This is the best homemade bread recipe! The bread is soft and airy with a buttery crust. With only 5 ingredients, it will turn out every time you make it.
Prep Time2 hourshrs20 minutesmins
Cook Time35 minutesmins
Course: Side Dish
Cuisine: American
Keyword: bread, Homemade Bread
Servings: 2Loaves of Bread
Calories: 137kcal
Author: Kristin McConnell
Ingredients
8cupsOrganic Unbleached All-purpose flourwhite or wheat
2tspSalt
2 1/4tspDry Active Yeast1 packet
1/4cupLocal Honey
3 1/2cupWater
2tbspGrass-Fed Butter
Instructions
Mix the flour and salt together in large bowl or the bowl of a standing mixer.
Put Dry Yeast into a small bowl add 1/4 cup warm water to proof the yeast it, you can also help it even more by adding 1 tsp sugar to the mix and stir. Let sit until for 10 minutes.
Add yeast, honey and 2 cups water with the mixer on. Let it mix together for about 1 minute.
Gradually add the final cup of water and add more if necessary. The dough should stick to the bottom of the bowl but clean the sides and be sticky to the touch. If you add too much water, don't worry! Just add a bit more flour to get it back to the right consistency.
Knead 6-8 minutes in a mixer or 8-10 minutes by hand until the dough is smooth and elastic. Don't skimp on the kneading! This helps create the structure of the bread.Let the dough rise (covered, room temperature) in the same bowl you mixed it in for 1 hour or until doubled.
Remove from bowl gently and form into 2 loaves. This is most easily done by creating a crease in the middle of the piece of dough with your palm and then folding the dough over the crease and pinching it together at the bottom, just imagine folding a piece of paper in half and gluing the bottom shut. Repeat this a few times until you have a smooth loaf shape. You may have to tuck the long ends in a few times as well.
Place in greased bread loaf pans and raise (covered, room temperature) 1 hour or until doubled.
Bake at 375 degrees F for 25 minutes, remove from oven and brush each loaf with a tablespoon of butter.
Return to oven and bake 5-10 more minutes, or until golden brown. The internal temperature of the bread should read right around 200 degrees F.