Backwoods Bread
I grew up on homemade bread. It was thick. It was soft. It was healthy. It was probably delicious.
And I hated it.
So when I became a parent myself I swore to give my children only the best store bought, fluffy white bread. But when I acquired a houseful of children who devour more than a loaf a day and prices soared to more than four bucks a loaf….baking bread became the option of choice. I mean, why should my kids be any happier than I was as a kid?
What ruins all my fun…is that they love it! So here it is…
I use my KitchenAid mixer with the dough hook. But you don’t have to.
3 cups water as hot as it will come out of the tap or 110 degrees if you need to heat it
1 Cup real butter (please don’t use margarine. It’s horrifying.)
1 Tablespoon salt
1.5 Tablespoon yeast
½ Cup honey (or 1/3 Cup brown sugar if you’d prefer)
I put all the above in the bowl while hot water is still very hot and let it sit for about 30 minutes. Not sure if this is necessary…I just always have. The liquid will foam up as it all activates together.
Add 2-3 C whole wheat flour and 6-7 C white flour. Knead either with dough hook or by hand until smooth, elastic texture.
Rise in bowl for an hour. I place mine in my oven. A little bit of warm is best so if you’ve just baked something it rises nicely. Make sure it’s not too hot.
Divide into 4 loaves and place in buttered bread pans. Rise again until over top of pans. About an hour.
Bake at 350 degree Fahrenheit (convection is best) for 27 minutes. After removal, smear butter over the top while hot to soften crust. Remove from pans right away and lay sideways to cool. I place it sideways so the moist bottom will firm up for cutting…otherwise the heat stays down there and it’s too soft for me.
Slice and slather with butter and honey while warm. I dare you not to eat an entire loaf.
