6 Loaves of White Bread

Our family loves homemade bread. This is a big batch of bread that we make every other week. Bread you buy at the store never fills a person up as it is mostly air.  It reminds me of an angel food cake. But the bread you make yourself does fill you up and it is delicious.

Ingredients

3 pkg. yeast or 2 Tbs. yeast
7 1/2 c. warm water, divided
9 Tbs. sugar, or honey, divided
18 to 20 c. flour, divided
2/3 c. dry milk powder
2 Tbs. salt
1/2 c. oil or butter, melted

Directions

Grease six 9 x 5-inch bread pans.  

In a medium bowl or large cup, combine yeast, 1/2 c. warm water, and 1 tablespoon sugar. Place in a warm location for about 8 to 10 minutes, so the yeast can proof, or show that it is alive. 

In a very large bowl, combine 12 cups flour, the remaining sugar, dry milk powder and salt. Mix so the ingredients are distributed evenly. 

Pour in the yeast mixture, water, and oil. Beat with a wooden spoon for a minute or two. 

Mix in the remaining flour until you have a soft dough. Turn the dough out on a lightly floured surface. Knead the dough, adding more flour as necessary. You'll want the dough to be slightly tacky, but not sticky.  Knead the dough for 10 minutes, or until it is smooth. 

Grease or oil the bowl that you mixed the dough in.  Place the dough in the bowl and turn the dough over, so all sides of the dough are oiled. Cover with a tea towel or sheet of plastic. Set in a warm location until doubled in bulk. This can take up to 1 1/2 to 2 hours, depending on how warm the location is. 

Punch dough down and allow it to rise for 30 minutes. 

Turn the dough out onto a clean surface and divide the dough into 6 equal portions. Working with one loaf at a time, roll the dough out, keeping the narrow end as wide as the loaf pan is long. This helps to remove the air bubbles. Starting at the narrow end, begin to tightly roll up the dough. Place the loaf into the prepared bread pan. Lightly oil the top of the bread. Place the loaf pan in a warm location to rise.  Repeat with the other dough pieces.  Let the bread rise until doubled. This takes about 1 1/2 hours.

Bake at 350° for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown.  The loaves should sound hollow when tapped with your finger. 

Butter the tops by running a stick of butter over the top. Place on wire racks to cool completely. We put our bread in bread bags. Keep the loaves in the refrigerator or freezer until you are ready to eat them.

Notes

Instead of using all white flour, you can use some wheat flour instead. 

For more flavor, add in 2 eggs with the water and oil. 

You can add more milk powder. If you want to use half whole milk for half of the water, you can do that too. Just make sure the milk has been warmed on the stove before you add it in. 

The amount of flour you use will vary each time you make bread. It depends on the day and how much humidity there is. 

If you don't have a large oven to bake the bread all at once, put half of the loaves in a cooler location.