Now baking breads with the help of a stand mixer is very easy as well as quick. Stand mixers come in handy to make a variety of things and breads are one of their main forte. If you bake breads every weekend, then you should definitely buy a stand mixer.
When choosing a stand mixer, the KitchenAid stand mixer is quite good and popular. Lots of people love this stand mixer. Moreover, the KitchenAid stand mixer has stylish looks, which will add to the décor of your kitchen.
Available in a wide variety of colors, you can pick a KitchenAid stand mixer in your favorite color. Plus, there are many models of stand mixers available, which means you can choose a lower priced model if you have a tight budget or a higher priced model if you just want the best for your kitchen.
When it comes to baking your bread, you should always opt for homemade bread, as nothing equals a homemade bread. However, many people are scared to bake bread at their homes, which is why bread machines have become quite popular. These bread making machines just need you to put all the food ingredients and then start the machine.
However, in between this fully-manual and traditional method, there is a process in which you do not have to put in much efforts or use your hands. In this method, you just have to use a versatile and multi-purpose kitchen appliance, which you may already have. And, guess what this kitchen appliance is? Yes, it is a stand mixer.
You can buy a stand mixer, if you do not already have one. This will help you to bake your bread in home. Besides making bread, you can also use your stand mixer for other things, such as mashed potatoes, cakes, etc.
Some of the stand mixers, such as the KitchenAid stand mixer, come with a cookbook. You can take help from this cookbook to make different recipes using your stand mixer. With a stand mixer, you do not have to knead the flour required to make your bread, which makes it very easy to make bread at home.
Kneading the flour takes a lot of time and is a messy process when you do it with your hands. Moreover, if you are old or do not have much manual strength, it can be quite difficult for you to knead bread using your hands.
In such a case, you can make use of a stand mixer to knead the flour is the answer to all your kneading woes. This way you not only get to knead the dough quickly, but it also saves you from cleaning the mess.
In this article, you will get to learn how you can make bread with your stand mixer. This recipe is for making white bread, which is used by lots of people and that too pretty often. With your stand mixer, you can make two regular size bread loaves.
So, let’s get started with making the basic white bread. First, we will tell you what all ingredients you require along with their quantity and then we will tell you the directions in order to bake bread at home.
Ingredients
- Half cup of milk
- 2 teaspoons of salt
- 5 cups of warm water with a temperature between 105 degree Fahrenheit and 11 degree Fahrenheit
- 3 tablespoons of sugar
- 3 tablespoons of butter
- 4 1/2 teaspoons of active dry yeast that comes in bulk or 2 packages of active dry yeast
- 5 or 6 cups of all-purpose flour
Notes
You can try using the SAF Red Instant Yeast. You must know that 1 yeast packet is equal to 2 1/4 of teaspoons. If you buy yeast in bulk, use 4.5 teaspoons of it.
Make sure that you store the yeast in a proper way, that is, you need to put the yeast in a sealed or airtight container in the freezer. You can get such containers from the market. This way the yeast can be used for a few years. However, if you see that your bread is not rising properly and it is over two years old, then you should buy new yeast.
The water as well as the heated milk concoction must be lukewarm in temperature when you add it. This way it will not kill the yeast. You can use a digital thermometer for this purpose, although it is not necessary to use it. Make sure that the liquids are just above normal body temperature, which means they must feel barely warm.
When it comes to the all-purpose flour, you can use an unbleached one, such as of Gold Metal or King Arthur. You can also use your preferred variety of all-purpose flour. However, you need to make sure that the flour is not rising on its own.
Directions
- First of all, you need to combine the sugar, salt, milk, as well as butter in a medium size container that is microwave safe or in a small saucepan. If you are making use of the stove, make sure that you heat this mixture over less heat until you see the butter melting and the sugar and salt dissolves. And, if you plan to make use of the microwave, then you need to heat on the high setting for nearly 60 to 90 seconds. You will see that the butter has not entirely melted, still there will be sufficient amount of residual heat that will finish the job as the fluid cools down. Make sure that you stir the mixture in order to completely dissolve the sugar and salt.
- Now cool this mixture until it turns lukewarm and reaches a temperature between 105 degree Fahrenheit and 115 degree Fahrenheit.
- Now you need to warm the bowl using one or two cups of hot water. Dump the water after swirling it around in the bowl.
- Now you must add half cup of warm water in the mixing bowl and dissolve the yeast in it. Whisk this mixture a little bit using a small whisk or fork.
- Now you must add the 4.5 cups of the flour and the mixture of lukewarm milk.
- Attach the dough hook and bowl to the stand mixer, ensure that you lock its head in its position. Now, mix this concoction at the lowest speed for nearly 2 minutes.
- Add the remaining flour, half a cup at one time, till the dough sticks to the dough hook.
- Continue kneading the dough for additional 3 to 5 minutes till the dough turns elastic and smooth.
- After this, you just need to rise and shape the bread using the regular process and you are done.
Your homemade bread is now ready with the help of a stand mixer.