Homemade Bread on the Rise

Baking homemade bread has always sound daunting and with the exception of the "I wanna be a perfect wife" days right after I was married, I've always told myself it's just less hassle to buy a loaf at the store. The more busy our daily lives have become too has just reinforced the idea "keep it simple".  But one of my goals for this year has been to cook more "meals" for our family and less "fend for yourself" nights, so I requested a free Taste of Home magazine and looked through it hoping to be inspired. One page caught my attention, it was about a mom who loves to make french bread with her kids! Our family loves french bread - it has been known to be a meal for us, so I decided to give it a try.

I enlisted Nate & Madeline's help and carefully followed the recipe. Maddie kneaded the dough for 8 minutes like a trooper! We were so excited when we finally had it ready to pop in the oven.

Fifteen minutes later and whoola..... the most beautiful homemade bread I have ever made!

It just about killed us all to wait for friends that were coming over so we could try it and then to hold back and only eat one loaf was more torture, but I insisted we had to save one to show Dad so he wouldn't think I was just making it all up!

Since that day, that has been the highlight around here, always a willing pair of hands to knead the dough and always willing mouths to gobble it up.

 Try it yourself - it is so easy and so delicious!  And if you have a Kitchen Aid Mixer, you can use that to knead the dough if you don't having willing hands!

Here's the recipe:
Prep time (30 min + rising Bake: 15 min)  Yields 2 loaves
2 Tbsp active dry yeast
2 cups warm water (110-115 .... I once heard the example that it should be like the temp of water you wash dishes in)
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. sugar
4-1/2 to 5 cups bread flour (I've only used 4)
1 tsp cornmeal
* we add melted butter (brush onto tops afterwards)

In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water.  Add the salt, sugar and  2 cups of flour.  Beat until smooth.  Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.

Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes.  Places in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top.  Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.

Punch dough down.  Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide in half.  Shape into 12 in long loaves.

Place seam side down on a greased baking sheet.  Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.  Sprinkle with cornmeal.  With a sharp knife, make four shallow slashes across the top of each loaf.  Bake at 450 for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.