Indiana Steve's Snow Day Bread

A wonderful recipe given to me by friend/painter/potter/baker Steve Skinner who lives in New Carlisle, Indiana. I made this for the kids during the recent snowpocolypse so it was dubbed Snow Day Bread and it shall be called that forevermore.  It made amazing toast and the best grilled cheese of my life. Enough said.

8 c flour

3 ½  c water

2 T (+/-) salt

2 T dry yeast

1 T sugar

In a 4 cup measuring cup add hot water to yeast & sugar and let sit 5 minutes to activate yeast.

In a very large bowl combine and mix salt & flour.

Pour activated yeast water mix to center of flour and stir with large wooden spoon.

Knead until dough is moist and slightly sticky but doesn't stick to your hands. If it does stick add a more flour, but not too much at a time. Be sure to knead it in gradually.

Pre-heat your oven to its lowest temp and then turn it off.

Cover dough in the large mixing bowl with another large bowl or platter so the dough doesn't dry as it rises. Let the dough rise about 45 minutes in the warm oven.

Grease two 9 x 5 in. bread pans with butter.

Remove the dough from the oven and with a wooden spatula, roll the dough onto your counter top. The counter top will not need to be dusted with flour if the dough is the correct consistency. If it sticks to the counter top, dust it lightly with flour and roll it into a large loaf. Cut the loaf into halves and place each half into the greased pans.

If necessary, pre-heat the oven again to its lowest setting and again turn it off. Place the pans of bread dough into the warm oven and let rise 20 minutes or until the dome of the dough rises to slightly higher then the tops of the bread pans.

Turn the oven on to 400 degrees and bake the dough from 20 - 30 minutes until it is golden brown. I prefer a darker shade of golden brown, but it's your preference whether lighter or darker. Remove from oven. The bread should slide right out of the pans.