First of all I would like to say that I think this is going to be a fun forum :-D. I wanted to contribute the best bread recipe that I have ever tried. Here goes.... White Bread with Eggs 2 pkgs. dry or compressed yeast 1/2 cup water 1 tbsp. sugar 2 eggs, lightly beaten 1/2 cup melted butter or margarine 2 cups warm milk or water 1 1/2 tsp. salt 1/4 cup honey 8 to 9 cups flour

Combine in a large mixing bowl, the yeast, 1/2 cup of warm water, and sugar. Stir with fork until dissoved. Cover with a towel and set aside for 20 minutes. When the sponge is bubbling nicely, add eggs, butter, milk or water, salt and honey, stirring until smooth. Beat in 2 cups of flour. Gradually add enough more flour to make a soft, workable dough that leaves sides of the bowl. Turn out on a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and resilient, about 10 minutes. Add only enough more flour to make a smooth dough. Round dough into a ball and place in a warm, greased bowl, turning to coat the top. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and towel. Set in a draft free spot, until double in bulk, about f1 hour. Knead lightly in the bowl, recover and allow to double again, approximately 45 minutes. On a lightly floured board, knead 2 or 3 minutes, cover and let rest 10 minutes. Cut in 3 portions, shape into loaves and place in greased loaf pans. Cover and let rise to tops of pans, 45 minutes to an hour. Bake in preheated 375 degree oven 35 minutes. Remove and turn out on wire racks to cool. You can brush with melted butter at this point to keep the crust soft and chewy or do like I do and take a stick of butter and peel the paper off to expose one end and just rub it all over the sides and top. This is the best bread, and it freezed very well. Hope you all enjoy. Kim :-D

-- Kim in Indiana (kwcountrygirl@aol.com), January 20, 2002

Answers

I want to add the easiest bread recipe. I use this one several times a week.

3 1/2 cups flour

1 pkg yeast

1 cup warm water

2 TBS sugar

2 TBS oil

1 tsp salt

In large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water, add sugar, oil, and salt. Mix well, add 2 cups of the flour. Stir well, add enough of the remaining flour to make the dough un-sticky and can easily be kneaded by hand.

Knead the dough right in the bowl for 5 minutes. Cover and let rise in warm place 1 hour. Punch down dough and shape into a ball. Place ball of dough on a cookie sheet, cover and let rise another hour. Bake 375 for 30 min. This makes a nice round loaf. Sometimes I use this recipe for bierocks and sometimes I split the loaf and make a large sandwich with several meats and cheeses, lettuce tomatoes, onions and Italian dressing. Serve in wedges. Happy Cooking!

-- cowgirlone in OK (cowgirlone47@hotmail.com), January 20, 2002.

Thanks for starting up this forum. I'm already printing out recipes & patterns.

I have a problem with finding just the right place for my dough to rise. We have a wood burning cookstove in the kitchen, but it seems that the dough dries out when I rise it near there. Any suggestions?

-- Charleen in WNY (harperhill@eznet.net), January 21, 2002.

Charleen, have you tried spritzing the top with some water and then covering it with plastic wrap? We set ours to rise by the woodstove too, but don't have the problem with drying out when we use the plastic wrap. Lynelle

-- Lynelle (x2ldp@aol.com), January 21, 2002.

Can someone send me the sour dough recipe from the "tightwad gazette"? You can email me directly if you like. Thanks a bunch Lynelle

-- Lynelle (x2ldp@aol.com), January 21, 2002.

When I have my bread all done up and I put it on the cookstove top and cover with plastic it will start to cook from the bottom and not rise. I try to put it where it's not so hot . Does any body out there have this problem? Brenda The Farm

-- Brenda (thecfarm@midmaine.com), January 21, 2002.

I put my bread to rise about 1 foot from the firebox of my cookstove on a chair. I oil my bowl, turn the dough several times to coat with the oil, place plastic wrap loosely over the dough and then cover the whole thing with a large teatowel. It works perfectly every time.

The top of the cookstove is too hot for bread to rise.

I hope this helps.

-- Silvia (organic_farmer@hotmail.com), January 21, 2002.

I have an all electric kitchen - no warm spots anywhere! Anyone have a good suggestion for rising dough in this situation? I have hesitated making bread without the bread machine for just this reason.

-- Christine in OK (cljford@mmcable.com), January 21, 2002.

Christine, turn your oven on to 200 and allow it to heat up. At the same time boil a pot of water. turn your oven off, put the pot of water and your dough in the oven and it will rise beautifully. Lynelle

-- Lynelle (x2ldp@aol.com), January 21, 2002.

I've found that the same technique works just as well in the microwave! In theory, it should be more energy efficient -- smaller space to heat. less electricity. Just heat 2 cups of water, exchange the water for the bowl of dough and close the door to keep the steam in.

-- Birdie Hanson (wordiebirdie@yahoo.com), January 30, 2002.