Our Daily Bread...

*don't forget about my giveaway here for an initial gold disk pendant necklace and also sign up for the ornament swap I am hosting with Alisha and Ashley, the deadline is Monday!

One of the best smells to me is the smell of bread baking in the oven. It just seems to wrap the entire house up in that smell and settles in every nook and cranny. Then when the loaf is done baking and you take it out of the pain, set the bread on a cutting board and either tear or slice it up, the smell escapes from the bread even more up into your nostrils.

With the temperatures finally dropping here in CA, there is nothing I love more than a soup or stew with homemade bread for dinner. I think it is one of life's most perfect meals. 

Recently, it was one of those most soup and bread for dinner days, so I found what looked like a great bread recipe from the trusty old Internet. The results were good, that baking bread smell definitely filled my whole house. While the dough didn't rise as much as I would have liked, which I know was due to it not being very warm in the house, I will definitely make this recipe again in the future.

Let's make bread!

First, gather together your ingredients. This recipe yields 2 loaves. 

2 teaspoons active dry-yeast, 1 cup warm water, 2 tablespoons butter, 1 cup milk (whole, 2%, nonfat, all will work), 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, 1 tablespoon salt, 5 1/2 - 6 1/2 cups flour.

Warm water means you should be able to stick your finger into the water and leave it there for several seconds. If it is too hot, don't use the water it will kill the yeast and the dough won't rise. 

In your mixing bowl, add the water and yeast. 

Let the yeast bloom for 5 minutes. While the yeast is blooming, melt the butter and then add the milk, sugar and salt. 

Once the yeast has bloomed, add the butter and milk mixture along with 1 cup of flour into the mixing bowl. 

Turn your machine on to mix all the ingredients together until you have a lumpy batter. 

Add in the remaining amount of flour and let the machine knead the dough for 8-10 minutes. 

Once the dough is fully kneaded, place it on a well-oiled bowl and let it sit for about an hour until it doubles in size.

 Once the dough has doubled, place it on your counter and divide the dough in half for each loaf. ( I didn't do this part because I divided the recipe to make only one loaf). Let the balls sit on the counter for 10 minutes. Then shape them into rectangle-like to fit the greased bread pans. Let the dough rise again for another 30-40 minutes. 

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Once the oven is preheated, slash the tops of the loaf and place them into the oven. Immediately turn down the oven to 375 degrees and bake the loaves for 30-35 minutes. 

The loaves are done when tapped on, they sound hollow. Remove the loaves from the oven when they are baked, take them out of the pans and let them cool slightly or completely before you slice. 

Then serve, eat and enjoy with a bowl of sweet potato soup like Sean and I did!

recipe via here