simple bread « Oklahoma Pastry Cloth

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White Bread Recipe #2

Monday, October 17th, 2011

Rich White Bread

Well, it’s a fun journey on to another bread recipe sent in by a reader and this one is from reader, Ken. I made it and oh my, is it yummy and rich! The dough is much softer than a traditional bread dough. This is no ordinary sandwich bread. This is a soft and slightly sweet bread that goes way beyond mayo and ham! I used it to make a loaf and cinnamon rolls and then used part of the loaf to make French Toast for breakfast. Ken said that he uses it to make pizza dough too, so this recipe is very versatile.

No-Fail Bread

6 cups all purpose or bread flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp. salt
2 packages of yeast or 2 tbsps loose yeast
2 eggs
1 stick butter or margarine that has been slightly softened
1 cup hot water
1 cup cold water
1/2 cup lukewarm water
1 tablespoon dough enhancer (optional)

Printable Recipe

Proof yeast in 1/2 cup warm water mixed with a tsp of sugar. Allow to stand about 4 minutes until yeast starts bubbling to the top

In the bowl of a mixer that has dough hooks (or in a large bowl if stirring by hand) place 2 cups flour (I used King Arthur Bread Flour), 1/2 cup sugar (I used honey for Mr. Fix-It), yeast mixture, the cold and hot water and mix briefly.

Cube softened butter and add. Mix slightly

Add eggs and salt and mix again.

Add tbsp of dough enhancer and add the rest of the flour, one cup at a time. Reserve 1/2 cup of flour for working. Note: Depending on the humidity, you may find that you need more or less flour. It was a very humid day when I made this and added almost 1 cup more flour than the recipe called for. The flour I used was a very fine bread flour and that probably added to the necessity for more to make a good dough. The dough should pull away from the walls of the mixer, but it is still a very soft and sticky dough. Knead in the mixer with the dough hooks about 8 minutes on medium to low.

Pour the dough out onto your Oklahoma Pastry Cloth™ and knead slightly with the leftover flour to form a ball.

Pour 1 tbsp olive oil into the bottom of a large bowl and place dough ball top side down into the oil. Turn the dough ball so that the oiled top side is up. Cover with warm, wet towel and allow to rise. I turn my oven to 150º and then turn it off when heated, open the door for 30 seconds and then place the bread into the warmed oven and shut the door. Hint: If the dough sticks to the towel while rising any dough, before removing the towel, use a spray bottle and spray the surface of the towel with water. It will lift right off of the risen dough.

The bread rises until doubled. Pour it back onto your pastry cloth and cut in half. At this point, you will be forming two loaves or forming one loaf while using the other dough for rolls, cinnamon rolls or pizza crust. For a loaf, grease and flour loaf pan and place dough into pan to rise. The dough is VERY soft and goes into the loaf pan very soft. But it rises to a beautiful height. When the bread has risen, bake at 350º for 25 – 30 minutes until golden brown. Turn out immediately onto a wire rack to cool.

For cinnamon rolls, I rolled the dough into a large oval about 1/2″ thick and sprinkled powdered sugar over the surface.

Then LOTS of cinnamon covered the surface. It is up to you how much you use, but I covered the whole surface. We like cinnamon.

Chopped pecans topped off the whole surface of the dough

I rolled the dough up like a jelly roll and sliced with a good, sharp knife that was floured between cuts.

The slices were placed about 1/2″ apart on a deep cookie sheet. Cover with a warm, wet towel and allow to rise until double in a warm place. After doubled, bake in a 350º oven for 20 – 25 minutes or until golden brown.

After baking, ice with a mixture of 2 tbsp melted butter and 1 1/2 – 2 cups powdered sugar with 1/2 tsp vanilla and enough milk (added 1 tbsp at a time) to make an icing of spreadable consistency. These cinnamon rolls are to die for!! And yes, one is missing! I couldn’t wait.