Country White Bread

Back in October, I was in Seattle and my best friend took me to this french bakery. It had the most amazing white bread! It was all nice and soft and crusty and chewy with good yeasty flavor. Ever since then, I've CRAVED good white bread, well kneaded, perfectly chewy.

I looked at many places and I couldn't find a bread that was both wonderfully sweet and chewy and not dry. So, what did I do? I tried to find a recipe online. This was the recipe I found:

Ingredients:

2 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast (4 teaspoon does the trick if you're like me and have yeast in bulk)

2 cups warm water (110 degrees to 115

degrees)

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon salt

2 eggs, beaten

1/4 cup vegetable oil (maybe 1/2 cup, the other 1/4 cup for oiling the dough to prevent it from sticking)

6 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (you might need 7 when you add what you use for kneading)

Directions:

In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Add sugar, salt, eggs, oil and 3 cups of flour; beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6 to 8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour. Punch dough down. Divide in half and shape into loaves. Place in two greased 9-in. x 5-in. x 3-in loaf pans. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour. Bake at 375 degrees F for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pans to cool on wire racks.

The bread turned out really tasty and rather pretty. I was worried at first because my two loaves weren't even. One was much smoother than the other:

But then, when I baked them, all was well. I got nice fluffy, chewy bread that was sweet but not overly so. 

In fact, I ate it with some hazelnut spread and I felt at peace. That night, my friends came over and they devoured most of a loaf.  The next day I made more! :) (i might've under baked it  a little the second time... but it was still edible and tasty)

It's really rather simple and you really should try it!

Also, if you want something to do with your hands that's satisfying, kneading bread is really nice. I've gotten a rhythm of reaching my finger under the dough, pulling, and then smushing the dough together. It's rather relaxing. I really like how the dough is shiny when you knead it after it's risen. :D

EDIT: This bread didn't taste quite like my friend's french bakery bread, but it'll have to do for now. 

<3

Hao