My homemade White Sandwich Bread is my absolute favorite bread to make. This easy recipe has great flavor and best of all, it is no knead!
I love making my own bread. Of the things I bake, baking bread makes my house feel like home. As bread rises and is baked, a yeasty sweet aroma wafts through the whole house, filling every room with comfort, happiness, and anticipation.
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Uses for Homemade White Sandwich Bread
Homemade bread can elevate any meal to something special and also can be used to make sandwiches, toast, avocado toast, French toast, cinnamon toast, bread puddings, bread salads, croutons, and many other dishes. I generally cut a few slices for dinner on the day I make it. Then, I wrap it tightly in cling wrap and it stays fresh and delicious for about 10 days, even without refrigeration.
My favorite way to enjoy this bread is just to have slice with nothing on it. Sometimes, I cut a slice and eat it by tearing small pieces from the slice. It is so rich and delicious!
Why Making Bread is Not Hard
But… I think I know what you are thinking. You are thinking… you can’t make bread. But, you can! Seriously! If you’ve never made your own yeast bread before, I bet you haven’t because you think you don't have time, or that the process is complicated, or kneading seems difficult. Let's talk about each of these reasons:
Time…
You might be thinking… you don’t have time to make bread. It’s true. It does takes time to make bread. But the time is in waiting and other things can be done, while waiting for the raisings to complete.
Making Bread is Not Complicated
If you haven’t tried making bread before, don’t be afraid! Bread making does not have to be complicated and this recipe is great for beginners. In short, the six basic steps are: proof the yeast, mix the dough, let it fully rise, shape the loaf, let it rise again and then it is time to go into the oven for a short 30 minutes. Easy, right?
Use a Stand Mixer to Knead
Hmmm… yes kneading is work and can be hard. But in this recipe, there is no extensive kneading and no need to perform a window pane test to see if the gluten has developed in the dough. This recipe uses a no knead method, where you beat the dough with an electric mixer for 5 minutes to develop the gluten and structure of the dough.
So, you see? This bread is super easy! So, let's bake!
Ingredients
Instead of showing you the ingredients all lined up and ready to be used, this time I'm showing you the ingredients the way they are when I'm making this dough. Please note I have already proofed the yeast and it is in the large stainless steel mixing bowl.
This simple bread dough contains just 7 ingredients: all purpose white flour, softened butter, salt, one beaten egg, plus proofed yeast that is just water, dry active yeast, and granulated white sugar.
Those are the ingredients, next let's look at the 6 simple steps to make sandwich bread.
How To Make Sandwich Bread From Scratch
- Proof the yeast.
- Mix the dough.
- Let the dough rise.
- Shape the loaf.
- Let the loaf rise.
- Bake the bread.
So, that is the quick overview of just 6 easy steps to make your own sandwich bread. Now, let's look at these steps in detail:
Proofing the Yeast
The most important step in making bread is proofing the yeast. "Proofing" means to prove your yeast is able to divide and grow and begins by activating the yeast in warm water. I always give yeast something nice to eat like white granulated sugar and let the yeast fully activate and grow before mixing my dough.
Here you can see the progress of the activation of the yeast. I started by putting warm water in my mixing bowl. I added the yeast and then the sugar. I always prefer to add the sugar last. The heaviness of the sugar helps submerge the yeast and makes everything mix together easier.
At 5 minutes you can see the yeast mixture has become frothy but has not risen.
After 10 minutes the mixture has begun to rise.
At 20 minutes the mixture is well risen and has a spongy look. This is when the yeast is fully activated and ready to be made into a dough.
Simple Steps to Make Bread
Step 1 - Put warm water, dry active yeast, and granulated sugar to a large bowl of a stand mixer. Let yeast fully proof for 20 minutes.
Step 2 - Add all purpose flour, softened butter, beaten egg, and salt.
Step 3 - Using a dough hook, mix the dough on the lowest speed for about 1 minute. This moistens all of the ingredients and keeps the flour from flying out of the bowl. Turn the speed up to medium and beat the dough for 5 minutes.
