Farmhouse White Bread
By Yankee Magazine|Mar 19 2015|
The milk in the recipe for farmhouse white bread not only adds protein and minerals, but it also creates a tender, spongy texture, a greater sweetness and a golden crust. The dough rises high in the bowl, promising plenitude.
Yield
3 loaves, or 2 loaves and a dozen rolls.
Ingredients
Scald 3 cups fresh milk with 3 tablespoons butter. Set aside to cool.
Dissolve 2 packages dry yeast (2-3/4 teaspoons per pack) in 1/2 cup warm water.
Combine 2 cups all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons salt, 3 tablespoons sugar in large mixing bowl. To this mixture add the dissolved yeast and milk.
Gradually stir in about 7 more cups of flour. (I substitute 1-1/2 cups or 2 cups whole wheat bread flour for some all-purpose.)
Instructions
Knead until dough is smooth and elastic (about 6 minutes), then set the dough to rise in large bowl in a warm place until it has doubled in size (1-1/2 hours). Punch down and let rise again (about 1 hour). After the second rising, form into loaves and let rise again in bread pans. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and bake until loaves are nicely browned and sound hollow when turned out of the pan and tapped on the bottom, about 35 minutes.
Delicious when warm, in sandwiches, as toast, and when several days old, as French toast.
Notes
The Yankee Cook though glad that chewy, rustic breads of the European type are becoming more widely available, fears that old-fashioned farmhouse white bread has replaced them on the endangered species list, so she was happy to see this one. It makes great butter rolls, too. Just roll out a loaf’s worth, spread liberally with melted butter, and roll like a jelly roll. Cut 1-1/2 inch lengths, put them cut-side down in well-buttered muffin tins, and bake at 425 degrees F until risen and well browned, about 20 minutes.
Would I make this recipe again? I make it on a weekly basis. It is a high rising bread that is excellent for everything and stays fresh a long time. I would highly recommend this bread for anyone looking to replace store bought bread. It looks difficult to make but is very easy and forgiving if you make a mistake in rising.
Yes, this is a very good white bread. When I made it the first time, it was gone in one day –a very easy recipe even for a beginner. I will make it again and again.
This bread was easy to make and tasted fantastic. It rose and browned into a very attractive loaf, with a nice consistency. Easy to cut for sandwiches, and didn’t collapse. I will make this one again.
cheers!!
Kim M
I gave a loaf to a friend who said he had not tasted bread like this since that which his mother baked!
This is the same bread Mother made every week when we were kids. I was 19 when I had my first store-bought bread.
do you not oil the bowl and the pans?
Wonderful! Just like the bread my grandmother made every day for her large family for many, many years. She would go into the kitchen around 4:00AM every day to start the bread so that everyone had fresh bread for breakfast and she always made the rolls as well. The bread never lasted until dinner – that is what the rolls were for. I was very happy to find this recipe as my grandmother’s recipe was lost to me when my mother died a decade ago. Thank you for the memories (and the delicious bread).
i am going to try this bread as i make alot of bread for pioneer village
My mothers no knead white recipe…so similiar, great to make when kids outside in snow..open a jar of jam from summer fruit.
•It used to be that scalding milk was necessary to kill bacteria that might affect the yeast activity and to alter a protein in the milk that played havoc with the gluten structure in bread. However, pasteurization has protected us from harmful bacteria and has altered the proteins, so scalding milk is no longer necessary.
I have my great grandmother’s easter bread recipe, which calls for scalded milk. I’ve done it her way for 40 years. I decided to google the purpose of scalding milk for bread and although I still scalded these past few years, I questioned it because of exactly what you said. Thank you for this comment.
Has anyone successfuly scaled this recipe? I am 84 and cpuld never use that much bread before is spoiled. When i baked regularly, I had 2 goto breads, Bernard Clayton’s Cuban bread and a farmhouse bread from an English cookbook. Alas I lost both cookbooks in a fire. If anyone has a similar recipe for 1 or 2 loaves I would appreciate it.