Homemade Honey White Bread

I have had Ina's Honey Sandwich Loaf recipe bookmarked for over a year. God knows why I have not made this sooner. Yesterday I ran to Wally's World to pick up a few things and forgot to get a loaf of bread. The Nudge likes Martin's Potato Breads and Shoprite only carries it and I was not about to run into that store for one loaf of bread.
Perfect time to make Ina's bread recipe.

OMG, this was the best sandwich bread I ever made. Extremely easy if you have a stand mixer with a dough hook but I imagine you could use your bread machine to make this.
I halved the recipe (which divided perfectly) because I only have one good loaf pan but I am seriously thinking of actually buying a second pan just to make two loaves to freeze one.

The Nudge ate two PB&J sandwiches, it was that good. If I had known how foolproof this was, I would have been baking and saving on bread for over a year.

Unfortunately I did not take a pic of the whole loaf before The Nudge cut into it but I did manage to take a picture of the second batch of bread that I used for slider/dinner rolls.

I think that every Friday should be Loaf Day, this way we can have fresh toast on Sunday. I also love that I can slice it Texas-style for Grilled Cheese and the ends are perfect for croutons. Nothing will go to waste.

If you have never made bread before but want to start, this is the perfect recipe for you. Just make sure you have everything measured and in separate bowls and you will be rising your first loaf in 15 minutes.

Honey White Bread
Adapted from Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa via Food Network

makes 2 loaves

• 1/2 cup warm water (110 degrees)
• 2 packages dry yeast
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 1/2 cups warm whole milk (110 degrees)
• 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1 1/2 tablespoons honey
• 2 extra-large egg yolks
• 5 to 6 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1 egg white, lightly beaten

1. Place the water in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment. If the bowl is cold, be sure the water temperature doesn't drop below 110 degrees F. Add the yeast and sugar; stir and allow them to dissolve for 5 minutes.
2. Add the milk, butter, and honey. Mix on medium speed until blended. Add the egg yolks, 3 cups of the flour, and the salt. Mix on low speed for about 5 minutes. With the mixer still on low speed, add 2 more cups of flour. Raise the speed to medium and slowly add just enough of the remaining flour so the dough doesn't stick to the bowl. Add the flour slowly; you can always add more but you can't take it out. Knead on medium speed for about 8 minutes, adding flour as necessary.
3. Dump the dough out onto a floured surface and knead by hand for a minute, until the dough is smooth and elastic. Grease a bowl with butter, put the dough in the bowl, then turn it over so the top is lightly buttered. Cover the bowl with a damp towel and allow it to rise for one hour, until doubled in volume.
4. Grease two 9 x 5-inch loaf pans with butter. Divide the dough in half, roll each half into a loaf shape and place each in a prepared pan. Cover again with the damp towel, and allow to rise again for an hour, until doubled in volume.
5. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. When the dough is ready, brush the tops with the egg white and bake the breads for 40 to 45 minutes, until they sound hollow when tapped. Turn them out of the pans and cool completely on a wire rack before slicing.

Review: My first try being such a great success, I decided to make a second batch. I followed the same exact directions, after the first rise, the only difference being I weighed each piece into 2oz balls (I ended up with 14). I placed them, touching, in a square cake pan, allowed them to rise again and reduced the baking time to 20 minutes (which is the average for baking dinner rolls). Perfect the second time. The last two that did not fit, I baked in a 3/4 cup ramekin (roll on the right side of pic).

Half of them where put aside for my Asian Sloppy Joe Sliders and the others for a Riggie and Ragu dinner we had on Thursday (recipe posts for both in a few days).