Amish Country Bread

It’s that time of the year when I’m trying to use up all my yeast, baking powder, and baking soda before Passover so I don’t have to throw much out. I hate waste. So I’m officially back on my bread-baking kick. I started last weekend with this delicious, soft, salty bread—nicknamed Amish country bread.

This recipe was super easy to throw together, even though I had some trouble with the texture of the dough. Mine was much drier than I think it should have been (too much flour? maybe weather-related too?). However, it didn’t seem to make any difference—the bread baked up soft and chewy, with a nice crisp crust on the outside.

I used my handy-dandy enameled cast-iron dutch oven, and the lid makes an awesome seal that traps the moisture in, which gives you that crusty outside and chewy inside. If you don’t have a dutch oven, you can bake on a castiron griddle (or pizza stone or some other oven-safe contraption), with some ice water in a separate pan to create steam.

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Pull out your trusty old stand mixer and put all the ingredients EXCEPT the flour into the bowl. That means hot water, sugar, melted butter, yeast, and salt—get in there! Let it sit for 5-10 minutes, until the yeast does its bubbling thing.

Add the flour in small batches & mix with a dough hook for several minutes.

Grease a large bowl with butter or oil (I favor butter) and place the dough in it. Cover with a clean tea towel and let the dough rise until it doubles in size. This takes about 30 minutes. I heated the microwave for a minute or two and put the bowl in there afterward to rise in a nice warm place since my apartment is ridiculously frigid lately.

This is about what it should look like. My dough seemed quite dry for some reason, but it still tasted delicious.

Punch down the dough and form it into a round loaf. Place on a greased cookie sheet or one covered in parchment paper. I actually used a castiron griddle, which gives it a nice crisp bottom.

Slice decorative slits on top and let the dough rise again for a half hour or so while the oven heats up.

Brush an egg white wash (1 egg white + 1 tablespoon of water) over the top and sprinkle with kosher salt and a little Parmesan.

Bake at 400 F degrees for about 20 minutes (for me it took about 25 minutes). Fresh, hot bread for the eatin’!

This is such a simple and versatile bread recipe, you’ll love to keep this on hand for everyday snacking!

Other easy bread recipes you’ll love:

• Small-Batch Traditional Wholemeal Irish Soda Bread
• Easy Drop Biscuits from Outlander Kitchen
• One-Hour Skillet Focaccia Bread
• Rosemary Olive Oil Bread with Sea Salt

Amish Country Bread

• 4 tablespoons of sugar
• 2 tablespoons of butter (melted)
• 3 teaspoons of salt
• 1 1/2 cups of hot water
• 2 tablespoons of rapid rise yeast
• 5 cups of flour (+ or -)

Put all ingredients but the flour—hot water, sugar, butter, yeast, and salt—into a large stand mixer. Let sit for 5-10 minutes, until the yeast does its bubbling thing. Add the flour in small batches & mix with a dough hook for several minutes (don’t let it get too dry, you may not need all the flour). Grease a bowl with butter or oil and place the dough in it. Cover with a clean tea towel and let dough rise until doubled in size (about 30 minutes).

Punch down the dough and form it into a round loaf. Place on a greased cookie sheet or one covered in parchment paper. Slice decorative slits on top and let the dough rise again for a half hour or so while the oven heats up. Brush an egg white wash (1 egg white + 1 tablespoon of water) over the top and sprinkle with kosher salt and a little Parmesan. Bake at 400 F degrees for 17-20 minutes (for me it took about 25 minutes).

Original recipe here

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