90 Minute Man Bread (aka My New Favorite White Bread?)

 Taken from Don't Waste the Crumbs.
(My notes at the bottom.)

• 1-1/2 cups of warm water (105-115 degrees)
• 1 Tbsp honey
• 2-1/4 tsp active-dry yeast
• 2 Tbsp coconut oil, melted
• 4 cups all purpose flour
• 1-1/2 tsp salt
• Vital wheat gluten - 1 Tbsp per cup flour (optional)

1) If your kitchen is not warm, turn your oven to low. This is simply to warm your kitchen up a little bit (since it’s cool where we live).

2) In your mixer bowl add warm water, honey, and yeast. Stir a few times until honey dissolves. Once yeast starts foaming (5 minutes or so), add flour, melted coconut oil, and salt. Using dough hook, knead for 10 minutes on low/medium low. Leave your dough ball in the bowl and cover with a towel. Let rise for 30 minutes.

3) After the first rise, lightly flour a surface and scoop your dough ball on it. Knead your lump of dough by hand a few times, until it forms a firm ball. Cover this ball of dough with a towel.

4) Preheat oven to 400 degrees. If you have a pizza stone, make sure this is in the oven to warm up. Alternatively, you can use a cast iron skillet while the oven is preheating – as one reader had great luck with! (Note: We have only tested this recipe with a pizza stone.)

5) Let rise for 30 minutes.

6) After the second rise, place dough ball directly on pizza stone, cut two slits on the top of the dough ball and bake for 25 minutes at 400 degrees. If you are using a loaf or cast iron skillet, the cook time may need to be increased an additional 10-15 minutes. (bread is done when the internal temp is 220 degrees).

7) Let cool and enjoy.

NOTES

*We move this dough from the counter to the pizza stone, but if you don’t feel confident in that transition, flour a piece of parchment paper and shape the dough on that for the second rise. Then move the entire paper with the dough to the oven for baking.

**Vital wheat gluten is optional but helps create a more pliable, softer loaf.

Jenny's Notes:

• This is a very easy recipe and makes a very soft, pleasant bread (probably even good for sandwiches, although we've only had it by itself).
• I used Heritage White Flour and omitted the Vital Gluten.
• I baked it in my dutch oven on parchment paper.
• I baked it a little longer than 25 minutes (probably about 30).  It hadn't reached 220 degrees, but I took it out of the oven 1) because I had somewhere to be and 2) because it seemed done on the outside.  It was cooked all the way through.

Jonah-approved!