Growing up, one of the first things I learned to bake, and baked a lot of, was white bread. I know, bread is not usually one of the things a child bakes at age 11 or 12, but I did, along with other things like cookies. But I had this bread recipe my family really liked.
It came from the first cookbook my mom gave me, right around that time. I still have it – a Betty Crocker Cookbook, the ring bound 19th edition from 1973 (guess I am dating myself), now with a broker spine and many pages with spots and spills. I experimented with things I thought sounded good, and that the family might like.
The other crazy thing is that our farmhouse was a big old drafty thing. 200 years old, not much insulation, and occasionally there was a breeze through the cracks. So I had to find a way to make bread rise, especially in winter. I ended up using the oven – turn the heat on low, warm it up just a bit, and then turn it off. I still do the same thing often today.
Two other bread rising tips – use a heating pad, set on low, and put the bowl containing the bread dough right on top, covered. My brother taught me this one. It works great too. Lastly, the drawer under the stove, if you have one, warms up quite nicely when the oven is on, even if it doesn’t have heat as a warming drawer.
bread dough kneaded and ready to rise
We had bread at every meal, so I made white bread a lot, because we all thought it better than the store stuff. And then I saw a version made as cinnamon bread, with sugar and cinnamon rolled inside. I just had to try it. We most often ate it for breakfast, warm from the toaster with more butter on it. It was not uncommon for a loaf to disappear in one meal.
Dough has risen and is ready to bake
More than anything, my dad loved it and I wanted to make him happy.
So here is the Betty Crocker white bread, turned Farmhouse Bread with my slight tweaks. YOu can make it by hand as indicated, or use a dough hook for the kneading.
Farmhouse White Bread and Cinnamon Roll Bread
This makes two loaves of either variation, or one of each.
Ingredients
- 2 pgk active yeast or about 1.5 Tbsp
- ¾ cup warm water
- 2 ¾ cup warm water
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 tbsp salt
- 3 tbsp shortening
- 9-10 cup flour
- Melted Butter for pans and bread
Instructions
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Dissolve yeast in ¾ cup of warm water in a large mixer bowl. Put in a pinch of sugar to check that your yeast is active (it will start to bubble in a few minutes).
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Add in the rest of the water, sugar, salt, shortening and 5 cups of flour. Mix well, beating until smooth.
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Add in enough flour to make a soft dough, so as it is not too sticky.
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Turn out onto a floured counter and knead for about 10 minutes, until it turns into a soft ball, that is elastic. Put in a greased bowl (I prefer to use butter, but oil or spray is fine), and turn the ball over so that the top is grease side up.
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Cover and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.
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Punch down and divide dough in half. Rollout each half into a rectangle, so the length will match your loaf pan, and about 10” wide. Roll up from the long side, pinch the seam and place seam down into the loaf pan. Repeat with the second half or make cinnamon bread version (see notes below). Brush the top of the bread with melted butter. Cover and let rise again, about an hour until doubled.
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Heat oven to 425F. Place the rack low so the top of the loaf is in the middle of the oven. Place pans into the oven far enough apart so they don’t touch. Bake 30-35 minutes until browned and sound hollow when tapped.
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Remove and brush with more butter to keep the top soft.
Recipe Notes
Variation: Cinnamon Roll Bread. After rolling out the half portion for the loaf pan, brush with melted butter. Mix ¼ cup of sugar and 1 tbsp of cinnamon together, and sprinkle over the surface. Roll up the bread and rise and bake the same way.
You can also turn this into small mini loaves as gifts. Cinnamon Roll mini loaves are great for giving at holiday time. Or anytime, “just because”.
Cinnamon roll bread
There’s nothing like the smell of freshly baked bread!
To make this you will need:
Mixer with a dough hook unless you want to knead by hand