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Farmhouse White Bread

Photo Credit
Regreto/shutterstock
Written By: The Old Farmer’s Almanac Editors The Almanac Editors and Staff
Yield
3 loaves, or 2 loaves and a dozen rolls.
Category
Bread
Course
Breakfast & Brunches
Side Dishes
Credit
Lucy L. Martin, Whitefield, Maine
Sources
Recipes with a History

The milk in this Farmhouse White Bread recipe not only adds protein and minerals, but also creates a tender, spongy texture and a golden crust. The dough rises high in the bowl, promising plenitude.

Though we’re glad that chewy, rustic breads of the European type are becoming more widely available, we fear that old-fashioned farmhouse white bread is on the endangered species list.

It makes great butter rolls, too. Just roll out a loaf’s worth, spread with melted butter, and roll like a jelly roll. Cut 1-1/2 inch lengths, put them cut-side down in well-buttered muffin tins, and bake at 425 degrees F until risen and well browned, about 20 minutes.

Ingredients
3 cups milk
3 tablespoons butter
2 packages (2-1/4 teaspoons each) dry yeast
1/2 cup lukewarm water (110 degrees F)
9 cups all-purpose flour, divided
2 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons sugar

Instructions

Scald milk with butter. Set aside to cool.

Dissolve yeast in lukewarm water.

Combine 2 cups all-purpose flour, salt, and sugar in large mixing bowl. To this mixture add the dissolved yeast and milk. Gradually stir in about 7 more cups of flour.

Knead until dough is smooth and elastic (about 6 minutes), then set the dough to rise in large bowl in a warm place until it has doubled in size (1-1/2 hours). Punch down and let rise again (about 1 hour). After the second rising, form into loaves and let rise again in standard size loaf pans.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and bake until loaves are nicely browned and sound hollow when turned out of the pan and tapped on the bottom, about 35 minutes.

Delicious when warm, in sandwiches, as toast, and when several days old, as French toast.

About The Author
The Old Farmer’s Almanac Editors

The Old Farmer’s Almanac Editors

The Almanac Editors and Staff

Under the guiding hand of its first editor, Robert B. Thomas, the premiere issue of The Old Farmer’s Almanac was published in 1792 during George Washington’s first term as president.Today, the Almanac...
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Comments

<span>Terry Beam</span> Thu, 10/29/2020 - 15:48
Would you be willing to giv3 me the adjustments to bake this bread at 7200 feet above sea level, please.
<span>Mamie Otwell</span> Wed, 09/30/2020 - 08:29
I have read that scalding is not necessary anymore as milk is safe from bygone times.....
<span>Vernon Ratcliff</span> Wed, 09/30/2020 - 06:37
Temp of the liquid should be about 110 degrees when using yeast....
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Thu, 10/01/2020 - 10:41

Hi, Vernon. You are right, that information would certainly be helpful to have in the recipe. We have edited the recipe to reflect this. Thank you.

 <span>Paula Schmidt</span> Tue, 09/29/2020 - 16:29
Can someone please DEFINE scalding and also how COOL should the milk be (actual temperature would be great) as I dont want to screw up the yeast working?
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Thu, 10/01/2020 - 10:45

Hi, Paula. When scalding milk in a recipe you heat until just below the boiling point, 180 degrees F. As for the water temperature, we have added that information to the recipe to be more clear. The water should be lukewarm, or 110 degrees F.

 <span>Katherine</span> Wed, 01/15/2020 - 18:29
i would like to know if I can use this recipe in my bread machine. sounds like a delicious recipe but I would rather my machine do the work for me!
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Tue, 01/21/2020 - 16:57

Hi, Katherine. We would not recommend making this bread in a bread machine.

 <span>Denise T</span> Wed, 01/15/2020 - 16:55
I was very happy to read Audra's comment about scalding milk (or not) when baking bread and it made a lot of sense, but being me I had to do some research on my own. I found this comment on a cooking website; "In a lot of recipes, especially older ones passed down from family members, scalding the milk is likely a hold-over from the days before milk was pasteurized and distributed commercially. These days, if you’re buying your milk from a store, scalding milk for health reasons isn’t really a concern. But there are some other reasons why you still might want to scald the milk going into a recipe! In bread making, scalding the milk serves a more scientific purpose. The whey protein in milk can weaken gluten and prevent the dough from rising properly. Scalding the milk deactivates the protein so this doesn’t happen. So I guess that I'll keep on scalding. Sigh!
<span>Audra</span> Wed, 01/15/2020 - 14:09
The reason milk was scalded in your grand (or great grand) mother's recipe was because she was using raw milk.. today we use pasteurized milk which has essentially already been scalded, so the only reason for heating the milk in today's recipes is to melt the fat/butter/shortening before adding to the dry ingredients. note: I did double check this with an authority on baking.