How To Bake A Lot Of Bread In One Day

A while back, Dy asked about my baking day. It's a little slow coming, but here goes: a photo journal of this morning's bread baking.



First, gather all your ingredients for whatever recipe you like. Here's mine, if you don't have one. I have a heavy duty stand mixer, which I saved for nearly a year to get, and it is indispensable, I think. I purchased two really big bowls for rising the bread in. Also needed now are measuring cups and spoons, a pot for melting butter, and a four cup liquid measure.



Helpers can be handy, or add to the mess, depending on the particular helper. This one is a mess maker, but she's so enthusiastic, I never send her away. Anyway, helpers are optional.



My mixer can handle three loaves at a time...well, probably four, but I can only bake six at a time, so it doesn't matter. I mix two three loaf batches, and the mixer is really handy here, saving me a lot of time and effort. It kneads the three loaves in about two minutes, instead of the ten or more it takes by hand.



As each batch is done, I shape them into balls and set them into the oiled bowls. I cover them with towels, then set them into a slightly warm oven for the first rise. (I preheat the oven for just a minute, then turn it off. It speeds up the rise time.)



After washing the cups and spoons I used, I pull out my stack of bread pans and grease them so they are ready and waiting. Whether you can fit four or six pans in your oven at a time, make sure they are all the same for uniform cooking. I prefer glass so I can see when the bottom is done, and I prefer Anchor Hocking for the size. Also, if they are all the same, they nest better in the cupboard between baking days.



My bowls are sized so that when the dough reaches the top, they are ready to punch down and shape.



Once the dough is shaped and rising again in the prepared pans...



...the bowls are empty and ready for two more three-loaf batches. I preheat the oven while I'm mixing the dough, and by the time I'm done, the first loaves are ready to bake.



When we replaced our oven last year, I chose this one specifically for mass bread baking. It's just a little larger than average and gives me room for those two extra loaves. Otherwise, I'd only be able to fit four at a time.



In about thirty five minutes they are done. I have a large cooling rack they all just fit on, and the pans are cooling, too, getting ready for the next load. The second batch takes a bit longer to rise, since it is on the counter instead of the warm oven, but by now, I need a break anyway. The short respite is welcome.

Now, my last six are in the oven, the bowls are in the dishwasher, and we are blessed with plenty of homemade bread. When I look at all that bread on our counter, I feel truly blessed and rich indeed. And now that there is so much, I'll likely take one of them over to a new neighbor. It's hard to dislike someone who brings you a still-warm loaf!