When we lived in England last year there was something about the food that I noticed that was quite different. In particular, no matter what kind of bread I bought there it would go moldy very quickly. (Produce too!) I got in the habit of buying fresh bread at the bakery every two or three days rather than counting on a loaf lasting the week. When we moved back to the US I didn’t think much of it until one day recently when I realized that we had the same packs of sandwich bread and hamburger buns on the kitchen counter for about three weeks and they never molded. While that might sound like a good thing it made me seriously question what in the world was in that bread that kept it preserved for that long and whatever it was, did I really want to be feeding it to my kids?
Right then and there I decided to make my own bread instead of buying it. I used to make bread all the time but as we added to our family and got busier I got away from it. No longer! Making bread sounds complicated to a lot of people but in reality, it’s not hard at all. You do need to allow time for the dough to rise twice but the actual active prep time is less than 30 minutes.
This is one of my favorite easy homemade bread recipes. I’ve heard it called Amish bread, Amish Sweet bread, or Amish butter bread…I have no idea if it’s an actual Amish recipe so please forgive my ignorance on its origin, I recieved the recipe from a friend when I was pregnant with my oldest son about 12 years ago and it’s been a favorite ever since. It’s so easy you can’t go wrong, even my kids can make it with minimal supervision. I like this bread sliced with butter or toasted up into Texas Toast with dinner. It’s sweet, buttery and dense…my mouth is already watering!
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This easy homemade white bread recipe is simple enough for beginner bakers and tastes delicious!
Ingredients
1 1/2 tablespoon yeast
2 cups warm (not hot) water
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
6 cups flour
2 tablespoons butter to coat top (optional but recommended!)
Instructions
Spray a large bowl generously with nonstick spray. Set aside.
In a large stand mixer bowl combine water and sugar. Add yeast and allow to sit for 15minutess or until frothy.
Add oil and salt and set mixer on low speed with dough hook. Slowly add flour a cup at a time.
When all flour is added and dough is pulling away from the sides of the bowl transfer dough to a floured surface and knead lightly for 1-2 minutes.
Transfer dough to greased bowl and flip it over to coat lightly with nonstick spray. Cover loosely with cling wrap and let rise for one hour.
Punch dough to release air and divide in half.
Grease two loaf pans (I use these that are 9″ by 5″) and place half dough in each and again cover loosely with cling wrap for an additional hour.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Remove cling wrap and bake bread for 30 minutes or until the top is golden brown.
Remove from oven and brush top with melted butter if desired. Let cool 15 minutes before removing to wire rack.
Notes
Keep dough in away from drafts when allowing it to rise.
I store this bread in the refrigerator up to a week to make it last longer. On the counter I keep it 2-3 days.
I hope you enjoy this bread as much as I do, I’ll be sharing some other homemade breads soon as I continue to replace our family’s store-bought baked goods with homemade.
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Leah
Should I use AP flour or bread flour?
Melissa
all-purpose Leah…I’ll update the post to reflect that, thanks for asking the question! ~Melissa
Lesley george
So much sugar! It’s more of a bun surely…
Dennis Regling
Add an egg and replace half the water with an equal amount of milk and you have it right.
http://www.visittheamish.com
★★★★