The Best Bread Recipe Ever

I have never been able to master making any type of bread from scratch. I've failed every time.  I found this recipe on www.allrecipes.com and it was amazing! If you check the reviews everyone raves about it and frequently mention that anyone can make this bread. The bread tastes kind of sweet and buttery.

Amish White Bread By Peg
Ingredients:
2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
2/3 cup white sugar
1 1/2 tbs active dry yeast
1 1/2 tsp salt 1/4 cup vegetable oil
6 cups bread flour

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/amish-white-bread/detail.aspx

Directions:

Start by mixing the warm water, sugar, and yeast. Stir thoroughly with a whisk. I let mine sit for 10 minutes until it got nice a foamy. If it does not get foamy then your yeast is not good and you need to start over again.

Then I added the salt and vegetable oil. Now start adding the flour one cup at a time. I used a whisk as long as I could, then I switched to a spatula, then finally I had to flip the dough out onto a floured counter top to add in the last few cups of flour by hand. 

Once all the flour has been added, knead the dough for about 5 minutes. Next, find a large bowl and coat the inside of it with some oil. Put the dough into the bowl, cover it with a kitchen towel, and let it rise for 2 hours. If it has risen properly, it should have doubled in size as shown in the photo below.

Once it has risen, dump the dough onto a counter top and knead it some more. You might have to add a little bit of flour because the dough collects moisture as it rises and becomes sticky. This recipe makes two loaves of bread so I divided my loaves into two. Then shape each piece of dough into logs.

I decided to decorate my loaf by cutting off about 1/4 of the dough and rolling it into 3 long pieces of rope. Then I braided the three pieces together. When I was done I attached the braid to the top of my loaf. This is just a decorative step and is not necessary.

Bake the loaf at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. I decided to brush my loaf with some butter so it would look nice and shiny. It tasted so good and was definitely worth making.  Enjoy!