by Michele Mylan

Created on: February 19, 2009   Last Updated: February 20, 2009

Baking bread can be intriguing, to see the dough go from a small sticky glob to a mass of risen beauty is such a neat event. Then, oh the smell, of wonderful fresh baked bread, it is one of the small guilty pleasures in life.

The below recipe is for an easy White Farm Bread, great for a first time baker as it produces a bread with a soft crust, and a wonderfully moist center. Excellent for everything from peanut butter and jelly, to the quintessential BLT.

Easy Farm Bread

3/4 cup warm water

1 package active dry yeast

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon of shortening , or softened butter

1/2 cup warm milk

3 cups of white flour (you may need more or less)

In a medium size bowl, add warm water and yeast. Stir a minute gently to combine, then let sit for up to 5 minutes. Add salt, sugar, shortening and milk to the yeast mixture and stir well. Stir in 2 cups of flour. If needed keep adding flour a little at a time until the dough moves away from the sides of the bowl and turns with the spoon.

Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead, if necessary add additional flour (again in small amounts) until dough is smooth and elastic, and not sticky.

Put dough in a greased bowl, turn over to coat the top and then cover with saran wrap and a kitchen towel, then put in a warm, draft free area ( I like to use an unheated oven) for at least 1 hour to rise. You may need up to an additional 30 minutes of rise time depending on the warmth of your kitchen. You'll know it is right when the dough has doubled in size.

Now, punch down dough and turn out onto a lightly floured surface again & knead again.

Form dough into a loaf (if you are not sure how to form a loaf, see additional instructions below), and place in a buttered loaf pan. Cover and let rise again for 35 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350'F and with a knife, make 2 to 3 slashes across the top of the loaf with a sharp knife. Bake in oven for 30-45 minutes (depending on your oven's temperature) or until golden brown.

Remove bread from oven and take out of pan by turning pan upside down. The bread should come right out and then place on a clean dishtowel or rack to cool on counter.
Even though it will be tempting to slice into this fresh from the oven bread, it is best to let the bread cool for at least for 1 -2 hours, so that the bread can finish cooling, and properly setup, so when you slice it, it doesn't fall apart.
How to Form A Loaf
If you have never made bread before, do not fear, it is really easy, and you have to start somewhere. When forming a loaf, all that you need to do is on a lightly floured surface with a rolling pin, roll the bread out into a large rectangle, about the length of the loaf pan (a little bigger is okay too). Then starting at one side roll the bread up jelly roll style, and place in the greased loaf pan, seam side down.
There now you know, happy bread baking.

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