Homemade Amish White Bread & Cinnamon Swirl Bread

Amish White Bread is a homemade bread recipe that is a soft, easy to slice bread perfect for sandwiches.  

I've been wanting to try my hand at homemade bread and came across this simple recipe for Amish White Bread.  I was specifically looking for an Amish or Mennonite recipes and this one looked pretty easy, especially for a first time bread makers. 

I love Amish and Mennonite cooking. There is just something about the simplicity of their recipes that I love. I think it is really because everything is made from scratch the way it used to be.  I did not want a recipe that was too difficult since this was my first attempt at making homemade bread.

I was a little intimidated at first but the process went a lot smoother than I thought it would. Yeast rolls and breads are my all time favorite. Nothing is better than hot homemade bread or rolls right out of the oven. 

I found this recipe to be very versatile and easy to convert. What I mean by that is I made one loaf of plain white bread and one cinnamon swirl bread, both tasting awesome. This dough is perfect to make cinnamon rolls or even cinnamon raisin bread.

I read the reviews carefully before I began and took the advice of a few readers on decreasing the sugar to 1/3 cup instead of 2/3 cup. I thought that it made such a difference for making the plain white bread.

I will be using this recipe the next time I make cinnamon rolls, but for that recipe i would recommend using the full required 2/3 cup sugar. My family loved this bread! we finished off the cinnamon swirl loaf the first day. So I will definitely be making this recipe again and again.

These are the ingredients you will need: bread flour, yeast, salt, sugar, oil and water. 

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. add the 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. I place a bowl of hot water on the lowest rack of my oven under my bread bowl. Punch the dough down. Knead for a few minutes, and divide the dough in half. 

I wanted to make one white bread loaf and one cinnamon swirl loaf. Whether you want plain white bread or cinnamon swirl bread I do the same practice of rolling the dough up for both recipes. (Roll the dough into a rectangle about 1/4 - 1/2 inch thick. Then roll the dough up from the shortest end to the other. If making cinnamon swirl bread just spread some softened butter on top of the dough and sprinkle with a mixture of brown sugar and cinnamon. 

Roll up and pinch off the edges. Place into two well oiled 9 x 5 inch loaf pans.

Allow to rise for 30 minutes, or until dough has risen 1 inch above pans.

just like this. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 minutes.

Let the bread cool in the baking pans for just a bit then remove to a baking rack and cool bread completely. 

Brush the top of the bread loaves with melted butter. Let completely cool before attempting to slice.

Amish White Bread

ingredients:
2 - cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
1/3 - 2/3 - cup white sugar
1 1/2 - tablespoons active dry yeast
1 1/2 - teaspoons salt
1/4 - cup vegetable oil
6 - cups bread flour

Instructions:
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.

Cinnamon Swirl Bread: Roll out bread and spread on some softened butter. Sprinkle on a mixture of brown sugar and cinnamon sugar. Roll up and continue with rising and baking. There is not rule on how much of the sugar mixture to add it's all up to you on how much you want.

Recipe Yields: 2 Loaves