Rosebud's Butter Topped White Bread... WIN!

I am no chef. Which is kind of funny because I am married to a chef. Actually, until recently, I couldn't cook at all. Motherhood has brought out the Martha Stewart in me though. Add to that a couple of girlfriends who cook completely from scratch to both save money and keep ahead of their kid's dietary needs, and you have the "now" me. The one who cooks and cleans and loves all things crunchy. All that said, I have been terrified of attempting to make bread. That has been the one thing I have been absolutely avoiding. I DO NOT want to bake my own bread. It involves something called kneading... wha??? And then you "punch" it?? Okay, the punching part sounded fun but all the other stuff scared the crap out of me.

No bread baking around here, right? Well, then I went on a roadtrip with my most favorite ladies in the world. And I had from scratch bread at Lishy's house. And I decided come hell or high water, I was making some homemade bread. Lishy was kind enough to share her recipe. And then I had the bad manners to go and lose it. So I improvised and found this pin on Pinterest. This was seriously THE EASIEST thing ever!!! You mix up some stuff. Let it sit. Beat the bejesus out of it. Let it sit some more. Then you bake it! And here I thought it involved hours of kneading by hand, covered up to the elbows in flour, children starving while I spend days trying to create the perfect dough... You get the picture.. No fun. I could have not been more wrong!

Here it is! The recipe for the awesomest, easiest bread ever!

Rosebud's Butter Topped White Bread:

Fresh out of the oven!

Ingredients:

4 and 1/2 teaspoons dry active yeast (or the equivalent of two packets)
3/4 cup warm water
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon salt
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature and cut into pieces
2 and 2/3 cup additional warm water
9-10 cups all-purpose flour (I used half unbleached and half whole wheat flours)
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted, for brushing the tops of the loaves
Additional butter/cooking spray, for greasing your rising bowl and loaf pans

Instructions
1. In the bowl of your standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, dissolve the yeast in 3/4 cup of warm water, about 5 minutes.
2. Add the sugar, salt, butter, additional 2 and 2/3 cup warm water, and mix gently to combine.
3.  Slowly add 5 cups of the flour, mixing on low speed until smooth.
4. With the mixer on its lowest speed , slowly add the remaining flour until the dough is smooth.
5. Switch to your dough hook attachment and knead the dough for 10 minutes. ***Now, if you have a smaller mixer, I would recommend kneading the dough in two portions so as not to burn your motor out-this is a lot of dough.  Alternatively, like my grandmother used to do, you can knead all of the dough by hand.
6.  While the dough is kneading, lightly grease a large bowl with butter or cooking spray, as well as two loaf pans (I used 9″).
7.  Once the dough is ready, place the dough in the greased bowl and turn over to completely coat the dough with butter/cooking spray.  Cover, and set in a warm place to rise for 1 hour.
8. After an hour, punch down the dough (yes!) and divide it into two portions.
9. Working with one portion at a time, roll (with a rolling pin) the dough out into roughly 12″ x 12″ squares, making sure that the thickness of the dough is uniform throughout.
10.  Slowly and tightly roll up each square, sealing the edges firmly.
11.  Tuck the ends of the roll tightly under the bread and place into your prepared loaf pans.  Repeat with the second loaf.  Cover the loaves, set in a warm place, and let rise until doubled, about another hour.
12.  Place one rack on the lowest position in the oven and preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

OMGosh yummy!

13. Bake the loaves for 15 minutes, then cover each loaf with aluminum foil to prevent the tops from browning too much.
14.  Once covered with foil, bake for an additional 15 minutes.
15. Remove the loaves from the oven, place on a wire rack to cool, and lightly brush the loaves with the melted butter.