Walter Sands' Basic White Bread

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/walter-sands-basic-white-bread-recipe

Walter Sands made this bread faithfully once a week for years. Walter was the father of Frank E. Sands, King Arthur Flour's current chairman of the board. Because of his arthritic hands, Walter used a bread bucket with a crank, which kneaded hundreds of loaves of this fragrant, soft sandwich bread with all its happy associations. The recipe makes two loaves, and we'll show you how to turn the second into a raisin-cinnamon swirl variation for an extra treat.

Recipe summary

 Hands-on time:

 

30 mins. to 40 mins.

 Baking time: 

35 mins. to 40 mins.

 Total time: 

3 hrs to 4 hrs 

 Yield: 

2 loaves, 32 slices

Dough

• 2 cups warm water
• 2 tablespoons sugar or honey
• 1 packet active dry yeast; or 2 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast or active dry yeast
• 1/2 cup Baker's Special Dry Milk
• 2 tablespoons soft butter, or vegetable oil
• 6 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 2 teaspoons salt

Cinnamon-Raisin Swirl

• 3 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
• 1 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions

1. 1) Pour the warm water into a mixing bowl. Add and let dissolve the sugar or honey and then the yeast.
2. 2) When the yeast is bubbling, add the butter, 3 cups of flour, the dry milk, and salt. Mix together.
3. 3) Stir in another 2 1/2 cups of flour, keeping the last 1/2 cup in reserve. Knead the dough for 3 to 4 minutes, until it begins to behave as if it belongs together. Cover and let the dough rest while you clean and grease the mixing bowl.
4. 4) Continue kneading for 3 or 4 more minutes, until the dough feels smooth and springy. Use up to 1/2 cup of the reserved flour, if necessary, to keep the dough from sticking to the kneading surface.
5. 5) Place the dough in the greased bowl, turn it over to coat both sides, and cover the bowl. Let it rise in a draft-free place until doubled, 1 to 2 hours. Deflate the dough, and divide it in half. Form into loaves (or make into cinnamon-raisin bread as described in tips, below), and place in greased 8 1/2" x 4 1/2" pans. Cover with greased plastic wrap and let rise until the dough domes an inch above the rim of the pans.
6. After the dough has been rising for 20 minutes, preheat the oven to 350°F. When the loaves are sufficiently risen, bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until nicely browned and the center of the loaves reads 190°F when measured with an instant-read thermometer. Remove from the oven and tip the breads out of their pans. Place on a rack to cool completely before slicing.

Tips from our bakers

• You can make this bread with milk instead of water; just bring 2 cups of milk to a simmer, then cool to lukewarm before using.
• For cinnamon-swirl bread, roll each piece of dough into a rough 9" x 15" rectangle. Spread each piece with half the melted butter, then sprinkle with half the raisins, sugar, and cinnamon. Starting with a short edge, roll into a cylinder. Place the loaves in the pans, seam-side down, and let rise and bake as directed at right.
• Want to make this bread using a mixer, or a bread machine set on the dough cycle? Combine all of the ingredients except 1/2 cup of the flour. Mix and knead, using your machine of choice, and adding just enough of the remaining 1/2 cup flour (if necessary) to make a soft, slightly sticky dough. Continue at step 5, letting the dough rise in a bowl, then finishing the bread as directed.

Peasant Bread: The Best Easiest Bread You Will Ever Make!

For complete instructions click here!

http://www.alexandracooks.com/2012/11/07/my-mothers-peasant-bread-the-best-easiest-bread-you-will-ever-make/

Ingredients

4 cups (510 g | 1 lb. 2 oz) all-purpose flour* (do not use bleached all-purpose)
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 cups lukewarm water**
2 to 3 teaspoons sugar (I use 2, my mom uses 3 — difference is negligible)
2 teaspoons active-dry yeast***
room temperature butter, about 2 tablespoons

* My mother always uses 1 cup graham flour and 3 cups all-purpose or bread flour. Also, you can use as many as 3 cups of whole wheat flour, but the texture changes considerably. I suggest trying with all all-purpose or bread flour to start and once you get the hang of it, start trying various combinations of whole wheat flour and/or other flours. Also, measure scant cups of flour if you are not measuring by weight: scoop flour into the measuring cup using a separate spoon or measuring cup; level off with a knife. The flour should be below the rim of the measuring cup.

