This is the Bread recipe that I make every holiday for our dinner rolls. It makes a great loaf of bread, too. You can adjust the amount of sugar you use, this makes a slightly sweet white bread but if you prefer less sweet you can cut the sugar in half.5 3/4 to 6 1/4 Cups All-Purpose or Bread Flour
1 package Active Dry Yeast
2 1/4 C Milk
2 T Granulated Sugar
1 T Shortening or Butter
1 t Salt
Mix together (I use an electric stand mixer) the yeast and only 2 1/2 Cups of the Flour.
In a small saucepan, combine the Milk, Sugar, Shortening (or Butter) and Salt, heat over low heat until the Shortening or Butter almost melt (about 120-130F). Slowly pour into the Flour and Yeast mixture, with mixer running on low speed for about 30 seconds. Increase speed to high, beat for 3 minutes.
If your stand mixer has a dough-hook attachment, swap that in for the beater you were using. Otherwise, you can do this next bit by hand, and tone your upper arm :)
Stir in as much of the remaining flour as you can. If using a dough hook, you will know you have the perfect amount when the sides of the mixing bowl are practically clean, when all of the dough is on the hook.
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Knead the dough for about 6-8 minutes, and if kneading is new to you, here is a link to a good You-Tube demonstration on how to knead dough.
Dough should be smooth and elastic. Shape into a round ball. In a large bowl, pour 1T of vegetable or canola oil. Place the dough in the bowl, turning it over a few times to get oil all over the surface of the dough and the inside of the bowl. Cover the bowl with a slightly damp, clean tea towel or dish towel, being careful not to let the towel touch the dough. Let rise in a warm place for about 45 minutes, dough will be roughly double in size.
Punch down the dough. Turn it out onto a clean surface, the oil on the dough should keep it from sticking.
Bread Loaves
Cut the dough in half. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 10 minutes. Roll one of the hales into a rectangle the width of your bread pan, and about 1/2 inch thick. Starting at the short side, roll up the dough and place it, with the seam at the bottom, in a greased loaf pan. Or, you can roll on the long edge, and pinch the ends, or tuck them under, to bake a more italian-style loaf on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
Repeat with the other half of the dough. Cover and let rise in a warm place, again, until nearly double (30-40 minutes). This is called "proofing", if you want to impress your friends and family ;)
Preheat oven to 375F. You're going to want to check that your racks are positioned to allow you to bake the bread in the center of your oven, leaving enough room at the top for your bread to rise while baking.
Bake for about 40 minutes. You may want to loosely cover the tops of the loaves with aluminum foil after 30 minutes, to prevent over-browning. Remove from oven when done, and remove from pans immediately, placing on a rack to cool, if you have one. Once completely cool, store in airtight plastic bags at room temperature.
Variation - Dinner Rolls
This recipe will make (2) 9x13 pans full of rolls (about 48 small rolls). To make rolls, cut the punched-down dough in half. Cover one half until ready to shape. Use your hands to press the first half of dough into a rectangular shape. Using a sharp knife, cut the dough into 24 pieces (6 cuts in one direction, 4 cuts in the other, perpendicular direction. Shape each piece of dough into a small ball, tucking the dough in on itself so the outside of the ball is quite smooth, with one pinched side that you can place (pinched side down) in a greased 9x13 pan. I like to use a glass casserole pan for this, but a metal pan will work fine. Place the 24 shaped dough balls in the pan, 6 rows long by 4 rows wide. Loosely cover with plastic wrap.
Repeat with the other half of the dough.Preheat oven to 375F. You're going to want to check that your racks are positioned to allow you to bake the rolls in the center of your oven, leaving enough room at the top for your rolls to rise while baking.
Bake for about 30-40 minutes. You may want to loosely cover the tops of the rolls with aluminum foil after 20 minutes, to prevent over-browning. Remove from oven when done, and serve warm. I like to brush some melted butter on the tops when they come out of the oven, which makes the tops soft rather than crusty. Once completely cool, you can store any leftover rolls in an airtight plastic bag at room temperature.
Freezing your dough for later
You can Freeze your formed rolls or your formed bread loaves BEFORE you allow them to do their final proofing, so you have bread ready to bake another time. Let dough freeze on parchment-lined sheets until firm. Wrap loaves in plastic wrap, them store the wrapped loaves in a zippered freezer-bag, getting as much air out as possible before sealing. Store formed rolls in an airtight container (no need to individually wrap).
When ready to use your frozen dough:
Bread loaves - remove from freezer, place in greased loaf pan or on parchment-lined baking sheet. Cover loosely with damp tea towel or plastic wrap. Allow to thaw and rise until nearly double (probably a couple of hours, one to thaw, one to rise). Bake as indicated above.
Rolls - remove from freezer, place in greased 9x13 pan. Cover loosely with damp tea towel or plastic wrap. Allow to thaw and rise until nearly double (probably a couple of hours or maybe a bit less). Bake as indicated above.
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