How to make awesome bread from scratch!

My house smells so good right now, there's nothing quite like the smell of freshly baked bread and cinnamon buns. I usually share my fresh baked bread with as many people as I can since that's when it's the best, and since I can't share it with all of you I'll share instead the secret to making the best bread ever. This doesn't require a breadmaking machine or a lot of really expensive ingredients, just some elbow grease and time, a little patience wouldn't hurt either.

I've had bread from a breadmaking machine, it's good, but it's not THIS good. I've also tried several recipes using 'quick rising' yeast, and none of them have even come close to being this good. If you can make the time, try it, I guarantee you won't be disappointed. Unless you screw it up, in which case live and learn, sorry. I've screwed up many a batch of bread, forgetting the yeast is a big one, do not forget the yeast! It won't even make good flatbread if you do, yuck, you will know if you've forgotten the yeast because the dough feels heavy and tacky. Also, the oven may be a warm place, but it's not a good idea to let your bread dough rise in there. Just trust me on this, I don't need to post a picture of the gooey mess that I made do I? Letting it rise on top of the oven isn't such a great idea either, especially if you have a little kid go and turn the element on when you have a few big towels wrapped around a pot, sitting on the stovetop. It was pretty, the towels in flames all around the silver pot, it looked a bit like a giant cotton ball on fire, but it makes crappy bread, and the fire extinguisher makes a huge mess too, so you gotta know there was no goodness in that reward, other than "lesson learned".

In the pictures and instructions you'll hear me reference 'feel your dough' which is what my aunt always says. She's right, a lot of the instructions are going to vary on other conditions so learning how your dough should feel is important. Bread dough is very soft and springy to the touch, it's not really tacky once you've worked in all the flour. If you're working in a humid space you'll need more flour, if it's dry you'll need less; if it's cooler your dough will take longer to rise, and it rises quickly when it's warm in your kitchen; you get the point. So remember to 'feel your dough'! Oh! Don't forget to spray all your baking pans with cooking spray, also spray the inside of your container that you put your dough in to rise.

Ingredients

2 Tablespoons of Traditional Active Dry Yeast. 1 teaspoon of sugar 1 cup of hot water (not scalding hot, just a bit hotter than lukewarm) You combine these three ingredients first and cover them, I usually use an old yogurt container or ziplock container but a plate over a bowl works just fine.

12 and a half cups of flour, whatever kind of flour you like. White flour makes the softest bread, but there's not much difference to the consistency if you use 4 cups of whole wheat flour and the rest white. 2 teaspoons of salt

Combine these two in a large bowl and whisk it together a bit and set it aside. Get a new large bowl for the rest, this is the bowl you'll mix it all in.

3 and a half cups of hot water 1 cup of vegetable oil 1/2 cup of sugar 2 slightly beaten eggs (we've done it without eggs by mistake, it didn't hurt the end result much)

Don't forget to add your yeast mixture here! It should look all foamy now, depending on how long the rest took it might be leaking over the sides of your container. Dump it all in with the rest of the wet ingredients and whisk it together.

The rest of the instructions below, with the pictures!

	Mixing After whisking together the water, oil, sugar, eggs, and yeast; add some of the flour/salt to the mixture.
	kneading. Contrary to popular belief you don't need to beat the hell out of your dough, kneading is a gentle and firm action. It takes a lot of time and work but it's worth it in the end. I knead my dough for about 20 to 30 minutes, which is a bit hard on the wrists after a while; kind of makes me want to toss it in the air and hammer it into the table, but then I see the horrified look on my aunt's face in my minds eye and hear her telling me to 'feel my dough' heh. She's an awesome cook with years of experience, who am I to question her? :p
	Feeling my dough :p hahaha! All kidding aside, bread dough feels wonderful. It's so springy and soft.
	It has risen indeed! This was after the second rise. After it is well kneaded you form it into a ball and place it in a big container. I use a large roaster as pictured, or a huge canner pot 'spray inside with cooking spray'. You cover it, and wrap a towel around it until it doubles in size, then you take it out and punch it down (which is not to be taken literally. The first time I made bread with my aunt and she told me it was time to 'punch it down' you should have seen her face when I did just that.) You gently knead all the air out and place it back in the container. Wrap it up in a towel or blanket and leave it sit again. This time it will quadruple in size (as shown). It usually takes 2 or 3 hours when it's resting.
	Shaped After the second rising, you shape the dough into buns/loaves/cinnamon buns sauerkraut buns, stuff them with spinach and feta cheese or whatever else you can dream up and let them rest again 'in greased pans', covered of course. These ones have been rising for about an hour and a half so far, they're pretty much ready to go in the oven, we're just waiting for the first batch to cook.
	Baking Bake at 375 F until they're done. I haven't really timed it out exact, I guess it's about 20 - 25 minutes, sometimes longer especially for loaves. It depends on what it is you've shaped your dough into. It should be golden brown on top and on the bottom, you'll need to flip it and check before taking it out.
	Too bad you can't smell these! We brush the tops lightly with margarine using a pastry brush. I love them when they're nice and warm still, my aunt waits until they're cold, she thinks it's bad for your stomach, then again she thinks water rusts her stomach too. That I will argue with, if you aren't going to eat them fresh and warm from the oven, what's the point!

If you have a favorite bread recipe post it in the comments! Ah, if you have a favorite recipe at all post it here, I won't argue. Give this a try if you're so inclined and let me know how it turns out :) Now if you'll excuse me, there's a fresh cinnamon bun calling my name ;)