White Sandwich Bread

Awhile ago, Theresa started making all of her family’s bread. ALL of it. And at the time, I thought she was absolutely insane. I mean, I like to bake and all – but that seemed like an obsessive amount of baking to me. She would often double or quadruple a batch so that she could stash two or three loaves in the freezer.

And then I made this bread. This bread is a total game-changer. It is easy to mix up, difficult to mess up, stays moist for days, and goes over well as toast or with a variety of sandwich fixings. (If you don’t end up scarfing it all up simply slathered with butter, warm from the oven.)

Try it, just once – and you’ll see why maybe making your own bread is a completely reasonable thing to do. And if you make it, for heaven’s sake, make a double batch. It’s not any more difficult. You won’t be sorry.

~Katie

What you need:

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Ingredients

• 3 c. all-purpose flour
• 2 t. instant yeast
• 1 1/4 t. salt
• 3 T. sugar
• 4 T. butter, softened
• 1/4 c. nonfat dry milk
• 1/4 c. potato flour
• 1 1/8 c. warm water

Equipment

• stand mixer with dough hook
• measuring cups and spoons
• large bowl
• clean kitchen towel
• 8 1/2″ x 4 1/2″ loaf pan

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water on left, whey on right

white bread: water on left, whey on right

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white sandwich bread

Time: 15 minutes prep time, 2 1-hour rising periods, 35-40 minutes baking, 1 hour cooling

Freezeable: Yes. Wrap cooled loaves in a sealed gallon freezer bag.

Serves: 12-16, depending on slice thickness

Multiplying the recipe: Yes. We love to double or even quadruple the batch and freeze the extras. Each double batch should be separate, as the stand mixer cannot handle a quadruple batch all at once.

White Sandwich Bread:

In the bowl of a stand mixer with the dough hook, add all the ingredients. Mix the dough with the hook until combined. Increase the mixer speed to knead the dough until it is smooth and cohesive, 3-5 minutes. If the dough is too sticky, add more flour; if it is too crumbly, add more water. Put the dough in a greased bowl and cover it with a clean kitchen towel. Allow it to rise for about an hour.

Grease a loaf pan. Lightly grease a work surface and shape the dough into an 8″ log. Place the log in the pan. Cover the pan with the towel and allow to rise about an hour (the dough should be risen to about 1″ over the edge of the pan). Preheat the oven to 350F.

Take the cover off the dough and bake the loaf for about 35 minutes. You may prefer to cover the bread with foil for the last 10-20 minutes of baking time to prevent over-browning. Take the bread out of the oven and remove it from the pan to a wire rack. Optionally, brush the top of the bread with butter after 10-15 minutes to give the bread a soft crust.

white sandwich bread