Looking for the best homemade white bread recpie

15 years ago

I have never posted on the cooking forum so hello. I was wondering if I could get some help with a personal quest. For the past two years I have learned how to make bread. At first I took the time to knead the bread and eventually after I thought I had done my time I purchased a second hand mini bosch mixer. I love that thing!!! So there is this woman at church that makes the best bread you have ever tasted!!! It is home made white bread. She sells it through church and her neighborhood. She was raised Menonite and learned everything baking and cooking at home. I guess I always wanted to be able to make bread that tasted that good. I have tried EVERYTHING!!!!!! potatoe flakes, milk, water, butter, oil, different flour on and on. I would never ask her for the recpie!!! But thought I would see if anyone can give me any new ideas. My bread is good do not get me wrong. And I use a recpie from allrecpie for steak bread that is amazing!!! But none of the bread has that distinct taste. I have day dreamed of sending a loaf of her bread off to a lab to have tested. So calling all you bread experts.....

Thanks Amy

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Comments (5)

lindac
15 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
Welcome Amy!!! Glad you stopped in.
I would guess that her secret is an "aged dough"...I would guess her dough is milk based and that it spends at least 24 hours or more in the refrigerator before it's sha0ped and baked.
Linda C
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Original Author
15 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
Thank you Linda! So use milk instead of water, which I have done, and then put in fridge 24 hours. Won't it tast yeasty from sitting with yeast so long? Do I not use as much yeast?

The recpie I use regularly is milk 1 1/2 c, butter 4 tablespoons, yeast 2tsp active dry, 1/4 cup water for yeast, 3 tablespoons honey, tsp salt, about 4-6 cups bleached or enriched flour and sometimes 1/2 wheat depending on where I have shopped. Knead 6 min in bosch and then rise one hour punch down,roll in pan, let rise 1/2 hour bake 350 until 190 degrees about 30 min. So at what point do I put in fridge
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I agree with Linda C. If you are using bakers' yeast, not fresh cake yeast (which has a more yeasty taste than dry bakers' yeast), it sounds like you are over-proofing the dough at one or more stages of the development, AND/OR, you aren't doing a good job of punching the dough down after the first rise. Get a dough-rising bucket so you will accurately KNOW how much the dough has risen. I get my dough-rising (aka food storage) containers from the local restaurant supply store, but the link below will show you what they look like. When I pat 1-quart of dough into the dough-rising bucket and snap the lid on it, it's the perfect environment for rising dough. When the dough has risen to the 2-quart line, I know it has doubled in bulk. No more guess work, playing peek-and-boo under the cloth covering the bowl, and guessing exactly what IS double when dealing with a slant-sided bowl. The straight sides of the dough-rising bucket, as well as the graduated markings on the side will allow you to see exactly how much dough you place in it, and to double that amount to know when your dough has doubled in bulk. I generally use a 2-quart size container (up to 2.5-pounds of dough), but have several sizes for larger recipes. Because today's flour is no longer bromated, it no longer has the extensibility it once had, and allowing dough to rise to "just under double" is best. Dough doesn't rise to the clock, but rather to the strength of the yeast used, the ambient temperature, and the amount of moisture in the dough and humidity in the air. Your dough may double in 25-minutes, not that one hour listed in the recipe. If the temperature is cold, it may take much longer than the recipe suggests. Rising times in recipes, as the flour amounts, are just a good (or bad) guess based on traditional amounts, or what happened in the test kitchen. Are you using the correct size pan for the amount of dough? Many times people use a 9x5-inch QUICK bread pan for 1-1/2 pounds of bread dough, which isn't enough dough for that pan size (it holds 2-pounds of dough). This allows for too much rising time (over-proofed dough) to fill the pan that is too large for the dough amount. Another mistake that leads to over-proofing is allowing the dough to rise more than double in the pan - even when using the correct size pan for the amount of dough. You never allow the dough to rise to the height you want the baked loaf - that's over-proofing it. The log of dough is approximately 1/3 the size of the finished loaf. You allow it to double in bulk in the pan, and that represents 2/3 the size of the finished loaf. Oven-spring, the amount the dough continues to rise after it it's in the oven, accounts for the last 1/3 of the finished loaf size. Jumbo Loaf - 10x4-1/2-inch - 4-5 c. flour - 2# plus dough Quick Bread Loaf - 9x5 - 4 c. flour - up to 2# dough Standard Loaf - 1-1/2x4-1/2 - 3 c. flour - 1.5# dough Med. Loaf - 7-1/2x3-1/2 - 2-1/2 c. flour - 1# dough Punching dough down not only de-gasses it, but it redistributes the yeast. If done incorrectly, you can have pockets of yeast which could account for a yeasty taste. How to: With an oiled fist/hand, gently punch down through the center of the dough. Then grab the dough at the outside edge and pull it into the center. Do this all the way around the dough. You have now essentially turned the dough inside out. The warmer inside dough is now to the outside, and the cooler outside dough is inside. Once the dough is punched down, turn it out onto the counter/board/Silpat (whatever you use). Divide the dough, if necessary. Round the dough (form it into a tight ball), to keep the gasses from excaping through the ragged edges and get the gluten strands smooth and going in one direction. Then cover the dough ball (I use plastic wrap, then use the same piece to cover the panned loaf) and allow it to sit 10-15 minutes to relax the gluten strands before forming. -Grainlady Here is a link that might be useful: King Arthur Flour - Dough Rising Bucket
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lindac
15 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
Mix it up....and cover well so it doesn't dry out and refrigerate.
Then after 24 hours, get it out,,,keep well covered and allow to reach room temp and and begin to rise ( I say wake up)...then shape and allow to rise as usual and bake.
No, it doesn't get yeasty in the refrig....but it develops a wonderful fermented taste.
Re your recipe....that's not much yeast for that amount of dough.....it may take 6 hours to wake up....but it'll be fine.
Linda C
grainlady_ks
15 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
I wonder if cake yeast was used instead of dry yeast? NOTHING like it...and nothing takes me back to my mother's kitchen quicker than the smell and taste of white bread made with cake yeast.

