Gosh. I hope I didn’t really break the bread. I hope I just made a nice easy cut. Sawed it back and forth. Then ate it. Is that worse than simply breaking it? I am sure it didn’t feel a thing.
When I am feeling down, nothing makes me feel better than baking or cooking (and no, I do not think you have to be good at one or the either. That makes no sense at all). Just making something. Forming something from simple ingredients into a wondrous treat makes my whole heart heal.
And if nothing else, it gives me calories to burn while I cry. Or laugh. Or both.
And of all of the baked goods, bread absorbs tears the best. At least, that’s what I’ve been told.
My mother-in-law once taught me her secret to perfect bread. And now I’m telling you. And since she is unaware that this little blog exists, you won’t tell her.
See how that works.
Her secret is substituting whatever liquid the bread recipe calls for with apple juice.
Trust me. It is divine.
But with this recipe having honey, I did not want to do all apple juice and make it too sweet, so I simply substituted a cup of apple juice for the original recipe’s full 2 1/2 cups milk. I very slightly adapted this recipe from Taste of Home.
And I loved it.
It wasn’t broken.
The end.
Oh, wait, I still have to teach you how to make it.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups milk
2 packets active dry yeast (1/4 oz. ea.)
2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup melted salted butter
1 cup apple juice
7 cups flour + 1/2 cup to spread on counter
1/3 cup honey
Directions:
Pour milk and apple juice in a microwave proof container
Microwave on high one minute. Stir. If the liquid is still not warm to the touch microwave for thirty seconds more (it will depend on the depth of your cup. I just measured milk to 1 1/2 cups and then apple juice to the very top of a two cup measuring cup. You want your liquid warm and not hot. If it is too hot, it will kill your yeast. My mother-in-law uses a thermometer. I use my finger. Again, she’ll neve’ know. But if you like to be precise, the temperature should be 115 degrees Fahrenheit.
Dump yeast into your mixer. And yes, dump. Not pour. Why? Because “dump” is much more fun to say.
Pour (we can’t get carried away with the other word. It is about to get serious) milk/apple juice mixture in. Stir gently a few times. Let yeast activate for a few minutes (I get impatient. This is usually three minutes for me).
Pour in remaining ingredients. Pour the butter in last because you do not want the hot butter to kill the yeast.
Knead six minutes on your floured surface (or use your dough hook on your stand mixer if you have one. Ditzy me did not realize what that was for until my friend came over and asked me why I just didn’t just use that instead of kneading it by hand. Thankfully my husband did most of the work, because I am a kneady). Form into a large dough ball.
Grease round mixing bowl with butter.
Lay ball of dough in the bowl and then flip the dough once so that all sides of the dough are greased.
Turn oven on to its lowest setting for just two minutes. Do not let it get to a high temperature. Turn oven off. Place a damp dish towel over bowl of dough and place the bowl in the oven for an hour.
Make sure you leave plenty of room above the bowl for the dough to rise in the oven.
Remove bowl from the oven.
Remove the towel.
Punch dough in the middle. (The kids LOVE doing this).
Dough will deflate. Form dough into two loaves (I just rip mine in half, channeling my inner Hulk and just pat that baby into shape) and place into two, greased with butter, 9 X 5 loaf pans.
Place pans in oven to rise for thirty minutes (it will still be warm enough to do this).
Remove pans from oven. Turn oven to 375 degrees. Bake bread for 15 minutes. After fifteen minutes cover the tops of the bread with foil and cook for another eighteen minutes.
Remove loaves from oven. Turn oven off. Remove foil.
Turn loaves upside down onto a cooling rack one at a time and turn over so they are right side up again.
Let cool thirty minutes before eating.
I made the kids and myself a cute little table setting to eat our fresh homemade bread at. We all loved it. It created minimal clean up. And it definitely made the homemade bread feel much more special.
I would say that is not broken at all.
yuuuumm can I come over?? <3 I never ever baked bread before.. Do you think I can make it wth your recepie???