Beating the dough takes the place of kneading. As the dough is beaten, you will see the dough tighten and relax, moving up the dough hook and then gathering into a ball. This is normal and will happen several times as you beat the dough.
Step 4 - Use a silicon spatula to remove the dough from the dough hook. Gather dough into a ball and place the dough into a large oiled mixing bowl. After placing the ball of dough in the bowl, turn the dough over to place the oiled side up in the bowl. Cover bowl with cling wrap and allow dough to rise 2 hours or until 4x in size.
Step 5 - Fully risen dough.
Step 6 - Tip dough out of bowl and onto lightly floured work surface. Gently stretch, pat, and shape dough into a long rectangle. The narrow end of the rectangle should be the same length as your baking pan.
Step 7 - Tightly roll dough into the shape of a log.
Step 8 - Place dough seam side down in a greased loaf pan.
Step 9 - Let dough rise 1 hour, or until fully risen above the top of the pan.
Special Tip
For the very best texture, do not over work the bread dough. Handling the dough as little as possible will produce a tender loaf of bread. Overworking the dough will result in bread that is "tough" and not as pleasing.
After the loaf has fullen risen it is time for a trip to the oven. Now the whole house will be filled with the delicious, sweet aroma of fresh bread baking. You will love it! It is absolutely better than any candle or room freshener!
I aways wait for the bread to fully cool in the pan. When cool, the loaf easily slips from the tipped pan.
I prefer to not slice the loaf until I need a slice. To me the bread stays moister and fresher if I just wrap it in cling wrap and cut what I need when I need it.
Doesn't it look lovely on just a plain cutting board?... and wasn't that easy?
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White Sandwich Bread
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon Vegetable Oil
- 1 Cup Lukewarm Water
- 1 Tablespoon Yeast
- 1/4 Cup Granulated White Sugar
- 3 Cups All-Purpose Flour
- 1 ½ Teaspoons Salt
- 2 Tablespoons Butter, Softened
- 1 Large Egg, Slightly Beaten
Instructions
- Using a paper towel, lightly oil a large bowl with the vegetable oil. Set aside for later.
- Add lukewarm water to a large mixing bowl of a stand mixer. Add yeast and sugar and mix well. Allow to stand 20 minutes or until volume is doubled in size.
- Add flour, salt, softened butter, and egg and mix on low speed with a dough hook until all is combined and dough comes together. Dough will be elastic and slightly sticky. Increase speed to medium-low and continue to beat dough for 5 minutes.
- Using a silicon spatula, scrape dough into a ball and place dough in the large oiled bowl. Turn dough over, so all sides are lightly covered with oil. Cover bowl with cling wrap or a clean damp towel and allow dough to rise until it is 4 times in size, about 2 hours.
- Lightly flour your working surface. Tip risen dough out and using your hands pat and flatten dough into a rectangle. Shape the loaf, by tightly rolling the dough into a log from the short end. Place dough, seam side down, into a greased 9 x 4” loaf tin and allow the loaf to rise 1 hour or until loaf is double in size and risen above the top of the pan.
- During this last rising, preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Bake bread for 30 to 35 minutes or until lightly golden brown.
- Remove bread from oven and cool in the pan on a wire rack.
- When thoroughly cooled, remove bread from the pan. Wrap loaf in cling wrap to keep fresh. Slice as needed and enjoy!
Amazing! Super simple and easy to make with great texture and taste. This is my go to bread recipe from now on for sure!
I'm glad you like this recipe Annie! 🙂
About to put the risen dough into the oven! Such a nice dough to work with.
How many days (at room temperature) does the bread stay fresh?
It is a good bread to freeze?
Thanks!
<3
Hi Monika! Thank you!... I do like working with this dough too.
The bread will stay fresh for about 10 days at room temperature, if wrapped tightly in cling wrap . I have not tried freezing this particular bread. But, please do let me know if you try to freeze it and how that worked for you. 🙂