Let’s bake bread! Why you ask? Because it’s easy and it’s fun and it makes your house smell unbelievably wonderful and your people will love you and bow down to you. They will tell you that you are the greatest cook EVER! They might even write a song about you or name a star after you. You never know, stranger things have happened…
This great recipe yields 2 loaves or 24 rolls.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups warm water (like a baby’s bath water)
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 1/2 tbsp yeast
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 6 cups bread flour
Place water, sugar and yeast in a large bowl until and give it a quick stir. It should take about 5 minutes for the yeast to activate. You will know it’s ready when foam has formed on surface.
Next, add vegetable oil and salt and begin adding in flour slowly and stir until a dough ball forms and pulls away from sides of bowl. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Place dough in a oiled bowl turning over once so that both sides are oiled, cover with cloth and let rise to double in a warm place in the kitchen. This will take an hour or maybe just a little longer.
Punch dough down a couple of times and turn out onto counter. Knead for a few minutes. Separate into 2 equal parts as this recipe makes 2 loaves. Roll dough into rectangle and fold over 2x to form loaf. Seal seams by pinching edges together and place in oiled loaf pan. You could skip this step and just form into loaf without the rolling out, folding and sealing seams. You could also form into 12 rolls if desired. Half of the dough should yield 12 rolls.
Bake loaves at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or rolls at 400 degrees for 13-15 minutes.
