White Bread
Usually when all burners of my cooking range are occupied and I feel like making something nice,I start thinking of using my convection oven. Such random cooking sprees usually end in me either baking a cake or if it is the start of the week, baking a fresh loaf of bread.
Nothing smells better than a fresh baked bread and though I wish it could last a little more, it usually gets over within the next 24 hours. I am not complaining though!
Here is the recipe, for beginners,which just gets better with time. Infact it can very well be called " Bread Recipe for Dummies" (pun intended!)
Ingredients
- All-purpose Unbleached Flour : 3 Cups,
- Active dry yeast: 2 Packets or 1 1/2 Tbsps,
- Milk: 1/2 cup. I use 2% Reduced fat, you can use as per your preference,
- Butter: 1 Tbsp,Unsalted
- Water: warm 2 cups,
- Sugar: 1 Tsp,
- Salt : 1/2 Tsp.
Method
- Heat Milk and butter in a pan on medium heat until the butter is melted. Then set aside to cool.
- Take 1 cup of warm water in a cup, add 1/2 tsp sugar and dry yeast to it. Keep stirring till the lumps are gone. Do not over-stir. Cover it till and wait till it becomes frothy.
- Now in a big mixing bowl, take the rest of the warm water, sugar and salt mix it well.
- To this add the milk and butter mixture.
- Check if the yeast is hot or slightly warm. If it is hot, wait till it cool a bit but should still be warm else the microbes in the yeast will die and your bread won't rise.Once slightly warm, add to the mixing bowl.
- Start adding the flour,one cup at a time. By the end of second bowl, the dough with start becoming stiff. Keep adding the flour till the dough is smooth not sticky.
- Now grease a loaf pan with some oil and put the bread dough in this pan. Cover it with a cling wrap or a wet towel. Keep it covered for an hour or until the dough rises to double it's height.
- Once risen, remove it from the pan, punch it and roll it again,kneading out all the bubbles. Roll it and place it again in the loaf pan. Now butter the top surface of the loaf. This will prevent it from turning hard and crusty. Cover again with cling wrap and wait till it rises to double it's height.
- Now preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Bake for about 30 minutes. If the top starts turning dark brown quickly, reduce the temperature of the oven by 10-15 degrees and continue baking.
- Once golden brown, remove from the oven and place it on the rack to cool. Once cooled ,it is ready to be cut and savored!
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