Norman’s Basic White Bread

Norman’s Basic White Bread

There is something special about a warm loaf of fresh baked bread. The sight and smell of the loaf as it comes out of the oven just adds a little warmth to your soul. How bad can your day be when you get to saw off a big slice of warm bread and slather it with butter? It is a simple joy you should experience often.

My new housemates are becoming fond of my bread. Even simple white bread like this is a hit with them.

When was the last time you baked a loaf of bread? Come on now, be honest. I thought so. Shame on you. Baking bread is not hard to do, and you do not need one of those fancy bread machines to do it. All you need is a Mix Master, or some other kind of stand mixer (heck, you could even mix it by hand) and an oven.

There are just a few steps that you have to do to make a loaf of bread, and each only takes a few minutes of active effort. You can make bread while you prepare the rest of your meal. You can make bread while you do the laundry, while you shovel snow, or even while you ... never mind, this is a G rated recipe. You get the point. 

This is the easiest bread to make. It is just a simple white bread. It is also a basic recipe that you can use for pizza crust, or for a calzone. You can shape it into one tall loaf or two skinny loaves. You can even divide it so it can bake in a muffin pan for dinner rolls. Now, quit sitting there staring at this page and get started.

4 cups of unbleached flour

1 tsp. salt

3 tbs. honey

2 tbs. olive oil

2 tbs. instant yeast

Slightly warm water

Preparation

Take out your Mix Master and insert the dough hooks. In the bowl, place the flour, salt, olive oil, honey and yeast. Turn the mixer on slow and mix these ingredients together. Now add some slightly warm (not hot!) water. Start out with about a cup. Add more water, a little at a time until the dough starts to come together. It will be about two cups altogether. Don’t worry about making a mistake. If you end up adding too much water, you can add a little more flour. Eventually, the dough will absorb all the flour and form a ball.

Remove the dough hooks and flour your hands. Knead the dough for a couple of minutes. If you don’t know how to knead dough, just squish it flat, fold it over, squish it flat, fold it over and squish it flat. You can do that for a few minutes instead. 

Dust the dough with flour and set it in a warm corner of your kitchen. Now how long did this take? Five minutes? OK, maybe ten. Most of the work is already done. Just let the dough rise for a while, maybe a half hour. When the dough is doubled in size, flour your hands and knead it for a couple minutes.

Now you have a choice. You could simply shape it into a loaf and let it rise a final time and then put in a 400 degree oven to bake. Your other option is to let it rise a couple more times, kneading it between each rising. Letting the loaf rise several times like this will give the loaf more of a chewy texture. Either way your bread will come out just fine.

Somewhere between twenty and thirty minutes, your loaf will be a nice brown color. When it is, your bread is ready to come out of the oven. When you remove the loaf, place it on a rack and allow it to cool for about ten minutes before slicing. 

Serving

To serve your bread, you need to have a stick of butter at room temperature. Slice the bread nice and thick and slather the slice with a generous portion of butter. You should serve this bread with soup and with your salad. You should also serve it with your main course. 

You can also serve it lightly toasted with your breakfast. I suggest adding a little honey or molasses to it after you butter it. That is a tasty addition to your morning cream of wheat!