Wonder Bread

You’ll need the following:

• 6 cups white flour
• 2 cups water
• 1 teaspoon yeast
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1/2 stick butter (1/4 cup)
• 1/8 cup sugar

You’ll also need your mixer (I’m using a KitchenAid Pro 6), a tall clear container, a loaf pan for baking (1 that’s about 14″ long or two of the more normal sized loaf pans), a small mixing bowl larger enough to hold 2 cups of liquid, and non-stick spray.

Into the small mixing bowl pour 1 cup of tepid water.  Into the water pour sugar and mix to dissolve.  Into this pour 1 cup of flour and 1 teaspoon of yeast, mix until well combined and then set aside.

Into the bowl for your mixer put the other 5 cups of flour.  Using the paddle, turn the mixer on a low setting, 2 if using a KitchenAid.  Now chop the butter and toss the pieces one at a time into the mixer.  Allow the mixer to kind of mash the butter around until it is thoroughly combined with flour.  Now add the tablespoon of salt.

Turn off the mixer, replace the paddle with the dough hook and turn the mixer back on, again at a low setting.  Add 1 cup of tepid water and mix until the flour gets good and chunky.  Turn off the mixer and wait.

Now, wait some more.

Has it been 20 minutes yet?

OK, take the flour-yeast mixture in your little mixing bowl and scrape it into the mixer bowl.  Turn your mixer on at a LOW setting.  If you do not, then you will have batter all over your kitchen very quickly.  After a minute or two, the dough should be firm enough that you can then kick the speed of the mixer up to a medium-low speed (that would be 4 on a KitchenAid).  Now stand back and wait until the dough clears the sides of the bowl, about 10 minutes or so.  From here, keep kneading until you can see the dough repeatedly elongate and sort of collapse and wrap itself around the dough hook.  If you stop the mixer, the dough should be very soft and sticky as well as glistening.

At this point, remove the bowl and scrape the dough into the clear container.  You did coat the container with oil, didn’t you?  Note the height of the dough in the container, set the lid on it and then set the whole thing aside and allow it to rise.  How long?  Well, conventional wisdom is until it doubles.  Depending on the yeast you use and how warm and humid your home is at this particular point in time, the dough could double in a little over and hour, which is definitely not enough time.  I generally like to let it rise for anywhere from 2-3 hours, with a minimum of doubling in the volume of the dough.

Once the rise is over, pour the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface.  Gently pat it with your knuckles into a rectangular shape and then bill fold it (fold it in thirds) along its length.  Once again, pat it down into a slightly smaller rectangle than before and fold it in half along its length.  Turn the loaf seam side down, tuck the ends down to hide the seam, and then quickly lift and set it into a non-stick sprayed loaf pan.  Cover the loaf pan with some plastic wrap, and set aside to proof.

Once the dough is tickling the top of the loaf pan, preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  After the oven is ready, remove the plastic wrap, score the top of the loaf along its length and slide the loaf into the oven(middle rack) for roughly 30 minutes.  The crust should be a nice reddish brown color and it should have sprung quite nicely.  Get the loaf out of the pan and set is aside for at least 20 minutes to cool and set.

Enjoy.

Oh, if you’re using smaller loaf pans, divide the dough PRIOR to the folding procedure.  This recipe also make very nice rolls- hoagie or bulkie.