Holy Carbs! (Kenna's Bread Recipe)

Things have been a bit hectic around here lately, mostly due to my having forgotten how much fun it is to have a baby in the house. I am keeping a friend's 6-month old a couple days a week. Today went well, considering she was a bit grumpy and I still managed to bake bread.

I have had multiple requests for my bread recipe. I found several recipes on Pinterest, and messed around with them a bit, finally coming up with this recipe. I have a KitchenAid stand mixer, but not the dough hook. You can, of course, make this by hand instead of using a mixer. I have never used a bread machine, but I suppose you can halve the recipe and try it. 

This recipe makes two standard size loaves. I bake my bread in a Pampered Chef Mini Loaf Pan, which makes four loaves the perfect size for the toaster and sandwiches, not really mini at all. 

Be sure to read the entire recipe a couple times, as I am not a pro at recipe writing and may not have everything in the logical order. :) Let me know how it turns out!

Kenna's Bread

Makes two loaves

7+  c. bread flour
4 tsp salt
2 c. milk
2/3 c. water
1/4 c.  butter  (salted or unsalted)
5-6 Tbsp honey
4 tsp yeast

1. Put one oven rack in the lowest position and the other in the middle position. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. After ten minutes, turn the oven off but leave the door closed. 

2. Mix 3 cups of the flour, the salt and the yeast. Drizzle the honey over the flour mixture. In a saucepan on low, melt the butter, watching carefully to prevent burning. Add the milk and water and heat to about 110 degrees (*should feel warm when you stick your CLEAN finger in it, not hot.)
Gradually add liquid to the flour mixture, mixing on low until well combined, scraping bowl frequently. Add flour, 1/4-1/2 cup at a time, until the dough comes together. Increase the speed to medium and mix for 8-10 minutes, or until smooth and springy. Add additional flour, 1 spoonful at a time, as necessary if the dough is sticky after about five minutes. Stop machine as frequently as necessary to scrape dough off the beater/dough hook.  

Meanwhile, bring 2 cups water to a boil. 

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead to form a smooth, round ball, about one minute. 

3. Lightly oil a large glass or metal bowl. Roll the dough around the bowl to coat it and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Pour the boiling water into a metal pan placed on the lower oven rack, then put the bowl containing the dough on the upper rack and close the door. Let the dough raise until doubled, between 30 and 40 minutes. 

4. Punch the dough down, divide and form loaves, and place in greased or buttered bread pans. Cover the loaves with plastic wrap and return to the oven for 15-20 minutes. You can re-heat the water, if necessary to maintain the warm oven while it rises.  Remove the bread pans and the pan of water from the oven, preheat the oven to 350. Meanwhile, again bring 2 cups water to a boil. 

Once the oven is preheated, return the pan to the bottom rack and pour the boiling water into it.  Bake the bread until a thermometer inserted at an angle from the short end, just above the pan rim, into the center of the loaf reads 195 degrees, 40 to 50 minutes. Remove the bread from the pan and transfer to a wire rack. 

If you wait until the bread is cool, it slices very nicely. This also freezes very nicely.

I'm off to watch a random TV show.