Amish Egg Bread Recipes

Steps:

• 1. Make your sponge: Stir together sourdough starter, water, sugar, and yeast in a large mixing bowl. I use the one with the KitchenAid stand mixer. Place the bowl in a little warm water, and let stand for 10 minutes.
• 2. Remove bowl from water. Add in the sorghum, oil, eggs, and salt. Combine well. Stir in the 2 cups of whole wheat flour, then place bowl on stand mixer with dough hook. Sprinkle on 1/3 cup of the bread flour and start the mixer. Add remaining flour a little at a time as it kneads, until dough is smooth and elastic and pulls clean away from sides of bowl. Continue to knead about 3 minutes past this point. The amount of flour required will vary depending on the consistency of your sourdough starter and the humidity in the air.
• 3. When kneading is complete, cover mixing bowl with a damp towel and place bowl in about 2 inches of hot tap water in your sink. This will provide the perfect 80° rising place. Allow to rise for 1 hour.
• 4. After 1 hour, punch down dough in bowl. Oil your work surface (I use my countertop) and the surface of the dough. Work with oiled hands and divide dough into 3 equal pieces. I weighed my pieces to make sure they were the same, but you can eyeball it if you like.
• 5. Pull and roll each piece into a long thin rope for braiding. Keep hands and surface oiled - I use oil in a spray bottle.
• 6. Pinch together the 3 pieces of dough at one end, and braid. Pinch together the other end and tuck ends under slightly.
• 7. Spray a baking sheet with oil and dust with cornmeal. Place braid on cornmeal, reshaping as necessary for a nice, pretty braid.
• 8. Oil the top of the braid one more time, and cover it with the damp towel. Then put it in a warm place to rise for 30 minutes. I prop mine over my sink to which I have added about 4 inches of hot water.
• 9. After 15 minutes, preheat oven to 325°. After 30 minutes, make an egg wash by stirring together 1 egg and a tablespoon of milk or cream. Brush top of loaf thoroughly. Bake loaf at 325° for 30 minutes. You may want to turn the pan around halfway through if your oven cooks unevenly. Bread is done when it sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.
• 10. Cool loaf on a wire rack for 30 minutes before slicing.
• 11. Serve with butter, or slice and use for grilled sandwiches.

Steps:

• 1. Please Note: The original family recipe does not contain any additional salt because you are using salted butter both in the dough and on top. Feel free to add a small amount, if you wish. However, it's not really necessary. Place warm water and sugar in mixer bowl. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Add yeast and mix well. Let stand for 10 minutes until it gets foamy.
• 2. Add very soft butter and beaten egg. Mix well. With dough hook, gradually start to mix in flour. Add flour until a ball of dough forms and cleans bottom and sides of mixer bowl. Dough should not be sticky to the touch. When you reach this point, set on setting 2 and knead for 5 minutes.
• 3. Remove from mixer bowl and place in a large buttered bowl. Cover with saran wrap sprayed with cooking spray. Heat oven to 200 degrees. Place bowl on top of a hot pad and place on back burner. Allow to rise until doubled, about an hour.
• 4. Punch dough down. Divide into 12 equal pieces and form into rolls. I just learned this method of forming rolls on my trip to an Amish community. They could form a dozen of these rolls in minutes. Here is a great link showing how it's done. http://www.melskitchencafe.com/tutorial-shaping-perfect-rolls/
• 5. Place rolls in a greased 13x9 baking pan, sides gently touching. (Rolls may not fill pan at this point, but that's ok. As long as you keep them together, as a group, with sides lightly touching.) Cover with sprayed saran wrap and return to top of stove to rise, 35-45 minutes. When they are large, light and fluffy, bake at 350 degrees for approximately 20 minutes. (Watch closely as all ovens are different.)
• 6. Remove from oven and gently brush with melted butter. Enjoy!
• 7. For Crescent Rolls: After first rise, place dough on lightly floured counter (1-2 TB.) Form into a 13-14" circle. Using a pizza cutter, cut into 8 triangles. (For smaller crescents, you could cut into 10 triangles. Cutting into 8 makes a very large roll.)
• 8. Starting at wide end, roll to pointed end. Use a few drops of water to seal tip. Bend slightly forming crescent, then place on greased baking sheet, tip tucked underneath.
• 9. Let rise until doubled and then continue on as for round dinner rolls, brushing with melted butter when done. Baking time in my oven was approximately 15-18 minutes.
• 10. This is how big they are if you make 8. They are big boys. Cutting into 10 equal pieces would make a smaller dinner roll.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease 2 (9x5 inch) loaf pans.
• In a large bowl, combine the Amish bread starter with oil, eggs, 2 cups flour, 1 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Mix well. Pour into prepared loaf pans.
• Bake in preheated oven for 50 to 60 minutes.

Steps:

• In a large bowl combine 2 cups of the flour with the yeast.
• In a small sauce pan heat milk, sugar, butter and salt to 120-130 degrees F.
• Slowly add the milk mixture to the flour mixture beating well.
• Add the eggs and beat well.
• Slowly add the remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time until dough is moderately stiff.
• Knead dough until smooth and elastic using stand mixer with dough hook at medium speed for 2 to 3 minutes or 6 to 8 minutes by hand on a lightly floured board.
• Place dough into a lightly oiled bowl, turning once to coat.
• Cover bowl with a warm cloth that is slightly damp.
• Let rise 30 to 45 minutes or until double in size.
• Punch down and divide in half.
• Cover portions with the cloth and let rest 10 minutes.
• Shape dough into 2 loaves and put into greased loaf pans.
• Let rise again until double.
• Bake in a pre-heated oven at 375 degrees F 25 to 30 minutes.
• Remove from pans and cool completely on a wire rack.
• When completely cool wrap and store in a cool, dry place.

Steps:

• Combine warm water, yeast, and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Whisk to blend and set aside for 8 minutes, or until yeast has activated and is very frothy.
• Add 3 cups flour, 3 tablespoons butter, egg, and salt to the bowl. With the dough hook fitted, turn mixer on medium speed until the dough comes together into a ball. Turn speed down to a "2" (medium-low) and continue kneading for 3 minutes, until dough ball is smooth. If your dough is too wet, add a little bit more flour until the dough ball forms.
• Cover bowl with a tea towel and set aside to rise until doubled in size, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
• Scrape dough out of the bowl and divide into 12 pieces. Roll each piece into a smooth ball.
• Spray a 9x13-inch baking dish with cooking spray. Arrange dough balls in the baking dish. Cover again with the tea towel and set aside until well risen and puffy, 30 to 40 more minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Bake rolls in the preheated oven until golden brown and baked through, 20 to 25 minutes.
• Remove from the oven and allow to cool a few minutes. Brush remaining tablespoon softened butter over the top of the warm rolls, allowing the butter to soak in.

Steps:

• In a large bowl, dissolve the sugar in warm water, and then stir in yeast. Allow to proof until yeast resembles a creamy foam.
• Mix salt and oil into the yeast. Mix in flour one cup at a time. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Place in a well oiled bowl, and turn dough to coat. Cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
• Punch dough down. Knead for a few minutes, and divide in half. Shape into loaves, and place into two well oiled 9x5 inch loaf pans. Allow to rise for 30 minutes, or until dough has risen 1 inch above pans.
• Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 minutes.