My Mom'S Homemade Bread & Bun Recipe (No Bread Maker) - cooking recipe

Ingredients

1 cup lukewarm water
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
4 tablespoons vegetable oil or 4 tablespoons margarine
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons fleichmans dry active yeast
8 cups water, lukewarm
15 -18 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons granulated sugar

Preparation

In small bowl place the following ingredients:
1 cup warm water.
yeast and 2 tbsp white sugar (DO NOT STIR).
let stand for 10 minutes.
In large mixing bowl do the following steps.
Place 8 cups warm water in bowl.
Place remaining 2 tbsp sugar in water.
Place 4 tbsp margarine or veg. oil in water.
Place salt in water.
Add 6 cups flour one at a time and mix as you are adding. Making sure to remove any lumps. Should be smooth before adding next cup.
Pour Yeast mixture in other bowl that you set aside into mixture.
Mix until smooth.
Continue to add flour mixing thoroughly until dough is sticky and forms a ball (note you will have to use your hands to mix it after its too tough to mix with a spoon. It should take only about a maximum of 17 cups of flour.
Take dough out of bowl and place on a flat clean dry surface which was sprinkled with about 1/2 cup of flour. Knead dough with hands for about 15 minutes or so. Dough should be soft and feel light to to touch. TIP: To prevent the dough from sticking to your hands a lot rub vegetable oil on them or take a piece of margarine and rub it into your hands then continue to knead dough. DO NOT ADD MORE FLOUR! It will make your bread dough TOO HEAVY! if you do.
Separate dough in half. Place each half in a bowl. Place a light towel over it and let the dough rise for 1 hour or until doubled.
FOR BUNS: Take about the size of a baseball of dough in your hand roll into a ball and place it on an ungreased cookie sheet. Let rise for another 1/2 hour or until buns are double in size. For buns to rise tall place them close together almost touching. Bake at 375\u00b0F.
FOR LOAVES: Take a large amount of dough and roll into a roll dough should not take up more than half of the loaf pan. Make sure dough roll is even or you will end up with a lopsided loaf or narrow loaf. Let rise for 1 to 2 hours. Or until Dough is nicely formed above the rim of the loaf pan. Bake at 350\u00b0F for 45 minutes or until golden brown. To test to see if done knock on top of the loaf. If it sounds hollow it is completed baking. It will be a dark golden brown color when finished.
Take Loaves out of oven and take them IMMEDIATELY OUT OF THE PANS upside down. (If you leave them till cooled in pans what happens is the bottom crust gets soggy from the condensation). Brush melted butter over top of loaves to prevent from drying out.
Yield: 4 loaves 2 dozen buns.
Depends on size.
TIP: This bread dough is great for anything such as pizza crusts, cinnamon buns, take a bit and roll it out thin and place it in a frying pan with a little oil and fry it and serve with jam or peanut butter.