Country White Bread

Pioneer Day, July twenty-fourth, and the twenty-seventh year we've celebrated it in this family. Gary is not LDS — he's never been, he came to our family's traditions as an interested and respectful outsider who has long since made them genuinely his own — but he loves Pioneer Day with an authenticity that I find both touching and a little funny. He's been known to out-pioneer-spirit the actual members of my extended family, showing up to the neighborhood parade with more enthusiasm than anyone else on the block.

This year the celebration was at our new house for the first time, and I made the traditional foods that my mother made and her mother before her: Dutch oven potatoes with the cast iron that was my grandmother's, raspberry lemonade in the big glass pitcher, and the peach cobbler that is, in my opinion, the definitive recipe in this entire tradition and the one I will defend against all comers. The peaches this year were perfect. July peaches are almost always perfect if you find the right farm stand, which I have identified and protected for years.

Clara is two and a half now and has strong opinions about everything. She had strong opinions about the potatoes (pro), the lemonade (also pro), and the fireworks one of the neighbors set off (initially terrifying, then delightful). Henry slept through approximately everything, which is his current mode. Ethan wore a historically questionable pioneer hat that made Mia genuinely embarrassed and Clara absolutely delighted.

I filmed the Dutch oven process for the channel — it's a recipe I've filmed before but not since we moved, and there's something different about doing it in this new backyard with its better light and more space. The cast iron is the same cast iron. The recipe is the same recipe. The feeling is new. I'm still learning that a new house doesn't replace what came before; it just adds another chapter to the same story.

After the cobbler, after the fireworks, after the kids went home and Gary fell asleep in the new outdoor chair we bought specifically for summer evenings, I sat alone in the garden for a while. The lavender was blooming. The stars were visible. Twenty-seven Pioneer Days, stretching back to when I was young and my grandmother was still alive and the Dutch oven was hers to tend. Some traditions are containers for everything a family is. This one is that for us.

The peach cobbler and the Dutch oven potatoes are the stars of our Pioneer Day table, but every great spread needs something humble and sturdy beneath it — something that tastes like hands and patience and home. Country White Bread has always been that for us, the loaf that gets sliced thick and passed quietly while everyone talks about everything else, and somehow disappears first. Making it in this new kitchen, with my grandmother’s cast iron still warm on the stove nearby, felt like the right way to close a day that was so much about continuity — about the same story told in a new place.

Prep Time: 25 minutes | Cook Time: 30 minutes | Total Time: 2 hours 55 minutes (including rise time) | Servings: 16 slices (2 loaves)

Ingredients

2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast (one standard packet)
2 1/2 cups warm water (105–110°F)
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 tablespoon salt
2 tablespoons neutral oil (such as vegetable or canola)
6 to 6 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for kneading
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened (for brushing tops)

Instructions

Proof the yeast. In a large bowl, combine warm water and sugar. Sprinkle yeast over the top and let sit for 5 to 10 minutes until foamy and fragrant. If it doesn’t foam, your yeast may be expired — start again with fresh yeast.
Mix the dough. Add salt and oil to the yeast mixture and stir to combine. Add flour one cup at a time, stirring between each addition, until a shaggy dough forms and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. You may not need the full 6 1/2 cups.
Knead. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 8 to 10 minutes, until the dough is smooth, elastic, and springs back when poked. Add small amounts of flour as needed to prevent sticking, but avoid adding too much — the dough should remain slightly tacky.
First rise. Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl, turning once to coat. Cover with a clean kitchen towel or plastic wrap and let rise in a warm, draft-free spot for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, or until doubled in size.
Shape the loaves. Punch down the risen dough and divide it evenly in half. Shape each half into a smooth log and place in two greased 9x5-inch loaf pans, seam-side down. Press gently so the dough fills the corners of the pan.
Second rise. Cover pans loosely and let rise again for 45 to 60 minutes, until the dough crowns about 1 inch above the rim of the pans.
Bake. Preheat oven to 375°F. Bake loaves for 28 to 32 minutes, until the tops are deep golden brown and the loaves sound hollow when tapped on the bottom. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read 190 to 200°F.
Finish and cool. Remove from oven and immediately brush tops with softened butter for a soft, glossy crust. Let loaves rest in pans for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack. Cool at least 20 minutes before slicing — though no one in this family has ever successfully waited that long.

Nutrition (per serving)

Country White Bread — The Recipe That Tastes Like Every Pioneer Day Before This One