Adapted from Taste of Home, this turned out to be the best North American style white bread I ever made. The whole milk and the well developed gluten give it a lofty, light texture and yet it slices beautifully even with my dull breadknife. “Wonderbread” this one is not. I wanted to use less flour, but in the end I was glad I followed the recipe. One word of caution, when it comes to baking with flour, always use the half cup - scoop and sweep method. I really don’t think this recipe would have worked any other way. The dough was fairly hard and it took some effort to develop the gluten. I was glad I had a Kitchenaid and I didn’t have to knead it by hand.
MILK AND HONEY WHITE BREAD
2-1/2 cups lukewarm whole milk
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup honey
8 cups unbleached flour
2 packages instant dry yeast
2 tsp salt
• Combine the milk, melted butter and the honey.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, yeast and the salt.
• Add the milk mixture to the flour mixture and mix to combine.
• Kneed the dough by hand for 12 minutes or if using a beater with a dough hook [in batches of 2 or 3] knead each batch for 6 to 8 minutes.
• Briefly knead together the batches and place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top.
• Cover and let rise until doubled.
• Punch dough down and shape into two loaves.
• Place into well buttered or parchment lined 9X5 inch loaf pans.
• Cover and let rise until doubled.
• Preheat the oven to 375F and place the loaves in the oven.
• Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown.
• Cover loosely with foil if top browns too quickly.
• Remove pans from the oven and let cool on wire racks.
• Yield: 2 loaves.
