Monday's Menu

Hmmm. What's in there?

Oh. I guess the dough is ready.

So, turn it out on a floured board.

Roll it up tightly.

Put it in a pan.

Cover it up and just let it do its thing for about 30 minutes to and hour.

Until you've got a nice plump loaf.
Stick it in the oven for about 20 minutes.

Until it sounds hollow when you tap it. Then I like to brush some butter over the top but you don't have to.

Yummmm.

You can also mix up the ingredients by hand if you don't have a bread machine to do the work for you (like some lazy bloggers). The recipe below has those instructions. I almost never use my bread machine for anything but mixing up dough. Cooking the bread in it just isn't the same. To use a bread machine, you simply place all the liquid ingredients in the bottom of the pan (including the butter or margarine or shortening), put all the dry ingredients except the yeast on top of that, and then place the yeast on top. Set the machine to 'dough' and let it do its work.

For the next several weeks, I'll post recipes that have to do with breads so join me for Monday's Menu.

By the way, this recipe came from King Arthur Flour's website some time ago. The original requires powdered milk. Unfortunately, I can't find the original recipe so if you'd like instructions for using powdered milk, let me know. This is modified to use liquid milk.



White Sandwich Bread

1 1/2 teaspoons yeast
3 Tablespoons sugar
3 to 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup milk, warmed
1/2 cup warm water
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
4 Tablespoons butter or margarine, cut into pieces
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Mix together water, yeast, milk, and butter. Set aside. Mix together sugar, about 2 1/2 cups flour, and salt. Add yeast water and lemon juice. Mix well, adding enough of remaining flour to form a soft dough. Knead on lightly floured surface. Place in warm greased bowl and allow dough to rise in a warm place for about 2 hours or until double in bulk. Punch down dough and turn out onto floured surface. Knead until soft and elastic. Shape into a rectangle. Beginning at short end, roll tightly. Cut in half and place each piece in a greased loaf pan. Allow dough to rise in warm place for about 1 hour or until double in bulk. Bake in 350 degree oven until done -- about 15 - 30 minutes.