Amish Wheat Bread Recipes

AMISH SOFT HONEY WHOLE WHEAT BREAD

Steps:

• Mix water with yeast and sugar and let sit until foamy (about 10 minutes). In the meanwhile, put the 3 eggs (in the shell) in a bowl of hot water (to bring the eggs to room temperature).
• Put flour, salt, and gluten in bowl.
• Pour in yeast mixture and stir until combined. Add in honey, eggs, and crisco until combined, scraping sides. (I usually use an egg beater for this).
• Add more wheat flour and knead until smooth.
• Let set in warm place for about an hour until double in size.
• Divide into 3 loaves. Let rise again in warm place until doubled (about 1-1/2 hours).
• Bake as regular bread (I bake about 35 minutes at 375 or until the interior of the bread is 190 degrees using electric thermometer if you have one).
• Enjoy!

WHEAT SANDWICH BREAD FROM AMISH STARTER

Steps:

• Put water, starter and olive oil in mixer's bowl. Add remaining ingredients. Using dough hook attachment, mix on speed 2 until dough begins to form a ball on the dough hook, about 2 minutes. You may need to add a little more water, especially since whole wheat flour really soaks up the moisture.
• Now, increase the mixer's speed to 3 and let the dough hook knead the dough for four minutes on speed 3. If the dough starts creeping up past the guard on the top of the hook, it's because the dough is a bit too dry. Just sprinkle in a little water.
• After the four-minute knead by the mixer, let the dough rest in the bowl for about 5 minutes. This will help further develop the strands of gluten.
• Do a window pane test: Break off a little piece of the dough and roll it into a ball. Gently flatten the ball with your fingers and tease/stretch the dough out as if you're making a tiny pizza, getting it as thin as you can. If the dough is elastic and you can stretch it into a "window pane" through which light shines, the gluten is well developed and you're ready to proof the dough.
• If the dough rips instead of stretches, it's not kneaded quite enough. Give it a quick one-minute knead on speed 3. This is why I left it in the mixer bowl while letting it rest. ;).
• When the dough's ready turn it out into an oiled bowl and cover the bowl loosely with plastic or a damp tea towel. Place bowl in a warm place. I put the bowl in the oven with its light on, along with a bowl of hot water.
• When the dough's about doubled in size (roughly 90 minutes, but this can vary a bit), punch down the dough. Then, it rise another 45 minutes or so to develop more flavor. The second rise helps it develop more flavor.
• Punch down the dough then turn dough out onto lightly floured counter. Gently roll it out into a rectangle about 9" long and 6" wide. With your fingers, roll the flattened dough into a log, retaining tension as you do so. It's important you create surface tension on the loaf as you roll it up. Pinch the resulting seam together and tuck the ends under a bit.
• Place loaf into a greased loaf pan seam-side-down, cover with a lightly floured tea towel, and let rise about an hour. In a standard 9x5" loaf pan, the dough should rise until it's domed a bit above the loaf pan's top.
• Preheat oven to 375°F With a sharp knife or a razor blade, gently slash the top of the loaf about 1/2" deep all along the top. Bake loaf for 30-35, rotating the pan in the oven once about half way through. The bread is done when you can can turn the loaf over in an oven mitt and a thermometer inserted in the bottom of the loaf registers between 190-195°F The loaf will sound hollow if you thump the bottom.
• Note that ovens vary, and you may need to tent the loaf with tinfoil if the top crust is getting too dark.
• Let loaf cool in pan for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a cooling rack. Let the loaf cool *completely* before you slice it.

AMISH BREAD

Steps:

• Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select White Bread cycle; press Start.
• When the dough has raised once and second cycle of kneading begins, turn machine off. Reset by pressing Start once again. This gives the dough two full raising cycles before the final raising cycle prior to baking.

AMISH WHITE BREAD

Steps:

• In a large bowl, dissolve the sugar in warm water, and then stir in yeast. Allow to proof until yeast resembles a creamy foam.
• Mix salt and oil into the yeast. Mix in flour one cup at a time. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Place in a well oiled bowl, and turn dough to coat. Cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
• Punch dough down. Knead for a few minutes, and divide in half. Shape into loaves, and place into two well oiled 9x5 inch loaf pans. Allow to rise for 30 minutes, or until dough has risen 1 inch above pans.
• Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 minutes.

AMISH POTATO BREAD

Steps:

• In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add the milk, butter, potatoes, sugar, salt, whole wheat flour and 1/2 cup all-purpose flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a firm dough. , Turn onto a lightly floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a bowl coated with cooking spray, turning once to coat the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour. , Punch dough down and turn onto a floured surface; shape into a loaf. Place in a 9x5-in. loaf pan coated with cooking spay. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes. , Bake at 350° for 40-45 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pan to wire rack to cool.