I have been baking a lot of bread at home and the latest one being this beautiful Sandwich Bread. As I had mentioned in my post on Pav Buns, baking is really therapeutic. And only with practice comes perfection when it comes to bread baking. As much as it is calming and relaxing to knead the dough and look at the bread rise, it can induce a lot of stress when things don’t work well.
When I had success with Pav buns, I wanted to venture into proper bread baking. I began looking at a number of recipes on the internet, looking for fail-proof and yet not so complex recipe. My first stop was at King Arthur’s blog – the recipe sounded delicious but I didn’t want to add too much oil or butter. Remember, this is not an exotic but a simple sandwich bread.
Finally after breaking my head for over half a day, I had jotted down my measurements to crack the sandwich bread recipe and guess what happened – power cut! I don’t know how but every time I make up my mind to bake, this happens. Thankfully, I had not prepared the dough so I had to keep down my excitement and give the recipe a try, next day.
This recipe for White Sandwich Bread is made with 100% all-purpose flour. While I always buy wheat bread, I wanted to go with a safe bet and made a white bread. Working with whole wheat flour is a different ball game altogether and I wanted to be doubly sure before giving it a try. Moreover, I have read that homemade all-purpose flour bread is much healthier than store bought wheat flour bread. Makes sense right?
This Sandwich Bread is soft, light, airy with a light crumb and a golden crust. It is perfect for toast or a sandwich! I just used very little sugar and butter, to enhance the taste and with no added preservatives, this is best consumed fresh! Of course, it stays well for a couple of days at room temperature but anything longer, it is better to wrap it tightly in cling film and refrigerate.
The most important thing about making this Sandwich Bread is understanding how yeast works, kneading the dough to right consistency and letting the bread rise just the right amount. There are a number of youtube videos to show the kneading or rolling technique. More than anything – practice, practice and more practice!
How to make Homemade Sandwich Bread
📖 Recipe
Detailed step by step picture tutorial of making Homemade Sandwich Bread
Dissolve ½ tablespoon of sugar in ½ cup of very warm water. Add 1 teaspoon of yeast and mix well.
Let this sit undisturbed for 3-4 mins until the yeast mixture turns frothy.
In a large mixing bowl, add all purpose flour, salt, 1 tablespoon sugar and mix well.
Add the yeast mixture followed by warm milk. Add additional ¼ cup of warm water.
Mix everything gently until the dough comes together.
Dump the dough onto a clean kitchen counter/work area and add 1 tablespoon of butter at room temperature.
Start kneading the dough by pressing & stretching it using the heel of the palm, pushing it away from you. Fold the dough, turn it by a quarter again bringing it towards you and continue the stretching process. Repeat this for 5-7 mins at the least until the dough becomes smooth.
The dough should bounce back slowly when pressed with your finger. That’s when the kneading should stop.
Place the dough in a greased container covered with cling film or kitchen towel in a warm place to double up. This could take 1 to 1.5hrs depending on the temperature.
Slightly punch down the proofed dough and knead it again for 2-3 mins.
In order to shape the bread, flatten out the dough and fold one end towards the center.
Similarly bring the other end towards the center too.
Tightly seals both the ends.
Fold the other two ends so that the dough resembles a log.
Transfer the log of dough carefully into a greased 9x5 bread tin, with the sealed side facing downwards.
Let the dough raise again in a warm place until it takes the shape of bread. It should take about 30-60mins. Don’t let the bread raise too much as it can fall back down.
Coat the top of the dough with a layer of milk so that it doesn’t dry out.
Bake the bread in a preheated oven for 30-35 mins at 180°C (bake without convection for 20-25mins first) until the top begins to brown. Remove from oven. When tapped at the bottom, it should sound hollow, that specifies the doneness of the bread.
Let it cool down for 5mins and gently loosen it up edges, remove it from the tin. Wait for the bread to completely cool down (wait for 1-2 hrs) before slicing with a long sharp serrated knife into equal sized slices.
Check out King Arthur’s youtube channel for tips and tricks on measuring the flour to kneading the dough. Depending on the climatic condition, region and flour used, there might be a need for little more or little less liquid content. Adjust accordingly. The dough when first mixed should be sticky. Don’t add any more extra flour as it impacts the softness of the bread. As it is kneaded, it becomes non sticky and soft. Proofing time for the dough depends on a lot of factors from the temperature, humidity in the air, consistency of the dough, age of the yeast. Wait only until the dough has raised up by double, anything more - dough might fall back by its own weight and will not work. Remove the bread from the tin in 5 mins or else, the top or the bottom of the bread can become crinkly due to the steam. I learnt it the hard way and fixed it the second time.
I would be delighted to know if you have tried this recipe, don’t forget to share your feedback and comments below. If you have any questions, you can e-mail me! I am also available on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and Twitter 🙂
