First Recipe
Becky at Farm School sent us the following recipe for "Old Order Amish Bread," and we have tried it twice so far. Both attempts produced two tasty, faintly sweet loaves. We used half King Arthur all-purpose flour and half whole wheat. On the second day, this bread (the half a loaf that was left) was pretty dry. It made great toast, though. And fresh out of the oven, it was heavenly.
Old-Order Amish Bread (makes two 8-1/2" loaves; if you want more, just double the recipe)
1 package (1 tbsp.) dry yeast
1-1/2 cups warm water
5-6 cups bread flour
2 tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup oil (safflower, canola, sunflower, etc.)Stir yeast into water and set aside for 5 minutes.
In
large bowl, combine 2 cups of the flour, sugar, salt, and oil. Add
yeast mixture to flour mixture and blend well. Add remaining flour, 1/2
cup at a time, until dough leaves the sides of the bowl. Dough should
be elastic but not sticky.Turn out onto floured surface and
knead about 8 minutes. Place in greased bowl and rotate to grease top
of dough. Cover with plastic wrap or tea towel and let rise until
doubled (about 1 hour).Punch down dough, cover again, and let
rise again, for 45 minutes. Punch down and knead again. Divide into 2
pieces, shape into loaves, and place in two greased 8-1/2" loaf pans.
Cover and let rise again until dough is 1" above pan rims, about 40
minutes.Bake in preheated 400F for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350F and bake 25 to 30 minutes more. Remove from pans and cool.