I, Heidi S. Quinn, am responsible for the content of MANY THINGS. Email me at heidi.quinn@comcast.net.

I find that most bread recipes call for twice as much flour as is needed. I'm not sure why that it. It may be the flour -- I use King Arthur flour. Anyway, this is the recipe that works for me. It makes 4 loaves of white bread.

[1] In a bread mixer (or very large bowl), mix 6 cups of white flour, 4 Tablespoons yeast, 4 Tablespoons sugar, and 2 tablespoons Kosher salt. 

[2] In a separate bowl, measure 3 cups water (hot), and add 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut up. Stir until the butter melts. Add 2 cups of milk. Bring to a temperature of 120°-130° F. Add the liquids to the flour mixture and stir it up good. 

[3] Add additional flour to the mix until it holds together. It doesn't have to hold a shape. Don't add too much.... I usually add 2 more cups of flour. Adding too much can make it dry and hard... I like mine soft.

[4] In the bread mixer, turn the arm for 5 minutes. (Or turn slowly in a bowl with wooden spoon for 5 minutes.) 

[5] Drape a kitchen towel over the bread mixer and let the dough rise until doubled, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

[6] Turn the arm 10 strokes to punch down the dough and let it rise again, about an hour. While you're waiting, butter 4 bread-loaf pans (or spray with grapeseed oil).

[7] Punch down the dough and tip it onto a floured board. Using a bread scraper, turn the dough to cover it in flour and create a pile of dough that you can handle. Cut the dough into 4 equal parts. Flatten each quarter with your hands and roll it up into a loaf, and put it into a pan. Cover the pans with a towel and let the dough rise for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 400° F.

[8] Bake the loaves for 30 minutes (25 minutes if you're using glass pans).

Wheat bread: Use wheat flour for the first 4 cups of flour. Use 4 tablespoons honey instead of sugar, and add the honey to the liquids, not the flour mix. Let the dough rise once in the bread mixer, not twice.

Rye bread: Use rye flour for the first 4 cups of flour. Add 4 tablespoons caraway seeds to the initial flour mix. Use 4 tablespoons honey instead of sugar, and add the honey to the liquids, not the flour mix. Don't let the dough rise in the bread mixer; instead, make it directly into loaves, then let the loaves rise until doubled, then bake them.

Oatmeal bread: In step [1] use 2 cups of oat flour and 4 cups of white (wheat) flour, and use granulated maple sugar (or brown sugar) instead of white. In step [3], add 1 cup of quick oats, and 1+ cups of white flour.In step [6], sprinkle quick oats over the top of the loaves before they rise.