White Bread-simple and tasty

This is a great bread for beginners.
It's one of the first bread recipes I learned when I got serious about wanting to make bread.

And you don't need special flour, or any odd ingredients.
And once you've made it a few times, you can change it up.

We look for reasons to have this bread because I always make more than one loaf,
And that means leftovers that the kids and hubby can go back and snack on.



I found this recipe a few years back here. Thank you Elizabeth Yetter for sharing with the rest of us!

White Bread

3/4 cup warm water
1 package Active Dry Yeast
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon shortening
1/2 cup milk
3 cups all purpose flour

In your Mixing bowl, combine warm water and yeast. stir until yeast is dissolved.

 Add salt, sugar, shortening and milk, stir just till combined. The shortening will still be lumpy.

Add first 2 cups of flour,

combine well, then slowly add enough of the 3rd cup until the dough starts to chase the beater, pulling away from the sides of the bowl.

Remove dough from bowl onto floured surface. Knead dough until no longer sticky, 5-10 minutes.

still sticky

Place in a greased bowl and turn dough over to completely coat dough. Cover with a light dish towel and allow to rise until doubled, about an hour.

Punch down dough with fist,

then remove from bowl onto a floured surface, knead again, 3-5 minutes, then shape dough and place in greased loaf pan.

At this point before placing dough into loaf pan, you can divide dough into smaller loaves,

shape and place in smaller loaf pans.

Don't have loaf pans? Just free form the dough into an oblong loaf and place on a greased cookie sheet.

Cover and let rise again for another 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Just prior to baking, using a sharp knife cut 1, 2 or 3 slits in the top of your loaf.

Bake for 25-35 minutes depending on your oven. My smaller loaves are usually done at about 25 minutes while my larger ones are closer to the 35 minute mark.

You are looking for a dark caramel color but not burnt looking.

And just a quick plug for this bread knife.

It's a Smoky Mountain Bow Knife, given to me this Christmas after my mom and I saw it at Christmas Made in the South in Macon, GA.

I'm in LOVE with this knife.

Not only does it cut bread perfectly (no mushing a soft bread)

It will cut anything, soft cakes, vegetables (we were able to cut a tomato paper thin at the show)
It's easy to handle.

The man who makes these is Harold Collins and unfortunately he doesn't have a web site, just a phone number 256-504-1310. If you come across him at a craft show in your area, get one of these knives, you won't be disappointed.

Looking for some other great bread recipes to try? Check out this easy Wheat Bread or this Buttery White Bread.

I've linked this up at Make Ahead Meals, Made by You Mondays, Home Savvy A to Z, Tempt my Tummy Tuesday, Take a look Tuesday, Tip me Tuesday, Tasty Tuesday Party, Crazy for Crust, A southern Fairy Tale, Tuesdays at the Table, Thursday's Treasures