Dishes & Dust Bunnies

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Old Fashioned Bread using a Stand Mixer

by Michelle Varga

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This recipe makes a deliciously soft and fluffy loaf with a golden crust that is just amazing!  My husband enjoys this bread so much that I usually have to make a couple batches a month and freeze them so that there's enough.

This reminds me so much of the bread that my grandmother used to make back home in New Brunswick, Canada.  She used to make it in the old wood stove and one of my earliest memories is of the scent wafting through the old house and up into my room as a kid when I stayed there.

I love the convenience that my stand mixer gives in creating batches of deliciousness for my family.  If you have a stand mixer you should definitely try this out.

The instructions are quite easy as well and I've outlined everything in detail below.  Basically you just prepare the yeast and get it all foamy, combine this with the rest of the wet ingredients in a large measuring cup, and then pour the mix into the stand mixer with your dry ingredients.  Be sure to have all your ingredients measured out and ready to go before you begin and it's a breeze!  I've made this so many times that I now have it pretty much memorized!

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Old Fashioned White Bread using the Stand Mixer

  • Yield: 2 Loaves of bread 1x
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Ingredients

  • 2 cups warm water in a large measuring cup
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 1 1/2 tbsp active dry yeast
  • 1 1/2 tsps salt
  • 1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil
  • 5–6 cups bread flour, separated

Instructions

For the Yeast Mixture:

  1. You will need the water, yeast, and sugar for this step.
  2. Spoon the active dry yeast into a measuring cup and add about 1 tsp of the sugar (it's ok if it's a little more).
  3. Add about 1/4 cup of the warm water to the yeast and sugar. Stir it up and let it rise for about 10 minutes until it's frothy.
  4. Combine the remaining water and the oil and set it aside until needed.
  5. While waiting for the yeast mixture to foam up prepare the dry ingredients.

For the dry ingredients:

  1. In the stand mixer add 4 cups of the flour along with the remaining sugar as well as the salt. Set the mixer to ‘Stir” using the hook attachment. In a couple minutes the dry ingredients should be well combined.
  2. Check on your yeast mixture. If it's frothy and foamy it's ready to use. Now to make things simple add the contents of the measuring cup with the water and oil to the measuring cup with the yeast.
  3. With your mixer speed set to 1 or stir, gradually pour in the contents of the wet ingredients. Turn up the speed to 2 and mix for about 5 min.
  4. Set your mixer back to speed 1 (or stir). Now begin adding the remaining flour 1/2 a cup at a time. Mix together for about 10 on speed 2. The dough should be coming together in the mixer bowl and should be no longer sticking to the sides when it's done mixing. You can add a little more flour if it's still too sticky.
  5. Now temporarily remove the dough from the bowl and form it into a ball. Using cooking spray coat the inside of the bowl and put the dough back in the bowl and use cooking spay on top as well. Next cover the top of the bowl with plastic wrap and put in a warm place to rise until doubled in size (should take about 30 min).
  6. Once the dough has doubled in size punch it down and remove it from the bowl. Let the dough rest for about 10 minutes. Once rested divide the dough into 2 equal portions in the form of a ball.
  7. Take one of your dough balls and roll it out on a floured surface using rolling pin. Roll out the ball roughly into the shape of a rectangle.
  8. Now roll the rectangle up to form sort of a log and turn the ends in. Place the log (seam down) into a bread pan coated with cooking spray. Then spray the top of the dough as well. Repeat the previous steps with the other portion of dough.
  9. Place the two prepared bread pans in a warm place to rise until the dough is about 1 inch or so above the pans (This should take about 35-45 min).
  10. Once risen place into the oven (pre-heated to 350°F) and bake for 30 min or until top is golden.
  11. When the bread is finished baking empty the pans onto a cooling rack.

Notes

Tip: When I rise the bread dough I place my loaves into my oven which has been preheated to 200°F and then switched off. This gives the dough just the right amount of heat to allow them to rise without baking them before they're ready. Make sure the oven has been switched off before letting your dough rise in there though!