Perfect White Bread

There’s nothing that makes your house smell more inviting than the aroma of baking bread. A few weeks ago I did a Standard-Examiner story about Barbara Williams of Kaysville and her home-baked bread.  Barbara has been making bread since she was a young girl growing up in Idaho. From her mother, she learned to bake a half-dozen loaves at a time.

At a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Relief Society meeting, Williams shared her recipe for hand-made Perfect White Bread, which makes six loaves.

You can cut the recipe in half, if you think six loaves is too much of a good thing.

Perfect White Bread

3 packages active dry yeast (1 tablespoon per package)

3 cups lukewarm water

6 tablespoons sugar

15-18 cups flour

2 tablespoons salt

3/4 cup shortening

3 cups hot milk

Soften yeast in 3/4 cup of the lukewarm water for 5 minutes, then stir until blended.

Measure sugar, salt and shortening into large mixing bowl.

Pour hot milk over the top of mixture and stir until shortening is broken into small lumps.

Add remaining water and cool to lukewarm. Stir in 3 cups flour. Add yeast and 6 more cups of flour and then beat with a wooden spoon 100 times.

Stir in 4 1/2 to 6 cups of flour. With floured fingers, work in enough additional flour to make a soft dough that does not stick to fingers.

Turn dough on floured surface and knead 100 strokes or 2 minutes.

Put in bowl rubbed with shortening and spread shortening lightly on surface of dough.

Cover and let rise until double in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours. Punch down and divide into 6 loaves. Put into greased bread pans, cover and let rise until bread is rounded to top of pan.

Bake at 350-375 degrees for 35-45 minutes (until top is golden brown and bottom is no longer white.) Remove from pan and let cool on wire rack. Cut with serrated knife.

— Barbara Williams, Kaysville