Grease 6-8 loaf pans and set aside. In a 8 quart bowl, or larger- my mom always used the turkey roaster pan, combine the water, salt, sugar, oil and yeast. Stir to combine. Your yeast should start bubbling after just a bit and looking foamy.
Stir in the rest of the ingredients until the mixture becomes too thick to stir. With clean hands knead the dough until all the ingredients are incorporated and the dough pulls cleanly away from the side of the bowl. It will be sticky at first but as all the flour gets incorporated, it will become less sticky. Add additional flour if you need to. A little sticky is okay but you want it to be mostly firm.
When the dough is well kneaded, cover and set in a warm location to rise.
When the dough has doubled in size, punch it down, meaning push all the air out of the dough. Cover and let it rise again. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
When your dough has doubled in size again, squeeze off piece of dough, knead it and shape it to the size of your loaf pan. Slap the top of the dough a few times to rid it of any large air bubbles and place it in your greased pans. You want the dough to reach almost half way up your pan. Any higher and it may overflow or be a top heavy loaf, less and you will have a very short loaf of bread.
Once in the pan, cover and let your bread rise again. Let the loafs rise almost to the top of the pan. Once they reach that point, place them in your preheated oven and bake 30 minutes or until a light golden brown on the top. Add additional time if needed.
Remove from the oven and cool on a dish towel or cooling rack. It is easiest to cut fresh bread with a very sharp serrated knife. Once cool it will slice easier as well- but who can wait for that? Enjoy
This recipe is fairly forgiving. The levels of white and wheat flour can be changed to your liking. Although I have never made it with all white flour, half and half works great. Milk tends to help bread crumble less, as does gluten. It will be fine without both but you may get more crumbs. The size of loaf you make will determine exactly how many loafs this recipe makes. I have a variety of size but it makes about six 4 x 8 loafs. Rise time will be affected by the temperature. If it is colder, it will take longer.
0 servings