Keiko, you can always come over. I am so happy to hear from you. I hope you are doing well. I have been thinking of you!
Have a lovely Monday!
Jenni
Oh my! I can’t wait to try this! Thank you for sharing your secret! 🙂
Thank you Kristen! It is very easy. I love this recipe. In fact, I might make more tomorrow! It is so cheap, too.
Have a great week!
Jenni
Sounds good! Is this bread quite sweet? I never heard of putting apple juice in it.
Thank you Lisa! The bread is definitely not sweet. It is like normal bread. Most bread has sugar in it. The honey substitutes that. But the apple juice just adds a little somethin’. But I definitely think if I would have substituted all of the milk with apple juice, it would not have been as good. We all think it is yummy! : )
Have a super week!
Jenni
Dear, dear Jenni ~~ have you been crying?
I heard or read somewhere it is good luck to tear bread (which in my way of thinking is another way to say break bread). However, when I googled that to send you some links as proof, all that came up were sites explaining that putting a portion of bread in ones’s mouth will keep your eyes dry while cutting an onion (I’ve tried this and it’s not true…at least bit for me….however, cutting an onion while you have a lit candle does work…except for when cutting red onions in my experience). Another link that popped up was, ‘is it safe to eat that moldy bread?’ Hmmm. Not sure why someone would be asking such things. So all that to say, I think, don’t put moldy bread in your mouth while cutting onions. Um, or something like that. Please don’t cry, sweet Jenni.
Awww, Brynne. You are so sweet. I actually wrote that part when we were going through all of the stuff with my son in May, but I did not publish it then, because I like to try a recipe more than once before I post it. So, when it was finally ready to post, I left that part, because I figured if someone is sad right now, this might help. It helped me. And I know there will be days I might need a pick me up, so I wanted to remind myself, too. So, knock on wood, we are not crying now, : )
I had never heard of putting bread in one’s mouth for tears. That is so interesting. I just used up all of my onions tonight. So, I am going to try that next time. Although, honestly, I think that might make me sick, soggy bread in my cheeks. And you made me laugh with the moldy bread. That is so funny. Aaahhh! No! It is not safe. Or it shouldn’t be!
Thank you for your words and friendship, Brynne. I appreciate it so much.
Have a joyful week!
Jenni
Now that is some gorgeous looking bread!
Thank you Cynthia. It was fun to make. Or break. ; )
Have sweet dreams and a beautiful Monday!
Jenni
I am going to make this today! I am scared of bread, but I think I can do this…with the help of my dough hook! It just looks to delicious not to try!
I know you can make it! I hope it turned out! I love this bread! I almost made it today, but thank goodness I didn’t because my electricity kept going out all day! It would have been ruined!
Have a terrific Tuesday!
Jenni
Omg! I may try this! I have been meaning to tell you that I actually used the rice krispie treat recipe that you have and made a batch of krispies! They turned out amazing! Thank you so much (:
– Deniz
Thank you Deniz! And thanks for letting me know you tried the rice krispie treats. I have been making those all summer! In fact, I had one today, because I made a batch yesterday. I like to wrap them individually in saran wrap an hour and a half after they are made. They last longer that way.
Have a wonderful week!
Jenni
looks amazing! I would eat the whole thing.
Thank you Marie! I had to stop myself from doing that! But I definitely wanted to. I wish I had some now.
Have a great week!
Jenni
Your loaves of bread look so good. Not sure I could wait the 30 minutes for it to cool before digging in!
Thank you Liana! I was going to make some tonight, but I succumbed to sweet cookies instead. I cannot resist sweets!
Have a happy week!
Jenni
I loooove fresh bread. But I try not to eat it, because I’m supposed to be mostly gluten-free (which I’m not sticking to at all lately). This post made me want fresh bread though!
Thank you Rachel! Right now I am baking up some baked potatoes for a baked potato casserole I will be blogging about one day. Don’t look! ; ). It is so yummy. Why is all the really good stuff always bad for you? It just is not fair.
Have a gorgeous weekend!
Jenni