Amish White Bread

By
Elizabeth Yetter
Elizabeth Yetter
Bread expert Elizabeth Yetter has been baking bread for more than 20 years, bringing her Pennsylvania Dutch Country experiences to life through recipes.
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Updated on 01/25/23
A partially sliced loaf of white bread.

 
Dave Bolton/Getty Images
Prep: 2 hrs 30 mins
Cook: 40 mins
Total: 3 hrs 10 mins
Servings: 20 servings
Nutrition Facts (per serving)
53 Calories
3g Fat
5g Carbs
1g Protein
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 20
Amount per serving
Calories 53
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 3g 4%
Saturated Fat 1g 7%
Cholesterol 4mg 1%
Sodium 309mg 13%
Total Carbohydrate 5g 2%
Dietary Fiber 0g 1%
Protein 1g
Calcium 25mg 2%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

Lard is a popular baking ingredient among the Amish and it is regaining popularity among home bakers as a cheap alternative to shortening. This Amish white bread is a great recipe for beginners and for people who are just learning to bake with lard.

Ingredients

  • 1 1/4 cup water (warm: 95 to 110 F)
  • 2 1/4 teaspoon/1 package/1/4 ounce yeast (active dry)
  • 1 cup milk (room temperature)
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 2 teaspoon salt
  • 3 tablespoons lard
  • 6 cups bread flour
  • 1/2 tablespoons butter (melted)

Steps to Make It

  1. Gather the ingredients.

  2. In a large bowl, mix warm water and yeast.

  3. Add milk, sugar, salt, and lard. Stir.

  4. Add 4 cups of flour and mix well. Add in enough remaining flour to make a dough that follows the spoon around the bowl.

  5. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 10 minutes, adding more flour as needed until the dough is firm and smooth to the touch.

  6. Place dough in a medium greased bowl. Turn dough over in bowl so that the top is also lightly greased. Cover with a clean cloth and let rise in a warm, draft-free place for 1 hour.

  7. Punch down dough. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured board and knead for 5 minutes or until the bubbles are out of the bread.

  8. Divide dough into 2 equal parts. Shape each dough half into a loaf.

  9. Place each loaf in greased, 9 X 5-inch bread pan. Cover and let rise in a warm, draft-free place for 45 minutes or until doubled in size.

  10. Preheat oven to 350 F. Brush melted butter on loaves.

  11. Bake bread for 40 minutes or until bread top is golden brown and the bread sounds hollow when the top is tapped. Remove breads from pans and let cool on a rack.

  12. Serve and enjoy!

Tips

  • Learn how to make braided rolls with these pictured instructions.
  • Learn how to make swirl rolls with these pictured instructions.
  • Keep yeast stored in an airtight container and in the refrigerator. Heat, moisture, and air kills the yeast and prevents bread dough from rising.
  • To keep the bread soft, store in a plastic bag.
  • Store flour properly to keep it from spoiling.
  • Bread flour has a higher amount of gluten than all-purpose flour. This means that bread made with bread flour will rise higher than bread made with all-purpose flour. You can make your own bread flour by adding 1-1/2 teaspoons gluten to each cup of all-purpose flour you use in your bread recipe.
  • You can use any type of milk in this recipe: whole milk, skim, low fat, etc. Milk can also be replaced with water and nonfat dry milk.
  • There is a milk to dry milk powder conversion table. Use it to figure out how much dry milk to add to the water when replacing the milk in the recipe.