Something my mother never made was homemade bread from scratch. Only from frozen loaves from the store. As a matter of fact, growing up, I thought the only way to make homemade bread was to buy frozen bread dough, let it thaw and then bake it. Granted, the end product was the same, but I never used yeast until I was 30 years old! This is a classic, simple bread dough recipe for use in your bread machine so you don't have to knead. The machine does the work for you. It is versatile too! Bake it as bread or use it in my cinnamon roll recipe, garlic bubble bread recipes, monkey breads or rolls! It's a great, basic recipe to keep in your files.
12 oz. water
1 1/2 t salt
2 T butter
4 c bread flour
2 T dry milk
2 T sugar
1 3/4 t yeast - dry
Put in your ingredients in your bread machine in the order called for by your machines manufacturer. I put mine in the order listed. Set your machine for 'dough' setting. When it's ready remove the dough and since it makes 2 pounds, divide the dough in half and place each in a greased loaf pan. Cover and let raise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1-3 hours depending on the temperature of your home. Bake at 375 for approximately 25-35 minutes until golden brown. Remove from oven and let set about 5 minutes. Rub the top with butter and turn out on a cooling surface to cool completely before cutting.