Keri’s Basic Bread for One
Description
This is my basic bread adapted to make only two small loaves. Since this bread freezes beautifully, make the bread one night, freeze the other loaf and keep for use in the future!
Ingredients
Instructions
-
Dissolve yeast in 1/4 cup warm water and let sit for about five minutes. Dissolve honey in 1 1/8 cup warm water. Add flour and salt to the large mixing bowl of an automatic mixer which ash the bread dough hook attachment installed.
Start mixer and add yeast-water mixture and honey-water mixture to the flour/salt mixture. Mix on low (to avoid flour flying out everywhere) until a ball forms. If the dough is too sticky, add a little more flour--too dry? add a water a few drops at a time.
After about 5 minutes of kneading, add the butter in bits. Add more flour if necessary at this stage--the butter will have a tendency to glaze the walls of the bowl--a little additional flour will resolve this quickly.
Let the machine knead the dough for about 15-20 minutes. [Please note that if you decide to use whole wheat flour, you will need to knead your dough for several minutes longer in order for the gluten strings to fully form].
Next, in a luke warm place (I like to use my oven), let the bread rise for 1.5-2 hours, until the dough has doubled in size. I usually cover the bowl with a dish towel, or if it's particularly dry, Saran Wrap.
Deflate the dough by gently pulling the dough away from the edges of the bowl and reforming it into a ball. Let the dough rise again in the bowl for another 1-1.5 hours, until it has again doubled in size.
Gently deflate the dough again and this time divide it into two balls and place the dough into two well-greased mini loaf pans. Cover with a dish towel, and place back in the luke warm place to rise. When the dough has risen slightly over the tops of the pans, remove the dish towel and turn the oven on to 350*. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the loaves are a beautiful golden-brown and sound hollow when thumped.
