Be it French toast or your favorite sandwich, a classic white sandwich bread is a must! Here is a simple yet fail-proof recipe to make sandwich bread at home.
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
Homemade Sandwich Bread
MEASUREMENT
1 cup = 250ml, 1 tablespoon = 15ml, 1 teaspoon = 5ml
Ingredients
- 3 ¼ cups All Purpose Flour
- 1 teaspoon Active Instant Dry Yeast
- 1.5 tablespoon Sugar
- ¾ teaspoon Salt
- 1 tablespoon Butter
- ½ cup Warm Milk + extra for coating the bread
- ¾ cup Very Warm Water
Instructions
- 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 before slicing with a long sharp serrated knife.
Detailed step by step picture tutorial of making Homemade Sandwich Bread
1. Dissolve ½ tablespoon of sugar in ½ cup of very warm water. Add 1 teaspoon of yeast and mix well.
2. Let this sit undisturbed for 3-4 mins until the yeast mixture turns frothy.
3. In a large mixing bowl, add all purpose flour, salt, 1 tablespoon sugar and mix well.
4. Add the yeast mixture followed by warm milk. Add additional ¼ cup of warm water.
5. Mix everything gently until the dough comes together.
6. Dump the dough onto a clean kitchen counter/work area and add 1 tablespoon of butter at room temperature.
7. 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.
8. The dough should bounce back slowly when pressed with your finger. That’s when the kneading should stop.
9. 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.
10. Slightly punch down the proofed dough and knead it again for 2-3 mins.
11. In order to shape the bread, flatten out the dough and fold one end towards the center.
12. Similarly bring the other end towards the center too.
13. Tightly seals both the ends.
14. Fold the other two ends so that the dough resembles a log.
15. Transfer the log of dough carefully into a greased 9x5 bread tin, with the sealed side facing downwards.
16. 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.
17. Coat the top of the dough with a layer of milk so that it doesn’t dry out.
18. 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.
19. 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.
Note –
- 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 🙂
Srividhya Gopalakrishnan
Bread has come out really well. Awesome. I totally agree bread baking can induce stress at times. The weather was so unpredictable here during feb n March and I had to postpone few bakes dlfor the april baking marathon. Always worried if my dough would rise or not...
chcooks
Thanks Sri 🙂 Yes, I know. Yeast has a heart of its own 😀 I really have to applaud you for posting a month long of baked goodies 🙂
Srividhya Gopalakrishnan
I hope the previous comment came through. Getting error these days and also it keeps saying duplicate comment dectected.
chcooks
Oh 🙁 I am sure not what is wrong. I will give it a check but yes, I got the other comment too.
Sowjanya
So perfect and spongy bread GB... which oven do you use? I don't have one at home... but kids are fond of baking stuff...
hope evrything settled at your end... mother's health and other things... how is Thomi doing? it's beena long while you haven't updated anything abt them...
chcooks
Thanks Sowjanya 🙂 I use Morphy Richards 52L OTG. I had used 21L from same brand until few months ago - love both ovens 🙂
Everyone is good at home and Thomi is good too. Yes, it has been so long I dropped by the other blog. Work is crazy and have time only to update this blog. Thanks for checking though, I will update the other blog too 🙂
MyCulinarySaga
looks so fluffy and fresh 🙂 home made is always the best
chcooks
Thanks dear 🙂
Jhuls
And now this is what a call a perfect sandwich spread! Wow! Just wow!! Thank you for bringing at FF table and I am sure this will be a hit.
chcooks
Thanks a lot Jhuls 🙂
turkswhoeat
This bread looks sooo perfect! There is nothing like homemade bread 🙂
chcooks
Thanks so much 🙂
Freda @ Aromatic essence
Looks perfect 🙂 Home made bread is the best indeed 🙂
chcooks
Thanks Freda 🙂
mealsandmakes
I love home-made bread and your pictures look amazing. I made some bread rolls using milk once and it gave a really nice flavour and texture to the dough. Yum!
chcooks
I just love the softness that the milk brings to the bread. Thank you for stopping by 🙂
Monika
This bread looks so light and fluffy, just beautiful! Thank you for sharing with FF:)
chcooks
Thank you!! 🙂
Zeba@Food For The Soul
Looks perfect!
chcooks
Thank you 🙂
Sowjanya
Thanks GB for the info.
chcooks
You are welcome 🙂
Deepa Jha
Waiting to try your wholewheat and sandwich bread. They look yummm. Just 1 question though. You’ve used only 1 tsp yeast in the sandwich bread. Is that enough for 3+ cups?
chcooks
Yes, it is enough. I stay in Bangalore where the climate is not very humid and still it works.
The Girl in Blue Jeans
GB! Long time - I came here because I am all set to bake some bread and your recipe looks - wouldn't call it simple - but give-it-a-shot-able. But I was seriously considering mixing the whole wheat and all-purpose floor - does it change everything? 🙁
chcooks
Hi DI 🙂 You can surely mix WWF upto 40-50% ( have done that in the past) in this recipe however, you might need a little extra water (upto 1/2 cup) as the WWF tends to be a little dense. The bread would still taste good but again, might be slightly (very slightly) dense considering the addition of WWF. The proofing time could increase slightly too, rest the dough until it is double. Also, you would have to use organic wheat flour which is definitely different (grainy texture) from what we use for making rotis. I use 24 Mantra and it is usually decent. Happy baking! 🙂
Let me know if you have any more questions.
The Girl in Blue Jeans
Ooh that helps! I do have 24 Mantra at home too - will give this a shot and let you know the results - thanks a tonne! 🙂
chcooks
Yay great 🙂
The Girl in Blue Jeans
Hello - reporting about the bread that was baked this weekend - ended up using only Maida, but I don't know where I went wrong with proportions, but with the 3 and 1/4 cup of flour, my dough was super runny :(. I kept adding flour to get the consistency, but it was a good another 2 cups minimum.
The plus was that the bread came out well - the flour rose well both times and the consistency wasn't dense - only my loaf pan was slight larger and I had adjusted the length of the kneaded dough to fit - so it wasn't a perfect square!
Next - may be cinnamon rolls :D?
chcooks
Gosh, thats a lot of water! I am thinking the weather had a part to play. Usually when it is cold, bread requires more water and during summers, less water due to the humidity in the air. However, I wouldnt have expected it to be 2 cups! Glad you liked it 🙂 Yes, I know what you mean - when it is not a perfect square, little difficult to use it for making sandwiches and I use for paav bhaji 😀
Cinnamon Rolls have been on my mind for quite sometime.. will try to post a recipe soon!