White Bread Recipe From My Sister

1/4 cup very warm water + 1 T. Sugar

1 pkg fast rising  yeast

Mix these and let them set while yeast wakes up and gets frothy:

1 cup water

1 cup milk

2/3 cup butter

1/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 t. salt

Mix these in saucepan and heat until butter is melted.  You want this to be very warm but not scalding.

5 1/2 cups flour

In big bowl put flour then pour in milk mixture from saucepan, then add yeast mixture.  Stir until it gets thick enough to work  by hand then knead in about additional 1/4 cup flour until you have a nice texture.  Don’t add too much flour as it will make your bread tough.

Pour out on a floured board and knead for about 10 minutes.  The dough should have a very soft and smooth texture.  Grease a large bowl and roll the dough around in it then cover with a piece of greased wax paper and a towel.  Let rise until doubled.

Once doubled, punch it down and halve it.  Form loaves or rolls and place them into greased pans to rise more.  Cover them with the greased wax paper and towel.

Once they are nearly double, (you want to leave a little for them to rise once in the oven but not too much) bake them in a 375 degree oven until browned and done.  With loaves this is about 40 minutes maybe less, with rolls about 20.  Just keep watching them.

You can tell they’re done if you thump the loaf and it sounds solid and not mushy.