Amish White Bread

This is a foolproof recipe provided you just follow the steps, watch your measurements of flour, have good yeast, and keep the temp at least 65 degrees. For those who have had failures try weighing out your flour instead of measuring. NOTES FOR KITHEN AID MIXER USERS: Proof your yeast in the mixing bowl then add the oil/salt, the add the flour approx. 1 cup at a time with the dough hook on low speed. Once all the dry ingredients are in come up to medium speed for 5 minutes. Then take the dough out, fold it over on itself to redistribute the yeast, make a ball, and place it back in the same bowl after you drizzle a tablespoon of oil (veggie or olive) and turn the dough to coat evenly. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and then a kitchen towel. There are a number of tricks if you think your kitchen is too cool. Turn your over on for 20 seconds and then right off. Put the dough in to rise. I set mine about 4 feet from the woodstove and turn it once. However, get it over 115 degrees and you'll kill the yeast. Just kneading it in the KA will increase the temp of the dough. And by the way, I have cut the sugar down to 2 tablespoons and it is a classic farmhouse white bread. Hope this helps the few that are having trouble.

I love this recipe and make it all the time. If you follow directions, you will get a somewhat dense loaf that tastes a lot like Hawaiian sweet bread. To make bread that tastes a lot more like regular white bread, I reduce the sugar to 1/4 cup. This makes it much fluffier and less sweet. Thanks again for the great recipe!

I love this bread! It's a bit dense, sweet and tastes good with butter. However, I am one of the few people who experienced difficulty with the recipe. It took me three tries to get it right. My yeast did not proof at all. Not having seen how yeast should react, I simply threw the loaf tin into the oven. The bread came out heavy and flat. The second time round, I experimented with warmer water, but after leaving it for an hour, it did not double in bulk at all. Concluding that it was the problem with the brand of yeast I used, I went out to get SAF-INSTANT and was rewarded! For novices who, like me, do not know what to look out for, the creamy white foam should resemble this: small tiny mini fireworks should sprout out in your mixing bowl. Leave it till you see foam protruding higher than the liquid level. The process should take about 10 minutes. And since I read that quite a few reviewers lessened the amount of sugar, I did not use the recommened amount of sugar. The elderly in the family appreciated the bread even more because of this.