There is not much better than fresh baked bread. Well…maybe fresh baked bread with fresh strawberry jam…or maybe fresh baked bread with fresh raspberry jam…or…! Soon…very soon!!! I love to bake bread. There is something so fulfilling about working the dough, forming loaves, and baking something so truly good for my family.
I have had my share (and then some!) of disasters while baking bread. Different recipes, different flours, different ingredients, have sometimes yielded bricks, crumbly messes precariously held together by crust, tasteless chewy blah, and every sort of undesirable bread you could imagine. These disasters sort of take the fun out of making bread…it’s no fun to work hard to bake something that is not fun to eat!
I’ve gathered a few solid recipes over the years that have proved their worth! Largely eliminating grand catastrophes. This one is one of my absolute favorites. I have been making it as white bread…but you could definitely experiment with whole wheat and white flour combinations. Let me know how it works for you!
The recipe is called Nauvoo Bread. Nauvoo, the Hebrew Navu means “to be beautiful”, which is a lovely name for a truly lovely bread. But I believe that this bread recipe was actually named after the city of Nauvoo, IL which is also truly beautiful. At any rate…enjoy the recipe! I wish I could send over the yummy smells it is filling our house with, or even invite you in for a slice!
Nauvoo Bread
5 cups hot water
1/2 cups potato flakes
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup powdered milk
1 1/2 tablespoons salt
1/2 cup oil or shortening
2 tablespoons yeast
10 – 14 cups flour
Combine hot water, shortening, potato flakes, powdered milk, sugar. Stir to dissolve shortening. When temperature is tepid add yeast. Mix in 5 cups of flour and the salt, stir to a smooth sponge. Add flour to make a smooth and elastic dough. Let rise until double, about 45 minutes, punch down and let rise again. Shape into loaves, let rise. Bake in 35o degree oven for about 35 minutes. Remove from pans and let cool! Makes 4 loaves.
We store a lot of non-perishable foods in case of emergencies and this is a great recipe for rotating these items when they are reaching expiration dates. This is in fact the only way I like to eat the many pounds of potato flakes we have stored!!!
Now to join the littles outside. It is just to beautiful out to be inside baking past first thing in the morning!
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