Old Fashioned White Bread Mix

Making bread used to be a daunting task, kneading and kneading and letting it rise and then kneading some more. Bread machines have taken nearly all of the work out of making homemade fresh bread. To make this process even easier, you can make bread mixes ahead of time and have your bread machine doing ALL of the work in under 5 minutes flat.

For a 1.5 pound Loaf you'll need:
3 1/3 c. Bread Flour*
1 1/2 Tbs Sugar
1 1/4 tsp salt

Combine all of the ingredients in a ziploc bag, mixing well to combine. Write the following instructions on the bag:
To Make bread:
Pour 1 1/4 c. + 2 Tbs Milk (80F) into the bread machine pan
Gently dump the contents of the bread machine mix onto the milk
add 2 Tbs butter (or margarine) to the corners of the bread pan on top of the flour mix.
In the center of the mix, make a small well, add 1 1/2 tsp Bread Machine/ Fast Rise Yeast (OR 2 tsp regular yeast).

Set the bread machine to the Basic (1.5 pound) loaf, with the desired bread crust color of your choice (light, med, dark).

For a 2 pound Loaf you'll Need:
4 cups Bread flour*
2 Tbs Sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt

Combine all of the ingredients in a ziploc bag, mixing well to combine. Write the following instructions on the bag:

To Make bread:
Pour 1 1/2 c. + 2 Tbs Milk (80F) into the bread machine pan
Gently dump the contents of the bread machine mix onto the milk
add 2 Tbs butter (or margarine) to the corners of the bread pan on top of the flour mix.
In the center of the mix, make a small well, add 2 tsp Bread Machine/ Fast Rise Yeast (OR 2 1/4 tsp regular yeast).

Set the bread machine to the Basic (1.5 pound) loaf, with the desired bread crust color of your choice (light, med, dark).

*Bread Flour- Bread flour contains more gluten than regular all purpose flour. However, you can use all purpose flour in its place if you also add 1 tsp of Vital Wheat Gluten PER Cup of flour. So for 3 cups of all purpose flour you would also add 3 tsp of gluten. For 4 cups of all purpose flour, you would add 4 tsp of gluten. Wheat gluten is available in the baking aisle of most grocery stores (usually above the flour). It comes in a small box and should be stored in the fridge for increased longevity.

Bread Machine Note: The Bread machine that I used for the bread (displayed in the photo) is the West Bend High Rise (dual paddle) model. Although this recipe should work fine in any Bread Machine.

Don't have a Bread machine?- Here are the directions for making it by hand or by a mixer.

Photo Credit
© Can Stock Photo Inc. / monkeybusiness