LAB's Bread

 This is my basic homemade bread recipe. I got it from another mom on a chatroom I was part of two decades ago. Her initials were LAB, hence the title of this post. This whole recipe takes about 2-4 hours from start to finish, although only about 30 mins of that time is active preparation time. If I'm making bread for dinner, I usually start shortly after lunch. 

Before starting, grease two bread pans. I usually use olive oil spray and wipe it with a paper towel to make sure the whole inside of both is greased. If you skip this step, it's really hard to get your bread out in one piece. You could also use shortening or even butter to grease the pans. Make sure you get the corners as well. Bread pans are usually 4.5 inches by 8.5 inches or 9 x 5 inches. I like using glass ones, but metal ones or clay ones work as well.  

Combine the following and let sit for 15 mins. If it doesn't sort of foam and give off a yeast-y smell, your yeast isn't working or your water was too hot. This means you need to get new yeast or start over again with water that's warm, not super hot or your bread will be very dense and heavy. 

2.5 cups warm water

1.5 Tablespoons yeast

1/3 cup honey (can sub sugar if preferred)

 

Add

3 Tablespoons oil (I use olive oil, but vegetable oil or whatever you have on hand works)

1 Tablespoon salt

 

Mix in  

4-6 cups of flour (I use half white and half wheat)

I don't think I've ever used less than 5 cups of flour. At higher altitudes I use about 5 cups and at lower altitudes I use 6 cups. I can usually mix the first three to four cups of flour in with a spoon, then I switch to kneading it in with my hands. Take your rings off before doing this or you'd get dough stuck in them :) 

 

Add 

1 cup oats (just basic oats) 

 

Knead until all the oats are incorporated into the dough. Kneading is basically folding the dough in on itself and then pushing down. Many bread recipes require kneading for specific periods of time or even kneading several times while it rises. This recipe only needs about 10 minutes of kneading at the beginning, which is one of the reasons I love it.  

 

Divide the dough up into two equal parts and sort of shape them into ovals about the length of the bread pan. Put one in each pan and put them somewhere they can rise for a few hours. I usually stick them in my oven with an oven-proof bowl of boiling water. Don't turn the oven on yet! I put them on the middle oven rack and the bowl of boiling water on the bottom rack. This provides a warm and moist place for them to rise, so the outside doesn't dry out and so they have the warmth to rise. If you set them somewhere else to rise, you may need to put a clean, damp towel over them so the crust doesn't get dry. Don't put them somewhere too hot or too cold. That stops them from rising. You don't need to replace the water at all - the steam and warmth from the initial temperature of the water is enough. 

 

After a few hours, usually about 2 hours, bake them at 350 degrees for 60 minutes. If you've put them in the oven with the oven-proof bowl of water, you don't need to take the water out before baking them. If the bowl isn't oven-proof, take it out before turning the oven on. Make sure the oven rack you bake them on is about in the middle of the oven. Too low and the bottom will cook faster, too hot and the top will cook faster - your bread won't cook evenly either way. 

Take it out and remove the bread from the pans. I find it helpful to use a butter knife to cut along the sides of each loaf to make sure it comes out in one piece. Let it cool for about 20-30 minutes before eating. If you want to eat it right away, it will be more likely to break into pieces, but it's super yummy to eat bread fresh out of the oven, so you can't lose either way :)