Recipe: Alabama Light Bread
Summary: Soft, airy, just slightly sweet and comforting, this easy loaf rises tall and makes a great breakfast slathered with marmalade or a perfect accompaniment to a steaming bowl of soup. Use the dough cycle on the bread machine.
Ingredients
- ½ cup milk
- ¼ cup (4 tablespoons or half a stick) unsalted butter
- ½ cup room temperature water
- 1 egg
- 3 cups bread flour
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 (1/4-ounce) package active dry yeast (or 2 teaspoons) {I used Platinum Yeast. See note below.}
Instructions
- Pour milk into a 2-cup measuring cup, and heat it for about 70 seconds in the microwave. Remove and add the butter in chunks; stir to melt the butter. When butter is melted, add water and stir. (This will sufficiently cool the milk for the next step.) Add the egg and whisk egg and milk together with a fork. (If you add the egg to the hot milk before cooling it down with the water, you risk cooking the egg. You have been warned.)
- Add buttery milk and all remaining ingredients into the container of the bread maker, following manufacturer’s instructions as to the order. For example, mine calls for all liquids first, followed by the dry ingredients, and finished with the yeast, which is added into a well you make in the flour. Your order may differ.
- Choose the dough cycle and start the machine.
[1] - When dough cycle is complete, mist a 9-inch by 5-inch bread pan with nonstick spray, remove dough from bread machine, shape it to fit your pan, and put the dough into the pan.
- Find a warm spot in the kitchen (could be the oven, could be the top of the refrigerator, could be on the table warmed by the sun?) and allow the loaf to rise for 50-55 minutes. It will get big! Do not become alarmed!
- Heat oven to 400F. Bake risen loaf for 25 minutes.
- Remove bread from oven, allow to cool in the pan on a rack for 20-30 or so minutes, and then remove from pan and allow bread to cool completely on rack.
- Serves 6-8.
Source
[2]Adapted from “Something Warm from the Oven: Baking Memories, Making Memories,” [3] an ebook by Eileen Goudge.
Platinum yeast
[4]Platinum yeast is a new premium instant baking yeast with dough enhancers, made by Red Star. It worked very well in this loaf and made it rise incredibly tall. It is available in the grocery store.
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Bread machine time: 90 minutes + another 55 minutes for 2nd rise
Baking time: 25 minutes
Diet type: Vegetarian
Number of servings (yield): 6
Culinary tradition: USA (Southern)
My rating
Our Twelve Loaves bakers this month are:
[5]
- Alabama Light Bread [6] by Dorothy | [6]Shockingly Delicious [7]
- Basic White Bread [8] by Renee | Magnolia Days [9]
- Classic Oatmeal Bread [10] by Liz | That Skinny Chick Can Bake [11]
- Grandmom’s Dinner Rolls [12] by Jennie from The Messy Baker Blog [13]
- Italian Potato Bread [14] by Rosella | Ma Che Ti Sei Mangiato [15]
- Molasses Wheat Quick Bread [16] by Deb | Knitstamatic [17]
- Pandoro [18] by Paula | Vintage Kitchen [19]
- Rosemary Olive Oil Bread [20] by Alice | Hip Foodie Mom [21]
- Whole Wheat Pita Bread [22] by Holly | A Baker’s House [23]
- Whole Wheat Sea Salt Bagel [24] by Lora | Cake Duchess [25]
- Orange Date & Nut Loaf [26] by Katerina / Diethood [27]
Would you like to join us in baking your favorite basic bread recipe for #TwelveLoaves this month? The rules are simple:
1. When you post your Twelve Loaves bread on your blog, make sure you mention the Twelve Loaves challenge in your blog post; this helps us to get more members as well as share everyone’s posts. Please make sure your bread is inspired by the theme – Clean Slate – with a simple, basic yeast or quick bread, either a single loaf or individual breads.
2. Please link your post to the linky tool at the bottom of my blog. It must be a bread baked to the Twelve Loaves theme.
3. Post your Twelve Loaves bread that you baked in January 2013 on your blog by January 31, 2013.
Would you like to bake along with us? The #TwelveLoaves bread baking project was created for the love of bread by Lora at Cake Duchess [25], as a monthly baking adventure. Drop Lora a line to join in on this monthly bread baking fun! Follow @TwelveLoaves on Twitter to see what’s freshly baked, and follow our Pinterest board.
Happy baking!