Callie's Italian Bread

Italian bread
21/4 teaspoons of yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 Tablespoon oil or shortening
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
4 cups of white flour ( you could do half white/half Prairie Gold)


Sprinkle yeast on water in a large bowl. Stir to dissolve.
Add sugar, salt and half of the flour. Stir to combine.
Add oil and rest of flour. Mix well. ( make sure the dough gets to the past sticky stage...it might take    extra flour to do this.)  Allow to knead for about 5 minutes.
Place the ball of dough into a greased bowl in a warm place. Cover with a towel. Let rise double in size. About one hour.
Punch down and knead one minute.  Divide in half and shape into loaves.  Place on greased cookie sheet.  Slice tops with a sharp knife--cover with a towel and let rise again until doubled. (1 hour)
Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes or until it sounds hollow.
Allow to cool 5-10 minutes before cutting.

Enjoy!!

The first time we made this we did a double catch with yielded 4 loaves.  Once everyone tried
it, only one loaf made it into a bag!  The other three were "history" as they say!

This is a very yummy recipe! Thanks, Callie!!