My Newest Adventure

Recently, I have been looking into making bread from scratch. We always seem to go through a ton of bread, and at times race to the store in a panic because we don't have any. We always purchase a high quality, no high fructose corn syrup, no artificial colors or flavors, whole grain, with fiber bread. The healthier the bread the more it costs, so I have decided to start making it at home. I am able to control the quality of ingredients, and even add extra layers of nutrition which is a win! Everything I have read says if you are new to baking bread, to start off easy to get the technique and then work up to more complicated recipes. That is exactly what I did today. I made an English Muffin Bread! The recipe came from my Grandmother and it is easy and delicious, here it is!

English Muffin Bread

Makes 2 Loaves

1 Cup Milk (scalded)

2 tbsp. Sugar

1 tsp. Salt

3 tbsp. Butter

1 Cup Lukewarm Water

1 pkg. Active Dry Yeast

5-6 Cups Flour

Cornmeal for dusting

Start off by scalding the milk. I used a saucepan, turned my stove on medium high and stirred continuously until bubbles formed around the edges and it looked frothy. Remove from heat and stir in the butter, salt and sugar. Let that sit until it is lukewarm (100-110 degrees). Once the milk mixture is lukewarm get the water lukewarm (100-110 degrees) and put into mixer. Sprinkle the yeast and stir until completely dissolved in the water. Add the milk mixture to the water and combine.

Add 3 cups of flour and start the mixer. Mix until completely smooth. The dough will still be sticky. Now slowly start adding flour little by little and mixing until dough can be formed into ball, and its manageable. Grease a bowl and place dough ball into the bowl. Cover with a towel or two and put in a warm place for 1 hour to rise. The dough should double in size.

With your fist, punch a hole in the center of the dough, and pull dough from sides into the hole you punched. Next, roll out onto a floured surface. Get your two loaf pans and grease them. Roll the dough with a rolling pin until it is an inch longer than your pan. Fold the left and right side of dough into center, pressing firmly. Now pull ends in to fit the size of loaf pan, and pinch seams together. Roll in cornmeal and place in loaf pan. Cover with a towel and place in a warm place. Let rise another hour.

When dough has about doubled in size again place in a 400 degree oven for about 25 minutes. Bread will be done when its brown on top and when you knock on the sides or bottom it sounds hallow.