White Velvet Batter Bread Recipes

Steps:

• Mix together shortening, sugar, salt, yeast, and 1 1/5 cups flour. Add warm water and beat by hand about 300 strokes, or 3 minutes, with an electric mixer. Add remaining flour, scraping bowl often, and mix all together until smooth.
• Cover with a clean cloth and let rise until doubled in volume.
• Stir dough down gently, and spoon into a lightly greased 9x5 inch loaf pan (the batter should be sticky). Pat down with floured hands to help shape. Cover again, and let rise for about 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• Bake for about 45 minutes. Place on a cooling rack, and brush top with melted butter.

Steps:

• In a measuring cup, mix the sugar with a 1/2 cup of the warm water and yeast and let stand in a warm place for 5 minutes, or until frothy. If using fast-acting yeast, there is no need to let the mixture stand.
• In a large bowl, sift together the flour and salt. Rub in the butter, and make a well in the center. If using olive oil instead of butter, pour the olive oil into the remaining 1 1/2 cups water. Pour in the yeast mixture and most of the remaining water (and the olive oil, if using). Mix to a loose dough, adding the remaining water if needed, plus extra if necessary.
• Knead the mixture until the dough is smooth and springy to the touch, about 10 minutes. If kneading in an electric food mixer with a dough hook, 5 minutes is usually long enough.
• Put the dough in a large oiled bowl. Cover the top tightly with plastic wrap, and place somewhere warm to rise, until it is doubled in size. This may take up to 2 or even (on a cold day) 3 hours.
• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
• When the dough has more than doubled in size, punch down, and knead again for 2 to 3 minutes. Leave to relax for 10 minutes before you begin to shape the bread.
• Shape the bread into loaves or rolls, and then transfer to a baking tray, and cover with a clean tea or dish towel. Allow to rise again in a warm place for 20 to 30 minutes, until the shaped dough has again doubled in size. When the dough has fully risen, it should leave a dent when you gently press the dough with your finger.
• The bread is full of air at this point, and therefore very fragile, gently brush the loaf with egg wash and sprinkle with poppy or sesame seeds, if using, or dust lightly with flour for a rustic-looking loaf.
• Bake in the oven for 30 to 45 minutes for a loaf, depending on its size, or 10 to 15 minutes for rolls, Turn the heat down to 400 degrees F, after 15 minutes for the remaining baking time. When baked, the bread should sound hollow when tapped on the base. Transfer the loaf to a wire rack to cool.

Steps:

• In a large electric mixer bowl, dissolve yeast in 1/4 cup warm milk. Add the remaining warm milk, the sugar, the salt, the butter and the eggs. Add 5 cups flour and mix with paddle attachment until smooth, about 2 minutes. Switch to hook attachment and knead on low speed, adding more flour if necessary until dough is stiff and slightly tacky, about 10 minutes.
• Grease a large bowl with butter and turn dough out into the bowl. Flip over dough so greased side is up, cover with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and set in a warm, draft-free spot until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Generously butter two 9-x-5 loaf pans.
• When dough has doubled in size, turn it out onto floured surface and knead for 3 minutes. Return to greased bowl, cover and let rise again for 30 minutes.
• Press down dough with your hand to expel the air. Divide dough in half and place each half into a loaf pan. Brush tops of loaves with remaining melted butter.
• Cover and let rise until dough is just above the tops of pans, 45 minutes to 1 hour.
• Heat oven to 400 degrees. Bake bread for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake for an additional 20 to 30 minutes, or until loaves sound hollow when tapped, the tops are brown and the internal temperatures are 200 degrees. Remove loaves from pans and let cool on wire racks.

Steps:

• In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water.
• Stir sugar into yeast/water mixture, let mixture sit until tiny bubbles start to form.
• Add butter, salt and half the flour.
• With electric mixer on medium speed, beat batter for 2 minutes.
• Add remaining flour, stirring by hand (or on low speed) until well blended and smooth (batter will be very thick, like a very soft dough).
• Cover bowl with a tea towel, and let the batter rise in a warm draft free place for 30-60 minutes or until doubled.
• Beat the batter by hand, about 25 strokes (the dough will deflate).
• Spread batter evenly into a greased 8x3 or 9x4 inch loaf pan.
• Smooth out the top of the loaf by patting it with your floured hand.
• Cover pan, and let batter rise again (about 30-60 minutes) until dough has reached the top of the pan.
• Bake in a preheated 375°F oven for 45-50 minutes, or until the loaf sounds hollow when the top is lightly tapped.
• Remove from pan.
• For a softer crust, brush the top of the hot loaf with butter.
• Cool on a wire rack.
• Bread slices best when it is cooled.

Steps:

• Dissolve yeast in water, in a large bowl.
• Add half the flour, and the sugar, salt,and shortning.
• Blend at low speed, then beat 2 minutes at med speed.
• Mix in remaining flour by hand.
• Cover and let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes.
• Stir the batter hard for 30 seconds.
• Spread into 2 8in greased loaf pans (batter will be sticky).
• Let rise until doubled, about 20 minutes.
• Bake at 325* for about 45 minutes, until golden brown and done.