This Amish White Bread post first went live four years ago. While I pretty much know it by heart, I still like to pull this post up and check to make sure I’m not forgetting anything. As a matter of fact, just last week I mixed the ingredients and through the magic of kitchen alchemy, flour, yeast, water, oil, sugar and salt turned into one of the best loaves of bread I’ve ever tasted. It’s easy enough to make up in the morning to use for grilled paninis.
If that doesn’t make you drool, think of all that left over turkey we are about to have lazing around in the fridge after Thanksgiving just waiting to be made into the best sandwiches ever. Oh, yeah. You’re going to be coming back and thanking me for being the one who loves you the most.
The first thing I noticed after this recipe had loaded, was that my pictures were missing! *poof* Gone. Being the visual learner that I am I decided to capture a few images from this latest round of Amish White Bread for your viewing pleasure.
Am I the only one floored at the price of bread these days? The ‘on sale’ price of my kid’s favorite sandwich bread is $2.00 a loaf. It isn’t unusual for our family to chomp their way through 8 loaves a week.
$16.00 a week for bread.
That’s outrageous!
Even our day old bread store recently raised it’s prices. Seems as though the surrounding grocery stores began complaining about the competition.
I make lots of Artisan kinds of breads. Crunchy crusts with chewy centers. But sometimes you want a loaf of bread that is soft and fluffy. This recipe creates a loaf that is half way between Wonder and Granny bread.
It’s simple enough for a beginner. Cheap. And worthy of your grilled cheese.
Amish White bread
2 cups warm water (110 degrees)
2/3 cup white sugar
2 TBS active dry yeast
1 1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
6 cups white flour
1. In a large bowl, dissolve the sugar in warm water and then stir in yeast. Allow to proof until yeast resembles a creamy foam.
2. Mix salt and oil into the yeast. Mix in flour one cup at a time, sifting it in. I measure out my flour, sift it into a bowl, and then add that flour cup by cup. This is what gives the bread the unique lightness. You can certainly skip that step, and just simply add in the flour. You will still love the results.
You can kneed the dough by hand on a lightly floured surface until smooth (about 8-10 minutes). I let my wonder machine do all the work.
Place dough in a well oiled bowl and turn dough to coat. Cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rise until doubled in bulk, about an hour or two.
3. Punch down dough, knead for a few minutes and divide in half. Shape into loaves and place into two well oiled 9×5 loaf pans. Allow to rise for 30 minutes or until dough has risen at least one inch above the pans.
4. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Turn out onto rack to cool before slicing.
*This isn’t an original recipe. Not only have I seen it on several places on the internet, I was making this bread before we could even get on the internets. However, if you do know who I should give kudos to for it, let me know!
Tammy, can I put this in my Dutch oven or will that mess it up?
Amanda,
I dunno. I wouldn’t see why not to tell you the truth.
Girlfriend- do you hand knead all those loaves?? I gotta give you high fives on that one! I make bread sometimes (DH likes Persian Na’an that’s hard to find) but I let the stand mixer do the work!
Uh….no. I let my stand mixer do the work too. When I make bread I often do 6-8 loaves at a time. Hand kneading would do me in. Carpel Tunnel, Baby.
I have used a hand mixer before though.
Thanks so much for this simple recipe. I am on it. Never made bread B4 but will be giving it a whirl as a loaf of bread here in our supermarkets average $3.99 or $3.45 – $5.00 from the bakery & we go through one loaf a day.
K
More bread recipes please. I need to get back into the habit of making all our bread again.
Oh those loaves of bread look good. I’d probably eat a whole one myself! Bread is expensive, and I eat it the most.
Twitter: marriedlife
Nov 5, 10
I’m going to have to try this… although I seriously SUCK at making bread. No seriously, you have no idea.
I’m am forever thankful that we have a Franz bakery outlet in our town that my best friend introduced me to a couple years back. We are only 3 (eating solids at the moment) and we can go through 3 or 4 loaves a week. If I can manage to get there on Saturdays they have pretty decent whole grain bread 3 for $2. Other times I think it’s more like 4 for $5, but still, way better than $4 a loaf regular price! (and yes, this is the day old price)
It sounds great and I will certainly try it, but I have to wonder, after you buy all the ingredients, is it really cheaper? I mean, I know it’s better, but if cost is an issue, how many loaves do you get for $16 going this route?
I’ve never really tried to make bread before except with a bread machine, but the teen is taking cooking in school so this could be a great project for us to try.
Debbie, it’s been awhile, but the last time I did the cost breakdown on this particular recipe, it came out to be somewhere around .50-.65 a loaf?
I think. It’s been awhile. And it’s early. And we didn’t have a night nurse last night. heh.
I do buy my flour in 25 pound bags. The last several bags my Mom got through a co-op for cheap. And sometimes I even grind my own wheat.
Then I buy the extra light olive oil at Costco that come two to a package. And I buy my yeast in the bricks…..NOT in the little packages or even the little jar.
I do have some recipes for bread that are just basically flour, salt, yeast in water. It makes a chewier bread, but still amazing.
It’s the oil in this recipe that kicks up the price a bit.
I guess it’s time to recalculate my savings here, huh?
That looks sooooo yummy. Not a good post to read when you are hungry. I am going to have to give it a try.
This looks delicious….and gorgeous. Is it weird that I just called bread “gorgeous?”
new to your blog..looking forward to reading more!
I have made bread from this recipe!! It is a wonderful recipe to add to ones collection. The bread is also super easy to make, even easier with a kitchen aid.. Although my upper arms could use the workout!!! I have five kids and they go through bread rapidly too. My oldest (a 15 year old 6’6″ boy) actually took a WHOLE loaf of this bread for lunch one day to school….
I’ve been looking for a light fluffy white bread recipe. What kind of white flour do you use??
We get our yeast at Sam’s in 2 pound bricks, and bread flour in 25 pound bags there at La Crosse, WI. It went down a dollar since last year at $8.98 or so, but the bread prices are still climbing. One place said flour is .28 pounds per cup, is that right for figuring?? The flour is cheap, the extra virgin olive oil we use is highest priced part, just makes it good.. We also put the yeast into the flour, never have proofed it in 55 years, and it keeps for years in our fridge in Rubbermaid or TupperWare containers.. No problems with yeast ever, except that last package that must be on steroids.. We can only use half of it but it still is active dry, so don’t know what happened to it, just all over the place if you use the full amount…. TY for the recipe.