English Muffin Bread

WARNING!  This bread is like crack (if one can make the comparison between carbs and drugs, that is, which I feel confident doing, despite never having used crack, myself).  Once this bread is present in the Cookin' in Heels household, there is no going back.  It is usually gone in a day, if not in hours.

This is a pic of the important first step, greasing (I use cooking spray) a loaf pan, then coating it with a thin layer of yellow cornmeal.  Don't skip it!  You'll regret it. 

Here's the recipe, peeps:

5 1/2 - 6 cups flour
2 pkg. rapid rise yeast
1 Tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
2 c. milk
1/2 c. water
yellow cornmeal

Combine 3 cups of flour with the yeast, sugar, salt and soda.  Heat the liquids until very warm (120-130 degrees) (i put mine in the microwave for about 2 minutes and it was perfect).  Add the warm, wet mixture to the dry mixture and beat well (I do this in my stand mixer, with a dough hook).  Stir in enough flour to make a stiff batter, then spoon into two loaf pans that have been greased and sprinkled with cornmeal.  Sprinkle the tops of both loaves with cornmeal.  Cover the loaves and let them rise in a warm place for 45 minutes.  Bake at 400 for 25 minutes and, when they're done, remove from the pans and immediately cool.

Then eat.  And eat.  And eat some more.  I am a huge fan of eating this bread toasted, with butter, all by itself, but it makes a great egg sandwich (or any other kind of sandwich). 

After you eat a loaf of this, I recommend a pair of these:

Nike via Nordstrom

You'll need 'em.  Especially if you eat one loaf by yourself, in less than an hour.

Not that I've done that, or anything.