First try at a batch of Home Bread!

When I Graduated Culinary School I had 2 big interests That I wanted to explore and Improve upon. Butchery /sausage making: Breads/Baking I'll Talk about the Butchering On a later post Cause this one is about "The First Loaf" or in my case two! I picked up a book at Barnes and Noble for $22 bucks That I think is A great book to have and I've only used it once!

(Here's the book on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Bernard-Claytons-Complete-Book-Breads/dp/0743287096/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1325311136&sr=8-1 ) I browsed Through the first few Pages where Bernard tells you about all the ingredients, different additives etc, Worth a read to better Understand Breads in general The first Recipe in the book is called "The First Loaf" His Recipes and Directions are broken down in the best possible way, He describes Each recipe so you can make it with one of 3 different methods: By Hand: My Mixer: By Food Processor: It also Tells you important times for each Step in the Margin, Like How long to knead/ rest/baking time etc. Like I said before I Think you should get this guys book if you Really want to learn how to make some bread. There is a recipe for Bacon Batter bread (YEAH I'm Gonna Make it!) Ok on for the recipe and stuff: The First Loaf: 5-6 cups All purpose Flour (i needed 6cups) 3 Tbsp Sugar 2 tsp Salt 1 Package Dry Yeast .25C nonfat dry milk (i didn't have this so I omitted it) 2C Hot water (120-130degrees) 3 Tbsp Shortening room temp This recipe makes 2 8x4 loaves or 3 7x3 Loaves Because I have a KitchenAid Those are the directions I will List

place 2C of the flour and all of the remaining Dry ingredients into a mixer with paddle attachment Add the water and beat til well combined

Add the shortening add 1C flour and mix 3 mins Switch to Dough hook Add The remaining Flour in 1/4 cup incriments untill the dough forms a soft elastic ball around the hook.

now you have to Knead it. Just turn your kitchenAid to 2 and knead for 10-15 mins

When it is well kneaded you should be able to grab a chuck and stretch it into a thin sheet without it breaking Place the dough in a Lightly Greased bowl covered with plastic

for an hour untill 2x in size Time to shape! Turn out dough onto a floured work area knead briefly to force out air bubbles Cut the dough in 2 or 3 pieces (depending on how many loaves you want) Roll the pieces into balls and rest covered with a towel for 3 mins press the ball into an oval and turn it so it looks like an O with the shorter sides against you (the shaping process is similar to Tri Folding a letter to put in an Envelope) fold the top 1/3 down pressing it into the dough then fold that down and press the dough together, placing it into the greased pan seam side down One thing I didn't do was make sure the shaped dough is as long as the pan so when it rose it didn't rise up along those sides of the pan because it was expanding to reach them instead of rising up. After They are Shaped and in the Pans cover them with a kitchen Towel in a warm place and let them rise 45 mins. Preheat your oven to 400 when the dough has been Rising 25 mins Baking Place the loaves in the oven for 10Mins drop the temp to 350 and rotate the loaves to get even heat. cook at 350 for 25-30 mins When golden brown (and 200degrees internal temp) The Loaves are done!

Put them on a cooling rack til they are room temp and you can Wrap them in a few layers of plastic and Freeze one or slice for sandwiches,

or feed it to ducks, Whatever Floats your boat! for soft tender crust: brush the crust with melted Butter, Plus it's better so it can only make the bread More Delicious!( my Right loaf is butter basted)