I made this recipe on Sunday and my it flopped, although it still did taste very good! The only problem I had was it , that it didn't rise. Make sure that your using a good yeast, that is fresh & that hasn't been sitting around either. This time I used rapid rise yeast it work really well with the recipe. The active yeast I used on Sunday didn't work at all, and I just bought it the day before I made the bread!
Here's the recipe:
Italian Bread from Taste of Home
Yields 2 loaves
32 servings.
2 packages (1/4 ounce each) active dry yeast or rapid rise yeast
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoon butter
3 cups warm water 110* to 115///8
8 to 10 cups all-purpose flour divided.
1 tablespoon salt
1 egg, beaten
Melted butter.
In a large mixing bowl, dissolve the yeast in 1/2 cup warm water. Add the sugar, butter, salt, egg, remaining water and 4 cups flour; mix well. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a stiff dough. Turn out onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hr.
Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divided in half. Shape each portion into a loaf place seam side down on greased baking sheets. With a sharp knife, make four shallow diagonal slashes across the top of each loaf. Cover and let it rise until doubled, about 1 hour.
Bake at 350* for about 37-42 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool. Brush with melted butter.
