Artisan White Bread

This is the soft American style white bread recipe from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg. It's a pretty good recipe when you want to make rolls or loaves on short notice.

• Ready In: 55 mins
• Serves: 36
• Yields: 3 loaves

Ingredients

• 3  cups  lukewarm water
• 1 1⁄2 tablespoons instant yeast
• 1 1⁄2 tablespoons kosher salt
• 2  tablespoons sugar
• 1  cup butter, melted
• 7  cups unbleached all-purpose flour

Directions

1. Mix yeast, salt, sugar, butter and water together.
2. Add flour ans stir until all flour is incorporated.
3. Put dough in a container and cover loosely with a lid.
4. Allow dough to rise for 2 hours at room temperature.
5. Refrigerate dough overnight or up to 7 days.
6. On baking day:
7. Grease a 9x4x3 loaf pan.
8. Dust the surface of the dough with flour and pull out a 1 1/2 pound piece of dough.
9. Dust the dough with more flour and gently stretch the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides. Form into an oval and place it in the pan.
10. Allow the dough to rest and rise for at least 1 1/2 hours.
11. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
12. Bake the bread for 45 minutes or until golden brown and an internal temperature of 180 degrees.
13. Remove from pan and cool on a rack until completely cool.