Black Pepper Onion Bread

I use this bread to make homemade Texas Toast. I'd love to have a freezer full of it so I could just pull it out, thaw it, slice it, slather it with garlic butter, & bake it for 5 minutes or so to go with just about any meal. I should spend a day just making this bread so I can get my freezer stocked.

So far I've just made 2 loaves at a time. We eat one loaf with supper & freeze the other for quick, easy Texas Toast.
This was a recipe I had for the bread machine, but I like making it by hand & using 2 regular sized loaf pans rather than one big bread machine sized loaf. So each recipe yeilds 2 small loaves, just perfect for Texas Toast.

Black Pepper Onion Bread
1 C. warm water
2 t. yeast
1 T. butter
1 t. salt
3 C. bread flour
3 T. nonfat dry milk powder
1 T. sugar
2 t. dry minced onions
3/4 t. fresh ground black pepper (medium coarse ground)
1/4 t. garlic powder

Note: If using finer grind of pepper, reduce amount to 1/4 - 1/2 t.
For bread machine, add ingredients in order given by manufacturer.
By hand:
Mix warm water & yeast & set aside.
Add the rest of ingredients into a large bowl & stir.
Add the yeast & water & stir with a wooden spoon until you can't anymore, & then use your hands.
Knead in a little bread flour for 5-7 minutes (until kind of 'satiny' & soft).
Put into a bowl with a little olive oil in it & turn to coat. Cover with clean towel & set in warm spot to rise for about 1 1/2 hours or until double.
I love how bread looks (& smells) when it rises:

I actually put mine on top of the coffee pot. We have a Bunn, so it always has hot water inside it. It's a great place to have bread rise.
After it has risen double, punch down & knead just a few turns. Divide the dough in half. Put each half in a 9X3 bread pan & let rise another hour, or until about double.
Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes. It should sound hollow when thumped lightly.Oh my, does this make the house smell WONDERFUL!

Now you can either slice & eat or....
Slice one loaf into thick slices. Butter it up with garlic butter & bake for 5 minutes or so at 425.
Yum! Garlic Texas Toast!

Last evening we had it with Johnny Marzetti (recipe coming soon) & cottage cheese.