Unfortunately cake yeast is difficult to find these days. Wal-Mart used to carry it during the holidays, but alas, they no longer do.

-Grainlady
Jasdip
15 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
Hi Amy,
I live in Mennonite country in Ontario. I've got a Mennonite cookbook called Food that Really Schmecks and it's authentic Mennonite cooking.

This is a recipe that's adapted from the book. I'd type it out of the book but it's pretty long. This is the recipe, but posted on the internet. The original didn't use the KA mixer or other modern conveniences. The comments are from the poster on the internet, not mine.

Neil's Harbour White Bread

1 c. lukewarm water
1 tsp white sugar
2 tbsp yeast granules (or 2 packets)
2 c. lukewarm water
1/2 c. white sugar
1 heaping tbsp salt
1/2 c. vegetable oil (I only used 7 tbsp)
about 9 c. of all-purpose flour (I only needed 8 1/2 c.)

Warm up your stand-mixer bowl (warm water in it, then dump out the warm water) and pour the 1 c. lukewarm water, the tsp of sugar and sprinkle the yeast in order for it to dissolve.

Let stand for 10 minutes. Once your yeast has risen to the surface of the water, stir it all until it's well blended (and ensuring that the yeast is all dissolved).

Into the mixture you will stir in:(use your dough hook attachment and the STIR speed) the remaining water, sugar, salt, oil and 3 cups of flour.

Increase the speed to level 2 and add more flour, by the 1/2 cup. The dough will start to gather on the hook and you'll know it's ready when it gets that elastic texture-- super glossy as well (the flour will pull away from the sides and all gather together).

I got to about 8 1/2 cups of flour and got the texture that I needed. Turn the dough over onto a floured surface and knead it with your hands for a minute.

Put about 1 tbsp of vegetable oil into a glass bowl, greasing the bottom and sides and then placing the ball of dough into the bowl. Make sure that you coat the dough with the oil (move it around). Cover with a damp dish towel and set in a draft-free place for at least an hour (I always put mine in the oven) so that it can double in size.

Once it's doubled in size, punch out the air, take it out of the bowl and divide it into 3 equal sizes. This is when I added about a cup of raisins to my raisin loaf-- kneading the raisins into the dough before shaping it.

Shape your bread into your shape of choice---loaf or round, or like me; keep them pretty rustic looking.

Place on a cookie sheet (2 loaves on 1 pan and 1 on the other) and cover with a damp cloth again. Allow to rest another 40 minutes in a warm spot; or cover with a damp cloth and allow to rest overnight in the fridge.

When you are ready to bake, preheat your oven to 400 F. Take out the dough, remove the dish towels and make an egg wash; beaten egg with a bit of water. I made my brown sugar mix-- 2 tbsp of brown sugar, 1 tbsp cinnamon, 1.5 tsp allspice mixed together.

Brush the egg wash on all 3 loaves. Cover the raisin loaf with the sugar/spice mixture. I covered another loaf with finely ground yellow cornmeal and left the 3rd loaf plain.

With a sharp knife, cut some steam vents into the tops of the bread.

Bake for about 20-30 minutes. You'll know that they are ready when the tops are golden brown and if the bread sounds hollow when you knock on the bottom.

Allow to cool. Or be like me, and cut right into it

Looking for the best homemade white bread recpie

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lindac

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Looking for the best homemade white bread recpie

Comments (5)

lindac

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lindac

grainlady_ks

Jasdip

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both
Original Author