Bread and Bath Both Begin with B

I'm a tightwad. I'll admit it. I'm cheap. Well, thrifty. Hmmmm, maybe, frugal. I've been told that I am so tight I squeak when I walk.

This sometimes causes tension within the family. I'm the one who walks around the house turning off lights. I'm the one who puts on a sweater instead of turning up the heat. I'm the one who picks through the discount bins at the grocery store.

Oh, I also ask questions about what others buy. I have been accused of actually grilling others about why they want to buy something. Oh, they really hate that one! It goes "Do you want it or need it? What are you going to use it for? Don't you already have something that does that? How often are you going to use it? Etc." But, we work hard for our money and I don't see any reason to throw it away needlessly.

This frugality carries over into my cooking. For example, if one part of my dinner goes in the oven, I figure there's no reason to heat it up just for one dish. So, I'll make sure that I put the whole dinner in the oven.

However, there is one area that my thriftiness becomes a real challenge - bread baking. Now, we all know that for bread to properly rise, it has to be in a warm, draft-free area. Yeah, try to find that in our house. The draft-free part isn't hard. It's the warm part that's the challenge. Oh, I could crank up the heat, but why heat the whole house when I only need one small area warm?

I have tried a number of tactics to combat this problem. I tried partitioning off a small area of the kitchen by hanging towels from the cabinets and heating it with a heating pad and buffet warming tray. I have tried preheating the oven to warm and put the dough into the warm oven to rise. I read in one of my cooking magazines that you can create the perfect environment for bread dough by running your dishwasher empty and then put the dough into the dishwasher for the drying cycle. (Right, the person who won't run a half-full dishwasher to save on water is going to run it empty. Not!!)

Finally, I have hit upon a wonderful solution - a bath. A nice LONG soaking bath turns our upstairs bathroom into the perfect bread factory - warm, draft-free with good humidity. So, now what I do is turn down the heat in the house. Make the dough. Turn the heat back up to normal so the furnace will kick on. Go upstairs with the dough. Run a nice hot bath and while the dough inflates, I get to deflate.

So, get ready to soak.

White Bread
Makes 2 loaves.

2 packages active dry yeast
3/4 cup water -- 105 to 115 degrees
2 cups milk -- lukewarm
3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons shortening
1 tablespoon salt
8 cups bread flour
1 tablespoon butter -- melted

In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in the warm water. Stir in 1 tablespoon of sugar. Allow mixture to sit for 1 to 2 minutes. Add milk, remaining sugar, shortening, salt and 4 cups of flour. Vigorously beat until smooth and shortening is completely integrated. Gradually add enough of the remaining flour to make a dough that can be easily handled.

Turn dough out onto a well floured surface and knead until the dough is smooth and slightly stiff. (To knead dough, fold dough towards you, then push away with heels of your hands in a smooth rocking motion. Rotate a quarter turn and repeat dough is fully kneaded.)

Place dough in a greased bowl. Then turn dough so that the greased side is up. Cover with a towel and let rise in a warm, draft-free place until dough has doubled (1 to 2 hours).

Punch dough down. Divide dough in half. Shape each into a loaf and place in a greased loaf pan. Shaping can be done by:

Shaping by hand - Take dough in your hands and fold the outside surfaces under until the dough takes the desired shape.

Hand rolling - Place dough on a flat surface and roll around on the surface until the desired shape is achieved.

Pin rolling - Roll dough out into a rectangle roughly the length of your loaf pan and 4 times its width (approximately 18x9 inches). Starting at the narrow end, tightly roll dough into a loaf. Fold the ends under to form a smooth end.

Brush with melted butter. Return to a warm, draft-free area and let rise until doubled (about 1 to 2 hours).

Place pans in a preheated 425 degree oven. Place oven racks so that the pan tops are in the center of the oven. Make sure that the pans do not touch each other or the sides of the oven. Bake until loafs are a deep golden brown and sound hollow when tapped (approximately 25 to 30 minutes). Remove loaves from pans immediately. Brush tops with butter and cool on a wire rack.

Variations:

Cheese Caraway Bread - Use Rolling Pin method for shaping. Spread 3/4 cup of finely shredded cheddar cheese and 1 tablespoon of caraway seeds on dough before rolling into loaf shape. Brush with butter. Bake as directed above.

Chili Cheese Bread - Use Rolling Pin method for shaping. Spread 3/4 cup of finely shredded cheddar cheese over rolled out dough. Liberally sprinkle with chili powder. Scatter canned green chilies over dough. Roll into loaf shape. Brush with butter and bake as directed above.

Sesame Rolls - Cut 1 half of dough into 12 pieces. Roll into balls by hand and place in an 8 inch cake pan. Brush with butter and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake in a preheated 425 degree oven for 15 to 20 minutes.