Easy White Bread

If there's one thing  I'm afraid of (besides birds...don't ask) it is making anything bread related.  Particularly pie crusts, but not limited to loaves of bread.  This recipe has six easy ingredients and doesn't take too much work on your part to get it all together.  I will say that I have found that my biggest weakness is kneading dough, so next time I will definitely whip this up in my Kitchenaid mixer and save myself some trouble.  This bread is sweet on it's own, but delicious with some butter and honey.

Easy White Bread
yields 2 loaves
from Allrecipes.com

2 c. warm water (110 degrees F at the max)
2/3 c. white sugar
1 1/2 tbl active dry yeast
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 c. vegetable oil
6 c. bread flour

In a bowl dissolve the sugar in the warm water then stir in the yeast.  Let it sit until the yeast has become foamy (and has that incredible yeast smell), this took me about 10 minutes.

Then, mix the salt and oil into the yeast.  Add the flour one cup at a time until incorporated.  Knead the dough on a floured surface until smooth.   I found that this dough was pretty sticky so keep lots of flour on hand.  Place the dough in an oiled bowl and let rise until doubled in size (took me a little over an hour.

When the dough has doubled punch down the dough then divide the dough in half (this is where you'd freeze half of it if you don't want to make two loaves that day).  Allow to rise in a greased loaf pan for about an hour.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, until slightly brown on top.

-D