Melt In Your Mouth White Bread / Bread Bowls

This recipe is from my Aunt Nancy who does everything home-and-garden extremely well. It does make 5 good size loaves or 20 bread bowls so have some jelly roll pans on hand for rising and baking. They are a little dense as well—not a French bread texture but a yeasty roll; perfect for soups and stews.

1st—Dissolve 2 Tablespoons yeast (Rapid Rise) in a cup of warm water (not too hot)

Put into the Bosch:

5 cups hot water

3/4 cups sugar

2 tablespoons salt

1/2 cup shortening

5 cups flour

Turn on Bosch and mix well. Add the dissolved yeast along with another cup of flour to absorb the liquid. Continue adding more flour (about 8-10 cups) until dough is not sticky, not too stiff, but nicely pliable. Dough should be smooth and elastic and still able to absorb flour. Let it knead in the Bosch for 5 minutes. Put out onto counter and let rest about 1 hour (30 – 40 min. with rapid rise yeast).

Spray 5 loaf pans with oil and divide dough into 5 equal portions. (making bread bowls? skip to the bottom for instructions) Form loaves by rolling out each loaf into a long rectangle to remove bubbles of air. Roll up and seal edges. Put top down to grease, then turn over so the sealed edge is on the bottom. Let rise about 1 1/2 hours (30-405 min. rapid rise yeast) until double in size. Bake 350 for 35 minutes.

For bread bowls divide each loaf into 4 bread bowls portions. Form bowl by tucking and turning and place on a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan to rise. Rising time is about the same but baking time will be a little less. Just watch for doneness as early as 25 minutes of baking.