Wht's it supposed to be like? That's a lot of sugar. Mixing the oil into the yeast will retard it and slow the rise, which might be the point with that much sugar.

Yes, you could just make half. I'd go for a full teaspoon of yeast. The salt may also not scale directly. You might need a full tsp., or perhaps not, but it's really to your taste and you might need to experiment. It should be fine either way. The thing you can't control for in scaling bread recipes is the rise. Use the times as suggestions, and use doubled in volume as your goal. It could be well ahead of the time or well after, depending on more variables than are worth contemplating. Just keep an eye on it and let it tell you when it's ready.

It sounds like a very different recipe then I am used to. I think it would be fine if divided in half. That said, it sounds like a lot of sugar and oil to me even after the dividing. I’d be tempted to reduce the sugar especially. But that’s just my taste.

This sounds like it would make very small loaves, but maybe that is what you want. My recipes for single loaves of bread have more water and more flour, but then I generally make whole wheat or rye bread.

Just because I’m curious, why did you chose this recipe over one that makes only 1 loaf? was it recommended by a friend?

It looks to me like it could be halved and work just fine. I’ve never before seen a bread recipe with so much sugar and using only water… usually sweeter breads are made with milk and eggs.

I'm fairly new to baking with yeast, but rather than halving another recipe, you could go with one from a reliable source (at least I think it's reliable). This makes one loaf and uses all-purpose flour: https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/classic-sandwich-bread-recipe

This was a recipe posted on a FB cooking page that I follow and the woman who posted said it was the easiest and most reliable bread recipe she's ever made. I'm a complete newbie to baking bread, so "easy" and "reliable" were key words to me!

Try it once. Use 1 TBSpoon yeast--more can be better. Halve the sugar. If it doesn't work out for some reason--buy a second bread pan or even two more smaller ones. We are not big bread eaters at my house either.

make the whole thing, fill your loaf pan with part; put the rest in a zip bag and freeze.

I see no issues cutting the recipe in half for a first try. I just made some sandwich rolls that uses 3 and 1/3rd cups flour. Calls for 2 and one half tBsp sugar. I use 1 tSp. I don't care for sweet breads.

If you end up liking the recipe as written, you could make a full batch and freeze. Always easier to make a full batch while doing the chore and fridge or freeze the rest of the dough or freeze the second loaf.

My recipe made 16 small sandwich buns. We used four and froze the rest.

Are you looking for a breakfast toast? Or sandwich bread? or both. The recipe is not that much different or easier than most basic loaf breads. I agree that the sugar quantity is way over what i usually. see.

This should very easy to halve or make a full recipe and freeze.

FWIW, I make my weekly loaf of bread with 1/4 cup honey, which is more sweetening than this recipe calls for, and we like it that way 😋

I use 1/3 cup honey with four cups of whole wheat flour for the bread I make each week, but whole wheat flour is more bitter than white flour and therefore needs more sweetener.

Reducing the sugar in a recipe can affect how the yeast will grow - at least at first. I would not change the proportion of sugar to yeast when making a recipe for the first time.

You can also bake half, let the other half proof a bit while the first loaf bakes. When your pan is available, punch down the 2nd half and let it rise in the pan and bake it. Freeze one of the loaves.

No need at all to be shy about liking sweet bread. I've made bread for years without sugar. Itty bitty pinch will do to feed the yeast.

"Reducing the sugar in a recipe can affect how the yeast will grow -..."

Not true in my experience at all. I guess i'm in the minority not liking sweet bread.

Thanks to everyone for your kind reponses. My DH & I are going to make this together. I don't have a stand mixer but am going to buy the Danish dough whisk that Lars recommended. I think I will make half of the recipe and see how we like it. 5 1/2 cups of flour is a LOT of flour! I usually don't even use a full bag of flour in a year - so that gives you an idea of how little i bake! LOL.

I'll report back on the results.

seagrass

It will be fine...it should make one about a pound loaf. Iw ojuld let it rise more than an hour, just stretch and fold and cover and let it do it's thing again. Better yet mix it up, cover it and refrigerate over night, remove in the am and when it rises shape into a loaf, allow to double and then bake.

I disagree on the method.....I would mix the luke warm water sugar yeast and about a cup of flour......let sit until very bubbley and then sprinkle in the salt and oil ( melted butter will be better1) and mix. Add the rest of the flour a little at a time, you may not need it all.. And bes ure to check the temperature of the bread to see that it's done...200 degrees at the inside....or a little more.

I know it has been a while since your post, but the thought occurs to me that you could make the whole of it and you dont have to bake it all in a loaf pan. If you have more than you need to fill your loaf pan, you can always shape the rest and bake it on a baking sheet without the loaf pan. Or you could make it into small rolls instead. If you have a muffin pan, you can make small rolls in that.

If you are going to be mixing, kneading and keeping watch anyway, why not just do the whole thing? It is no more time and trouble or energy to just make the whole bunch. Fresh bread freezes very well.

There is no reason that you couldnt half it, but why?

My own rule of thumb is that I start with 1 cup of liquid for each "loaf" and work out from there.

Your recipie looks like it makes a slightly sweet, somewhat rich and yeasty bread.

Bread is pretty forgiving, I think. If the objective is to have consistently the same results, then you will need to adhere, to the same each time and measure and./or weigh.

Otherwise dont worry too much about it.