Recipe Background
Old Fashioned Church Bread is a mainstay of church picnics, dinners, and potlucks; an almost brioche-like loaf of rich bread, Old Fashioned Church Bread is perfect for sandwiches, mopping up sauces, or for serving up with a pat of butter. This bread is sweet and versatile, a fluffy favorite that will have people asking for the recipe. Baking bread never tasted so rewarding!
Old Fashioned Church Bread is a mainstay of church picnics, dinners, and potlucks; an almost brioche-like loaf of rich bread, Old Fashioned Church Bread is perfect for sandwiches, mopping up sauces, or for serving up with a pat of butter. This bread is sweet and versatile, a fluffy favorite that will have people asking for the recipe. Baking bread never tasted so rewarding!
Ingredients
- 1 (0.25-ounce) package active dry yeast
- 2 cups water plus 1/2 cup warm, divided
- 1/3 cup white granulated sugar
- 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
- 2 tablespoons shortening
- 5 cups all-purpose flour plus more as needed, divided
Directions
- Dissolve the yeast in 1/2 cup warm water. Set the yeast mixture aside.
- In a pan on the stove-top, heat the remaining 2 cups of water with the sugar, salt, and the shortening until just warm, ensuring the sugar is dissolved and the shortening is melted. Make sure the mixture does not boil.
- In a large mixing bowl, add 4 cups flour and the shortening/sugar mixture, mixing it with a spoon.
- Add the yeast mixture to the flour mixture.
- Add the remaining 1 cup flour a little at a time until a dough forms and you can make a ball with it. Add more flour as needed to form the dough.
- Flour a work surface.
- Knead the dough several times on the floured work surface.
- Grease a large bowl.
- Put the dough in the greased bowl, turning it so the entire surface of the dough is coated.
- Place the bowl, covered, in a warm spot and allow the dough to rise for 3 hours.
- Remove the dough from the bowl and punch it down.
- Cut the dough in half.
- Grease two 9x5-inch bread pans.
- Spread the dough in the prepared bread pans.
- Allow the dough to rise for 1 hour 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Bake until cooked through, about 30 minutes.
- Serve sliced.
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