Homemade Bread

Mmmmmmmmmmm...homemade bread. Not only does it taste delicious, it makes your house smell delicious. This is a loaf I recently made. I stopped buying store-bought bread a while back, mostly to save money and I'm glad I did. It's a lot more work to make your own bread, not even counting the effort it takes to resist eating it all right out of the oven. We have lowered our grocery bill and it's reduced the time I have to spend in the grocery store with my kids in tow. I prefer the long loaf pan because it makes this long loaf that lasts a lot longer. The one I have, I got off of amazon. It is a Pain de Mie pan from USA Pans. You can find them here. They're cool because they have a sliding lid if you want the bread to be a perfect square. I don't use the lid much, but I sure use the pan a lot.
I also bought a Lock & Lock storage box for my bread so I wouldn't waste bread bags. I really like it because it keeps the bread pretty fresh and the loaf fits perfectly inside. We have a meat slicer that we inherited from Craig's grandma that we use to slice the bread, which makes it super convenient when you need to grab a slice for a sandwich or for toast.

The recipe I use is my mom's. It originally was for white bread, but she adapted it so it could be 100% whole grain and I'm glad she did. Here's the recipe:

1/2 c milk
3 T sugar
2 tsp salt
3 T butter
1 1/2 c warm water
2 1/2 t yeast
5-6 c flour
2 T orange juice
2 heaping T dough enhancer (optional)

Microwave milk on high 45 seconds. Stir in sugar, salt, and butter. Cool to lukewarm and add orange juice. Meanwhile, pour water into large bowl or mixer. Add yeast and a small pinch of sugar and stir. When it starts to foam, add milk mixture and 3 cups of flour and dough enhancer if using. Beat until smooth. Add 2 cups more flour and mix until incorporated. Knead or use dough hook until smooth and elastic, about 8-10 minutes. Form into a smooth ball and place in a greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover and let rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour. Punch down and let rest for 15 minutes. If using standard bread pans, divide dough in half and shape into 2 loaves. If using the long pan, shape into one loaf. Place loaves into greased loaf pans, cover and let rise until double, about 1 hour. Bake at 400 for 5 minutes and then reduce to 375 for 25 minutes more. Remove bread from pan immediately and let cool.

I usually grind the white wheat and use that for the flour in this recipe. The orange juice does something amazing for the texture of the bread. Our family usually gobbles up a long loaf in a few days, we like it so much. What I love most is that there are only a few ingredients in it, and in the winter I can use the oranges from our tree for the juice. Now that's fresh!