Fresh Bread, Yummmmm

I like to make our bread. Having that skill is great. Knowing you can throw together a nice fresh loaf of bread for dinner is comforting. It really helps stretch your grocery dollars, as well. Sure you can get bread for less than $1 a loaf ( at least you can around here), but it's not as yummy as homemade bread and you probably can't read all the ingredients on the label, either. I tried this white bread recipe last week. I changed it slightly and made it in my bread machine. Here's my version with the instructions for my bread machine.

White Bread
1 cup milk
3 tbsp butter
1 tbsp yeast
2 tbsp sugar
3 cups flour
2 tsp salt
1 egg
Put the milk, butter, egg, & salt in the bread machine. Add the flour. Make a small well in the center of the flour. Add the yeast and sugar. Select the "dough only' cycle. You know, the one that just does the kneading and rising for ya. :) I use the largest loaf setting on my machine. I think it's the 2lb loaf setting. Turn the machine on and let it do it's thing.
Once the machine is done, take the dough out and place it in a greased loaf pan. I flip the dough around to make sure it is coated in oil. Cover loosely with plastic wrap. Set somewhere warm to rise. I put mine in the oven with the light on. It seems to do well. After about an hour, or until the dough has risen slightly above the pan, your dough is ready to become bread.
Take the plastic wrap off and place your pan in a 350 degree oven. You can preheat it, but I normally don't. Back for 45 min or so until bread is lightly browned and sounds hollow when you tap it. I am sure this is not the most scientific way to test your bread, but it works for me. Take the bread out of the pan and let it cool on a rack. You can wrap it in a towel to cool, which helps keep the crust softer but I let mine cool unwrapped and the crust was fine. After your bread is cook, slice and store in an air tight container.
Because this is homemade bread, and doesn't have any presevatives, it won't last as long as store bought bread. You might get a week out of it. Ours doesn't last that long.