Hill Climber's Bread

This recipe is my Great Grandma Helmuth's. I use white flour and am still experimenting with wheat flour to get it to come out right so here it is.

1/4 cup sugar
1 Tbs (yes 1 Tablespoon) salt
1/3 cup melted butter (or you can use oil)
1 1/2 cups cold water
2 cups scorched milk (I put it in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave it for 2 min.  watch that it doesn't boil over)
5 tsp yeast
6-8 cups all-purpose flour

Put everything except flour in large bowl.  Let yeast activate (usually around 5 min) until bubbly. 

Stir in flour.  I usually use 6-7 cups flour but you may need more or less it all depends.  The dough will starting forming a ball as you stir.  Your arm will be sore when you are done stirring.  Put the dough onto a floured surface.

Knead the dough until soft and elastic.  You should be able to pinch the dough and it will fall back into place.  Usually I knead the dough for 5-10 minutes but again it all depends.  Here is a video of me kneading.



Put dough in a large greased bowl (I just wash out the bowl I used to mix it and then grease it).  Flip the dough over so the greased bottom is now on the top.  Cover with a towel.  Let rise until doubled (this could take anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours).  Punch down.


Take out and divide dough into two.  Shape each into a log type shape.  Put each log in a greased bread pan (seam down). 


Cover with a towel and let double.  Again this can take 30 minutes to 2 hours.


Put in a 400 degree oven for 25-30 minutes.  Take out of oven and immediately remove from pan onto counter (I use a wood cutting board).  Use 2 Tbs melted butter and a pastry brush to smear the butter all over the 2 loaves.  Cover with a towel until ready to serve.