** To make foolproof lukewarm water that will not kill the yeast (water that's too hot can kill yeast), boil some water — I use my teapot. Then, mix 1 1/2 cups cold water with 1/2 cup boiling water. This ratio of hot to cold water will be the perfect temperature for the yeast.

***I buy Red Star yeast in bulk (2lbs.) from Amazon. I store it in my freezer, and it lasts forever. If you are using the packets of yeast (the kind that come in the 3-fold packets), just go ahead and use a whole packet — I think it's 2.25 teaspoons. I have made the bread with active dry and rapid rise and instant yeast, and all varieties work. If you are interested in buying yeast in bulk, here you go: Red Star Baking Yeast Also, if you buy instant yeast, there is no need to do the proofing step — you can add the yeast directly to the flour — but the proofing step does just give you the assurance that your yeast is active. I love SAF instant yeast, which can be purchased from King Arthur flour as well as Amazon.

Instructions

Mixing the dough:
• If you are using active-dry yeast: In a small mixing bowl, dissolve the sugar into the water. Sprinkle the yeast over top. There is no need to stir it up. Let it stand for about 10 to 15 minutes or until the mixture is foamy and/or bubbling just a bit — this step will ensure that the yeast is active. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together the flour and salt. When the yeast-water-sugar mixture is foamy, stir it up, and add it to the flour bowl. Mix until the flour is absorbed.

• If you are using instant yeast: In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, sugar, and instant yeast. Add the water. Mix until the flour is absorbed.
Cover bowl with a tea towel or plastic wrap and set aside in a warm spot to rise for at least an hour. (If you have the time to let it rise for 1.5 to 2 hours, do so — this will help the second rise go more quickly.) This is how to create a slightly warm spot for your bread to rise in: Turn the oven on at any temperature (350ºF or so) for one minute, then turn it off. Note: Do not allow the oven to get up to 300ºF, for example, and then heat at that setting for 1 minute — this will be too hot. Just let the oven preheat for a total of 1 minute — it likely won't get above 300ºF. The goal is to just create a slightly warm environment for the bread. My mother always covers the dough with a tea towel that she has run under hot water and rung out so it's just damp.
Preheat the oven to 425ºF. Grease two oven-safe bowls (such as the pyrex bowls I mentioned above) with about a tablespoon of butter each. (My mother might use even more — more butter not only adds flavor but also prevents sticking). Using two forks, punch down your dough, scraping it from the sides of the bowl, which it will be clinging to. As you scrape it down try to turn the dough up onto itself if that makes sense. You want to loosen the dough entirely from the sides of the bowl, and you want to make sure you've punched it down. Take your two forks and divide the dough into two equal portions — eye the center of the mass of dough, and starting from the center and working out, pull the dough apart with the two forks. Then scoop up each half and place into your prepared bowls. This part can be a little messy — the dough is very wet and will slip all over the place. Using small forks or forks with short tines makes this easier — my small salad forks work best; my dinner forks make it harder. It's best to scoop it up fast and plop it in the bowl in one fell swoop. Let the dough rise for about 20 to 30 minutes on the countertop near the oven (or near a warm spot) or until it has risen to just below or above (depending on what size bowl you are using) the top of the bowls. (Note: I do not do the warm-oven trick for the second rise. I simply set my bowls on top of my oven, so that they are in a warm spot. Twenty minutes in this spot usually is enough for my loaves.)
Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to 375º and make for 15 to 17 minutes longer. Remove from the oven and turn the loaves onto cooling racks. If you've greased the bowls well, the loaves should fall right out onto the cooling racks. If the loaves look a little pale and soft when you've turned them out onto your cooling racks, place the loaves into the oven (outside of their bowls) and let them bake for about 5 minutes longer. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes before cutting.