, deflating it (that’s one of the best parts)
Separate dough into two halves. Sprinkle surface of workspace with flour, and roll each half in the flour to prevent sticking.
Lightly cover a rolling pin with flour and roll out dough until it forms a 1/2 inch tall flat circle.
Fold in the sides to the middle and roll dough into a log. Place each into two 9X5 inch loaf pans
Let loaves rise until doubled
Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Put loaves in oven and bake for 30 minutes.
Flip out of pans on wire rack to cool
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