Egg Bread

3 cups flour (plus more for kneading)   *substitute 1/2 c whole wheat flour and add 1/2 c oatmeal - very yummy.  you can also add ground flax, or chopped nuts . . .
¼ c sugar
1 ½  tsp salt
1 pckg yeast (2 ¼ tsp)
1 c very warm water (120 – 130 degrees F) - let your tap water run till it's quite hot
2 Tbs veg oil
1 egg

mix 1 ½ c flour, sugar, salt, and yeast in large bowl
add warm water and oil
beat well by hand or with mixer on low speed
add egg
beat till smooth
mix in 1 ½ c flour
turn out of bowl onto floured surface    *scrape the dough out with a rubber spatula.  I use quite a bit of flour - this post shows what the dough looks like before I knead it
knead till smooth and springy   *it won't really stick to your hands anymore - but it's not hard
place dough in large bowl greased with shortening
cover with damp towel and let rise till double – about 1 hour   *if you use rapid rise yeast, this will cut the rise time by 15-30 minutes
flour your hands and punch down   *press your fist into the dough about 4-6 times
form loaf and place in greased loaf pan
cover with damp towel and let rise till double – about 1 hour  *again, if using rapid rise yeast, this rise time will be about 30 minutes
10 minutes before your rise time is up, preheat your oven to 375 degrees F                                                                                 bake for 30 minutes – till deep golden brown

this dough works well for sweet breads – you can add ½ c of raisins with the second addition of flour, then, after the first rising time, roll out dough into a rectangle (18 x 9 in), brush with melted butter, sprinkle with ¼ c sugar mixed with 2 tsp ground cinnamon, roll up into loaf, put in loaf pan, let rise and bake

For BREAD MACHINE

Use ingredients above adding 1/4 c flour.  Use room-temperature water.  Place ingredients in bread machine pan in the order recommended by the manufacturer.  Select Dough/Manual cycle; do not use delay cycle.  Remove dough from pan to shape into a loaf and bake.  Rising time may be shorter because dough will be warm when removed from bread machine.

Comments

[miss corliss]

This is our favorite bread! I make it every week and have sent others on to your site to make some for their families too :)