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The HBHW Recommends
Family Bread
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- 4 cups warm tap water (not hot)
- 2/3 cup non-fat dry milk powder (instant powdered milk)
- 1/3 cup sugar or 1/4 cup honey
- 2 packets or 4 teaspoons dry yeast
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1/3 cup melted margarine or oil
- 12 cups (approximately) white or whole wheat flour or a combination
The first thing you need is a big bowl or clean dish pan to mix this up in. I use a huge metal bowl that is made of stainless steel. But I used to use the same plastic dish tub I washed the dishes in. I would wash it with a little bit of bleach, rinse it really well, and then dry it completely. In some ways it worked better because it fit on my lap more conveniently due to the rectangular shape. But the shiny stainless steel one does look more like I know what I’m doing. So much for appearances.
So anyway mix the water, dry milk powder and sugar in the dishpan or bowl. Add the yeast, sort of sprinkled on top. Allow the mixture to sit until the yeast dissolves some, this will only take a couple of minutes. Add the salt, margarine or oil, and flour. Mix with a wooden spoon until it gets too stiff and then dig in with your hands. When the dough is in a nice cohesive ball, turn it out onto a floured kitchen table or counter. Or if you are using a dish pan, you can just leave it in there.
Now start kneading the dough with all of the love you have for your family. Press the dough and send big love vibes into it. Stretch the dough and impress all of your compassion and generosity into it. Remember why you love your kids, and your spouse and your mom or you dad, and just put it all into the dough. Knead it like this for a full ten minutes. Add more flour if you need to as you go along.
Coat the dough with oil, about 2 tablespoons of it, and put it into the bowl or dishpan. Cover it with a towel or plastic wrap and let it set in a warm place to rise for about an hour or so. It should double in bulk. It may take up to two hours on cool days, or in the air conditioning, so be patient.
Punch down the dough by literally pressing your fist into the center of it. Divide the dough into 4 equal lumps. Coax them into loaf shapes and place them into large (9 by 5-inch) well oiled loaf pans. If you don’t have enough loaf pans, use casserole pans or cake pans, or whatever. Cover the dough with a cloth or more plastic wrap and let it rise again. It should take less time for the second rising. When the dough is risen up enough, bake the loaves at 350° for 40 minutes.
You can tell the dough is done if you turn it out of the pan and thump the bottom with your finger. It should make a dull hollow sound. If it doesn’t sound hollow, put it back into the pan and cook it some more. Makes four loaves.
Old-Fashioned Low-Yeast Bread:
This variation is similar to sourdough bread and it has 2 benefits. The first is economical. You only need a single packet of yeast to make 4 loaves of bread. The second is that the work can be done the day before and finished when you have more time the next day. The process is simple.
Reduce the yeast to 1 packet, or approximately 2-1/4 teaspoons of active dry yeast. Mix and knead the dough as directed. When you tuck it away to rise, put it in a spot that is safe from nocturnal critters (like in the oven or the drier) and let it sit for 12 to 18 hours. The yeast has to have a long time to work because there isn’t much of it in there. As it sits in the dough, it will reproduce itself and gradually raise the entire batch of dough. Do not refrigerate it during this time; let it sit at room temperature.
The next day check your dough to see how it’s doing. If it has doubled in bulk, then you can punch it down and shape it into loaves. If it hasn’t doubled yet then let it sit a while longer.
Don’t worry about the dough. Don’t worry about it going bad, or getting contaminated or anything like that. Remember, our foremothers always made their dough this way and they produced healthy, hearty offspring that could withstand all sorts of trouble. Eating this kind of bread didn’t make anyone sick back then when their sanitary methods were questionable at best and it won’t hurt you or your crew either.
After the dough has doubled, you can proceed with the recipe as written. The second rise may take 2 or 3 hours, or it may take less than that. Bake the bread like you normally do. When it’s done you’ll notice that the texture may seem a tiny bit chewier than usual, but for the most part it will be perfectly normal bread.
Here’s another homemade bread recipe I use almost every single week. This one is for buttery bread sticks that go perfect with lasana or spaghetti.
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8 Responses to “Family Bread”
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Website & Graphics by ccd
May 3rd, 2009 at 12:15 pm
I love this web site!!! My husband has been in seminary the past two years so my job is the only source of income for our family of 6. We have saved so much money by using your recipes and by meal planning.
Thank you for all your effort, you have blessed our family greatly!!
Christine
May 6th, 2009 at 7:56 pm
Just found your website. A friend and I are constantly looking for new
recipes and economical ones, she has 3 small children and I am always looking to save money. I love this site and thanks for all the tips and all the hard work. (great looking family too BTW!)
God Bless!
B’
May 12th, 2009 at 1:48 am
I love your website. With the current economy, and so many unemployed and struggling, you are a huge help to others and such an inspiration!!!
Rayven Stern
May 30th, 2009 at 10:31 am
Some place I saw a recipe for a bread that didn’t need kneading. You put the batch of dough in the refrig and took out a piece of it and mounded it on a sheet and let it rise and bake it. Does anyone have the recipe ? It sounded like something I would like to try.
June 16th, 2009 at 3:37 am
I am so enjoying this!!! i am just watching my bread rise.It is very similar to one i used to make and then went and lost the recipe…..when are you going to start a chat ??????? swapping ideas and recipes crosses the seas and air no problem..!!!keep it up
July 29th, 2009 at 7:45 pm
Hello! Now I know why those gals had muscles! Making it through the whole 10 minutes was a challenge. The family LOVES the bread! I sliced and froze some to have for later, but later came very quickly :). Does anyone have a suggestion on how to keep it fresh/soft the longest? Thanks!
October 18th, 2009 at 10:34 pm
Hi there. I have been making this bread recipe for about a year now. It’s the only bread my family likes. Well, this weekend I was making a batch and then got called away during the final rising before sticking it in the oven. It was almost ready and I had to put it in the refrigerator. I knew I would not be able to get back to it until at least 12 hours later. By the time I had a chance to it had fallen in and the top of the dough dried out. I could see wasting all this dough so I re-kneaded the dry tops back into the rest of the dough. If there wasn’t enough moisture I just moistened my hands a little under the faucet and re-worked it then which worked pretty well. Then I divided up each load into 8 - 10 small balls and rolled them out thin. I followed your directions on how to make Indian fry bread for 1/2 of the dough balls and how to make flour tortillas for the other half of the dough balls. Both methods cooked up nicely. My husband likes the fried, my 13 year old daughter likes the “tortilla” bread. She wasn’t sure about using it to make a sandwich to take to school but I told her to pretend it was from a gourmet store. She seemed to like that idea. I just thought I would like you know that even if you have a “failed” batch that it can still turn out to be a success.
October 18th, 2009 at 10:41 pm
By the way, yes I do have a suggestion on how to keep it fresh the longest. Place thoroughly cooled loaves into the “Forever Green” bags and put them in the refrigerator. I buy mine at a local discount store called “Family Dollar” for $5 a box of bags. They normally run about $10 in a regular store. The same company makes bread bags too but the forever green bags work quite well and I’ve had success for up to 2 weeks. I’ve had bread in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks but by the last weeks it’s pretty dried out. Then I just cut these up into cubes and dry them in the oven for croutons or bread crumbs. Drizzle with olive oil for putting on salads. Also, don’t slice your bread ahead of time. It leaves more surfaces to dry out faster. Just cut what you need when you need it. 5 - 10 seconds in the microwave also will make refrigerated bread taste like it just came out of the oven.