Funerals can be sad occasions, but a lot of good comes from them as well. You get to see lots of family and friends that you haven't seen in a long time, you get to share the wonderful memories you have of the deceased person, and you get lots of wonderful food brought to you by people who care about your family. When my dad passed away in May, Mrs. McCaffrey, a lady from my mom's church, brought over some wonderful homemade wheat bread. That may not sound very exciting to some people, but it was the best bread I've had in a long time. I ate a whole loaf on my own! Well, my mom told her how much I loved the bread, so out of the kindness of her heart, she shared her recipe with me and brought over two loaves of bread and some starter this weekend while I was taking care of my mom. And now, I share it with you! :)
Initial Starter (in other words, to make a starter from scratch):
1 cup warm water
1/2 cup sugar
1 package (2-1/4 teaspoons) dry yeast
3 level Tablespoons instant potato flakes
Starter Feeder:
Put initial starter (1 cup) in refrigerator for 3-7 days. Take out and feed with the following:
3/4 cups sugar
3 tablespoons instant potatoes
1 cup warm water
(always keep 1 cup of starter)
To Make Bread:
6 cups of bread flour (does not have to be bread flour) (to make wheat bread use 3 cups whole wheat flour and 3 cups bread flour)
1 T salt
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 cup starter
First time starter directions:
Mix water, sugar, yeast, and potato flakes. Let ferment on counter for two days. Then feed with starter feeder (below). If you get starter from someone else, you can omit this step.
Starter Feeder:
Combine 3/4 cup sugar, 3 T instant potatoes, and 1 cup warm water. Add to starter. Let starter stand out of the refrigerator all day or night (8-10 hours). Take one cup to make bread and return the rest to the refrigerator. Keep in refrigerator 3-7 days and take out and feed again. Note - If not baking bread after feeding starter, throw away extra or give away 1 cup to avoid depleting your starter. (You can have up to 1 quart.)
To Make Bread:
In a large bowl make a stiff batter of the flour, salt, sugar, oil, water and starter (I use my dough hook on my Kitchen Aid mixer). Grease a large bowl and put dough in bowl. Cover with greased plastic wrap and let stand in a warm location all day or night (12 hours). Do not refrigerate. After the dough has risen, punch the dough down and knead a little on a floured surface to get rid of air bubbles. Divide dough into three parts and knead each part 8-10 times on a floured surface. Put into three greased pans and brush with oil. Let rise all day or night, covered loosely. Let rise until pan is full (not over sides). Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove and brush with butter.
Cool and wrap in foil. Refrigerate or freeze.
For hot bread at night: Feed starter in the morning, let sit all day. Make bread at night and let sit all night. Knead and place in pans. Let sit all day. Bake bread at night.
For hot bread in morning: Feed starter at night and let sit all night. Make bread next morning and let sit all day. Knead and place in pans. Let sit all night. Bake in morning.
Variation: Roll dough to about 1/2 inch. Spread sugar and cinnamon on it, add nuts or raisins (I would leave those out) and roll it up jelly roll fashion. Bake in a regular loaf pan or cut in wheels to make cinnamon rolls.
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