Homemade bread primer

Well, yesterday I baked my first homemade bread. I'm really a fan of bread, and recently did my first attempt to replicate the kind of bread that my grandma used to bake when I was a kid.

I got some basic ideas from my mom, and with some basic cooking sense, I started the experiment.

It went well. The hardest critics (my two sons) really liked it, so it must have been good :).

You will need:

• 2 tablespoons of dry yeast
• 2 ounces of butter (butter is the quintessential ingredient for good cooking)
• 4 cups of flour
• 3/4 cup of sugar
• 1 tablespoon of sugar (to mix with the yeast)
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1 cup of milk
• 1 whole egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/2 cup of warm water
  

Preparation:

1. Mix very well the yeast with the warm water and the sugar. Put it to rest and grow for 15 minutes or until a kind of foam develops on top of the mix.
2. Slowly add the melted butter, the milk , sugar and salt to the mix. Mix very well.
3. Slowly add two cups of flour to the mix, until a elastic (not solid) dough is formed -- do all the mixing with a wooden spoon, of course :).
   
4. Add the egg. Begin to knead until all ingredients are well incorporated. Put to grow for 1/2 hour.
5. After growing, pour out the mix in a flat surface, add the rest of the flour and continue kneading. After kneading, put the dough on a greased bowl and put to grow for another 1/2 hour.
6. After growing, knead a little bit more ... and the dough is ready!!!
   
7. To make the buns, take pieces of dough about the size of a golf ball. Form a rounded strip with the dough, and then form a knot with it.
8. Place the buns on a greased cookie sheet. Let them rest for 20 minutes before taking them to the oven.
   
9. Mix the egg yolk, and glaze the buns with it.
   
10. Bake for 45 minutes at 300 F, or until the buns are brown on the top.

Enjoy!!!