Best 4 Crusty White Bread Recipes

CRUSTY WHITE BREAD

Steps:

• In a small mixing bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in the warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine the yeast mixture with the milk, the butter or margarine, 4 cups of the flour and the salt; stir until well combined. Add the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring well after each addition. When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and supple, about 8 minutes.
• Lightly oil a large mixing bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth and put in a warm place to rise until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
• Deflate the dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough into two equal pieces and form into loaves. Place the loaves into two lightly greased 9x5 inch loaf pans. Cover the loaves with a damp cloth and let rise until doubled in volume, about 40 minutes.
• Mist loaves with water and bake at 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) oven for 20 to 30 minutes or until the loaves are golden brown and the bottom of a loaf sounds hollow when tapped.

CRUSTY WHITE BREAD / BUNS

Steps:

• 1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
• 2. In 4-5 quart mixer bowl, combine warm water & yeast, stir to mix & let set until yeast proofs (gets foamy).
• 3. Put dough hook on mixer head. Stir in sugar, salt, oil and 3 cups flour. Beat on lowest speed of mixer until well blended.
• 4. Add in remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, mixing well on low speed after each addition. Only add enough flour to make dough easy to handle & not sticky. Turn dough onto floured surface & knead 5-10 minutes, until dough is smooth and elastic. (I use my KitchenAid mixer on #3-#4 speed to do the kneading)
• 5. Place dough into oiled bowl, turn to coat it all over. Cover with cloth & let rise in warm place for about 45 minutes, until doubled in bulk. When you push your finger in center, impression should remain. When doubled, punch it down by pushing your fist into the center of dough, then work it to remove as much air as possible. Form back into a ball.
• 6. Cover & let rise again until doubled in bulk (orig. recipe says 1 hr but mine took about 30 min). The orig. recipe calls for brushing tops of dough with a little oil, but I do not do this.
• 7. Put pans in oven, mist bread/buns with cold water right before you close the oven door. Use rack in middle position of oven, keep pans from touching. Also, I switch the pans and turn halfway through to ensure even baking.
• 8. Bake loaves for 35 minutes, buns about 20-25 min. When tapped, they should sound hollow and you should be able to shake the pan & bread/buns will be loose. Immediately remove to racks to cool. They will look a little dull on top but that's the crusty part!

MOM'S CRUSTY WHITE POTATO BREAD

Steps:

• Mix warm water, yeast, sugar, potato flakes and gluten in a small bowl. Let sit till foamy.
• Transfer yeast mixture to a mixing bowl (Bosch, Kitchen aid or by hand).
• Add salt, 1 cup of oil, eggs and 4 cups of the flour to the yeast mixture and mix with a wire wisk till all is throroughly combined and smooth.
• Change to your kneading attachment and slowly add the remaining 8 cups of flour. Mix on low for 15 minutes or knead by hand until smooth.
• Put the remaining 2 T oil into a large bowl, greasing the sides where the dough will touch.
• Place dough in greased bowl and let rise till double. About one hour.
• Heat oven to 400 degrees.
• Punch down and divide into 4 loaf pans, let rise till double. About 30 minutes.
• Brush risen loaves with egg yolk and sprinkle with the sesame seeds.
• Place in oven for 15 minutes.
• Reduce temperature to 350 degrees, keeping the loaves in the oven, set the timer for 45 minutes.
• Remove from oven and let cool 5 minutes. Remove loaves from pan and place on a wire rack to cool.
• Slice and spread with butter. Yummy!

EASIEST CRUSTY WHITE BREAD (MOTHER EARTH NEWS)

Steps:

• Starting the night before (or early morning if you want to bake for the evening), in a large mixing bowl use your hands to mix the flour, yeast, salt and enough water to form a soft and sticky dough. You may have to add more water depending on a variety of factors, including the type of flour you use. Do not knead, but cover and let the dough rise at room temperature. When you get up in the morning, or a while before baking in the evening, wet your hands and lift the dough onto a flate, wet surface. Gently stretch it and fold it 2 to 4 times -- that's it. Return it ot the same bowl, cover and let it rise until doubled in size. This will take about an hour or so. If it is cool in the room, put the dough in a warmer area to do this final rise. At this time, find a bowl that will accommodate double the size of the risen dough and line it with a cotton or linen towel dusted with flour. Turn the risen dough (should have doubled by now) out with wet hands and again, fold it over itself about four times. (Personally, I skip this aforementioned step and the bread is wonderful.) Turn into the towel-lined bowl and let rise for one to four hours, depending on the room temperature. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees Farenheit. Once the dough is doubled, turn onto a well-floured peel or stiff cardboard. Ideally you will bake this on a pre-heated pizza stone or heavy baking sheet. Use the peel or cardboard to transfer the dough onto the baking surface. Bake until the crust if golden brown which may take 60 to 75 minutes. The magazine calls for the bread to cool for two hours, bottom up, but you can enjoy it minutes out of the oven.