PotterMama: Bread Baking with a Kitchenaid: 101

I made homemade bread! Wahoo! I am very proud of myself, as if I just accomplished the impossible.

I started with a super basic recipe. This recipe makes two loaves.

What you need:

Bread Flour

Yeast

Salt

Sugar

Butter or Margarine

Water

Oil

Non stick spray

3 yeast packs

Measuring cups

Measuring spoons

Roller

Two loaf pans

Mixer

I used the Kitchenaid pro 600 mixer, any mixer of any brand will do, as long as it has a dough hook!

Step 1- Place 5 1/2 cups of flour, 4 tablespoons of butter softened, 2 tablespoons of sugar, 3.5 teaspoons of salt and 3 packs of yeast into your mixer. Add your dough hook if you have yet to.

Before starting the mixer, have 1 cup of flour and 2 cups of very warm/hot water beside you.

Step 2- Mix ingredients on speed 2 for 20 seconds, then begin slowly adding the water. Knead for 1-2 minutes longer. (dough will be damp/wet/sticky)

Step 3- Slowly add the cup of flour, little by little, until the dough sticks to the dough hook and cleans the sides of the bowl.

Step 4- Take the bowl off the mixer. Rub your hands with a little oil, grab the dough and mold it into a roll. Place it back in bowl, cover the bowl and let stand for 20 minutes to rise.

In the meantime, spray your baking pans and lightly flour a surface for rolling your dough. Pre heat your oven to 350 degrees.

Step 5- Your dough will have risen, take it out of the bowl and split the dough in half.

Step 6- Roll out each set of dough into a rectangle. Once rolled out, take one end and roll it to the other end (like a swiss roll!).

Step 6- Once its in a roll, pinch it together, pinch and fold the ends UP. Rub oil on it, and place it "upside down" in your pan. (With the seams in the bottom of the pan)

Step 7- You can wrap it and put it in the fridge to make for later, or bake them for 20-30 minutes now! You can also wrap them in saran wrap and freeze them before baking for dough later.