This bread is a sweet bread and has a velvety texture. It is great for sandwiches, toast with butter, jelly or jam, French toast and anything else that regular bread is good for. It’s easy to make and it freezes well.
1 c, water, 110 degrees F
1 c. whole milk, 110 degrees F
⅔ c. white sugar
1½ T. active dry yeast (not instant)
1½ t. salt
¼ c. mild vegetable oil (coconut oil works great)
51/2 - 61/2 c. bread flour
2 T. butter, melted
In a large bowl, dissolve sugar in the warm water and milk. Whisk in the yeast. Set aside 5 to 10 minutes, or until the yeast mixture gets foamy. Whisk in the salt and oil.
With the mixer running, add flour, 1 cup at a time, until dough pulls away from the bowl. Knead by machine about 5 minutes. If you are hand kneading, mix in flour until the dough is sticky, turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 10 minutes or until the dough is smooth and elastic, adding flour as needed.
Oil a large bowl; place the ball of dough in it. Oil the top of the dough, then cover it with a damp cloth. Allow it to rise until it has doubled in size. This will take about 1 hour.
Punch the dough down. Knead for 3 minutes or so; divide in half. Let rest 5 minutes.
Shape into loaves; place in greased 9 x 5 inch loaf pans. Brush tops with the melted butter.
Let rise for 30 minutes, or until the dough has risen 1 inch or so above the pans.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Bake 30 minutes, or until loaves sound hollow when tapped.
For a soft crust, butter tops and place a clean tea towel over the baked loaves as soon as they are taken out of the oven. Cool about 5 minutes; take them out of the pans to finish cooling, covering them back up with the tea towel.
Makes 2 loaves.