My grandfather had bread at every meal, I remember him saying on at least one occasion "Bread is the staff of life". I don't aspire to any religious ideas, but I do enjoy a good piece of bread, and this recipe is as good as any I found. If done right it should yield 2 nice sized loaves.
Ingredients
1½ cup water
⅓ cup sugar
3⅓ tsp yeast (1 tbsp + 1 tsp)
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp oil
4 cups flour
Instructions
In a large bowl dissolve sugar in warm water then stir in yeast. Allow to proof 5 minutes.
Mix oil into yeast mixture and stir.
sift salt into flour and add flour to yeast mixture, mixing as you go.
Knead dough for 7 minutes. Place in oiled bowl and cover, leave until doubled in size, about an hour.
Punch down dough and knead for 1 minute.
Divide dough in half and shape into loaves.
Put loaves in oiled loaf pans and allow to rise for another 30 minutes.
Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown.
Notes
Kneading dough is very important, the dough must be worked very well, which is a great deal of effort. Ignore this advice at your own peril.
Always proof the yeast, even older and lower quality yeast will give good results if you activate it first. Proofing is simply mixing the water and sugar then adding the yeast to it, its ready to go when you have an ugly foamy puddle.
When proofing the yeast use very warm water, it should be a little uncomfortable to put your hands in. Follow package instructions if in doubt
rise the dough in a warm spot. I like to turn the oven on to preheat for 1-2 minutes then turn it off, this will create a warm environment that your oven should hold onto for the rising step
When putting the dough in the oiled bowl, give the dough a roll to coat the outside surface.