The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

I'm not sure if this is the recipe the Amish use, but its good and I make it often. This last batch, I added wheat germ and chia seeds.

It is not uncommon for me to have someone stop and tell me they love reading the recipes, but really haven't made them. I laughed when it dawned on me that is what I do with exercise tapes. I watch them, save them on Facebook, and somehow think that is the same as doing them.

For me, I'll start a recipe before I dust so you can see my priorities.

INGREDIENTS:

2 c. warm water (110 degrees) 1 ½ tsp salt

2/3 c. white sugar ¼ c. vegetable oil

1 ½ Tbsp active dry yeast 6 c. bread flour

DIRECTIONS:

In a large bowl, dissolve the sugar in warm water and then stir in yeast. Allow to proof until yeast resembles a creamy foam.

Mix salt and oil into the yeast. Mix in flour one cup at a time. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Place in a well-oiled bowl, then turn dough to coat. Cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rise until doubled in bulk, about an hour.

Punch dough down. Knead for a few minutes, and divide in half. Shape into loaves and place into two well-oiled 9 x 5 inch loaf pans. Allow to rise for 30 minutes or until dough has risen 1 inch above pans.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

MY NOTES: Notice how many ingredients are in a homemade bread, now look at the ingredients in a store bought loaf of bread. I counted almost 25 compared to five or six with homemade bread.

Most bread recipes will have you dissolve the yeast in less water. The trick is to keep the water warm enough if you have to dissolve the sugar, then add yeast. So I used very warm water (1 cup) to dissolve the sugar, then added another very warm cup of water, add yeast, then used a whisk to work it in quickly. That seemed to work great. I have always used my wrist to judge the warmth.

Personally, since I have made a lot of bread, I don't worry about whether it has raised for one hour or one and half hours.

And lastly, don't cheat on the time. It's better to add five more minutes than to have a doughy center. If it looks like its browning too much on top, then put a piece of foil on them, but they should be nice and brown. When they have cooled a bit, I put butter on top as to keep the crust from getting dry.

ENJOY