KitchenAid Basic White Bread Recipe

A Great Basic White Bread Recipe from KitchenAid

My KitchenAid Stand Mixer, my best friend when I’m baking Bread, deserves a Gold Watch or least a decent burial……

Update- July 2019 – she’s still working, bless her Kitchen Aid motor!

Please note that this is not a paid sponsored post but just a case of giving credit where credit is due!

27 31 years of loyal service in the working world used to get you gold watch or an embellished citation suitable for framing. Not so much in the here and now but if appliances could receive such honors, my faithful KitchenAid Stand Mixer deserves one.  This tough little stand mixer has been my loyal kitchen companion since 1987. My son gave it to me as a Christmas present after we had just finished remodeling our kitchen.  No more wimpy motorized hand mixer for this girl!  Me and my KitchenAid mixer have seen many a Thanksgiving dinner and holiday baking marathon together.  We’ve kneaded bread, made pizza dough, cake batter, cookie dough by the bowlful and every time I received consistent quality and good service.

I love my mixer so much it was my choice for a wedding present to give my son and his bride, who didn’t know how to cook (at all).  I wanted to give them the best start at marital bliss in the kitchen so the KitchenAid was my first choice. So today when I heard a funny grinding noise coming from the motor as it kneaded bread my heart sank. I admit that I have pondered in the last year or so about how much longer she would last (note I think of her as being female – faithful and dependable) knowing that she was a child of the ’80s.  I dreaded the thought of replacing her. My mind pondered what changes they might have made to the design and settings that I was so used to with a little fear. We were old friends, the KitchenAid and I.  I admit there is a real inconsistency in the fact that on one hand I love new technology but I can also find myself resistant to change in things like a stand mixer.  I know that I will buy KitchenAid again but I really would like to have the very same mixer with no changes.  After all, how can you improve on the perfect product?  But I’m sure there have been advancements, and wonderful new attachments and I will have to move on. So after I finish my baking, I will be surfing the KitchenAid website looking for a new love (sort of “appliance Eharmony”) hoping to hook up with a new companion for another 25+ year relationship.  I’ll let you know what I end up deciding on in the future but for now, I’d like to share one of my favorite recipes from the cookbook that came with my mixer – White Bread.  This makes a very consistent, tasty product so give it a try and the mixer does all the work. There was a time when I kneaded bread dough by hand ( in the dark ages) but once I connected that dough hook to the mixer, my laborious days of being “kneady” were over.

The Best White Bread Recipe Ever!

I’ve been baking for a lot of years but without a doubt the best bread recipe I have ever found was this one from the cookbook that came with my KitchenAid Mixer so many years ago.  The pages of this cookbook are soiled with stains from different ingredients and the pages are getting a little tattered but I will not give it up.  I often scan EBay in search of it trying to find a back-up copy.  The recipes in it are easy and they always come out right.  I have often heard that cooking can be random but that baking is an exact science. Granted that precisely measured ingredients and carefully followed instructions are important but these recipes in this cookbook are so good and so fundamental that it is pretty hard to screw them up. I love this recipe and we must have a loaf count in the 1000’s by now. I have never had a failure. This recipe always turns out the same with consistent texture and crumb. When the smell of yeast bread permeates the Thompson house everyone waits with anticipation.  They should make a scented candle called Baking Bread!  Thank God the recipe makes 2 loaves because one barely has the chance to cool down before it is devoured. Try this recipe, you’ll love it!

We have more homemade bread recipes here at The Wilderness Wife Blog so click here to visit our collection of yeast bread recipes.

KiitchenAid Basic White Bread

With this recipe I have baked so many loaves of bread over 27 years and all had great texture and taste. I never had a failure with this recipe!

• Author: KitchenAid Stand Mixer Cookbook circa 1987
• Prep Time: 2 hours 15 min
• Cook Time: 30 min
• Total Time: 2 hours 45 min
• Yield: 2 loaves 1x
• Category: Bread
• Method: Baking
• Cuisine: American

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 1/2 cup milk
• 3 tbs. sugar
• 2 tsp. salt
• 3 tbs. butter
• 2 packets – 1/4 ounce active dry yeast
• 1 1/2 c. warm water (105 to 110 degrees F)
• 5–6 c. all purpose flour

Instructions

1. Combine milk, sugar, salt, and butter in small sauce pan. Heat over low heat and stir until butter melts and sugar dissolves. Cool to lukewarm (less than 110 degrees F).
2. If using active dry yeast, dissolve yeast in warm water in a warmed mixer bowl and let stand for 10 minutes.
3. Add lukewarm milk mixture and yeast/water mixture to 4 1/2cups of flour.
4. Attach dough hook and turn speed to 2 and mix 1 minute. Continue on Speed2, adding 1/2 cup flour at a time until dough clings to hook and cleans the side of the bowl.
5. Knead on Speed 2 for 2 minutes longer or until the dough is smooth and elastic.Dough will be slightly sticky to the touch.
6. Place in a greased bowl, turning the dough to grease the top. Cover, and let rise in a warm place free of drafts, until it doubles in size (about 1 hour).
7. Punch dough down and divide in half.
8. Shape each half into a loaf and place in greased 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 2 1/2 loaf pans.
9. Cover and let rise again in warm, draft free place till doubled. (about 1 hour)
10. Bake at 400 degrees F for 30 minutes.
11. Remove from pans immediately and let cool on wire racks.