Bread

  Growing up my mother taught us the importance of being able to make bread. It is the staff  of like if and when tragedy hits or if you are just short on your payday and you need to make your money stretch.  But for me, I love the way it makes my home smell. I love the way it brings the kids into the kitchen so we can talk. I love the smiles I get when I share it with neighbors and friends. Fresh baked bread makes people happy. And that is one of my favorite things to do is to make people happy.
   So here is my basic bread recipe
   Heat your oven to 300
Basic Bread
6 Cups Warm Water
1 Cup Honey or Sugar (Use Honey for Wheat Bread. Use Sugar for White Bread)
3 Tbsp Salt (I use Sea Salt but any table salt will do)
2 tsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp Baking Soda
2/3 Cups Oil (I use Olive or Canola but again any will do)
2 Tbsp Yeast

Mix this together for a few seconds and let it sit for 5 Minutes.
Turn off your oven!

If you want to add any seeds or grain this is the time. We like Millet, Steal Cut Oats, Pumpkin Seeds, Sunflower Seeds, Sprouted Wheat, Quinoa, Anything. I have only done this with my wheat bread however. But it might taste good with your white bread. I do know that if you want to make potato bread now is the time to add your instant mashed potato or left over home made mash potato.

Mix in 9 Cups of Flour. When it gets to thick to mix with a spoon it is the fun part. Make sure your hands are washed and place 3 more Cups of Flour into your dough. Start to knead it. Do this for about 3 minutes adding flour if needed. You will know that you have enough flour when you push on it and it bounces back. It will still be a LITTLE sticky. Wash your hands spray them with cooking spray and go back to kneading it for about 3-5 more minutes. This last part of kneading is best done on a clean, dry surface with a little flour on it. I like to use my table it is low enough that I can really do some folding and pushing. We need to kneed the dough to build up the gluten in it. This is what makes it not fall apart after it is cooked. So don't be afraid to work it!

 Let me try and explain how to knead your bread.
Pull your bread from the opposite side of you and pull it toward you. Then with the heal of your hand push it away from you. Turn your dough and do it again and repeat.
  I remember I had a room mate once who wanted to learn to make bread and I was coming back from my job or school or something and she was trying to make bread. She had her dough but when it came to kneading it she was just poking it. That picture came to mind when I was thinking about kneading it. I had to tell her that she couldn't hurt the dough and that is why people like to make bread when they are mad because they can beat it up and it still turns out great. LOL
So DONT BE AFRAID to BEAT up your dough.
 
Place your dough into a BIG bowl that has been sprayed with cooking spray and knead it about three more times. This just puts some of the spray onto the top of your dough. Cover it with a big dish rag and place it in your oven. Let it sit there for about an hour. Check it and see it if has doubled in size. If it has, push it down and take it out of the oven.
 Get your loaf pans ready by spraying them well with your cooking spray. Grab a nice sized ball and fold it so that it is smooth on the top. You will want to turn it and fold it again. For beginners don't worry about trying to make them the size of the pan. I like to take a chunk of dough about the size of a soft ball and work with that. You will fit 2 of these in one pan. Do this until all of your dough is used.
 Place your pans into the oven for about 10 Minutes. Turn on the oven at its LOWEST setting mine is about 170 and let it bake for 15 minutes. It should be doubled in size again. Turn up the heat to 350 and let it bake for about 30-35 Minutes. If it is Wheat it will be a nice brown. If White then it will be a golden brown.
  Take out of the our oven and top with butter. If you are watching your calories you can do a quick spray with your cooking spray (Olive Oil) or you can even get a clean spray bottle and add some water to it. Put it on a fine mist and spray the top.
  Dump them out and enjoy!!!