Classic white sandwich bread came to mind this week because I was craving simple bread and butter tea sandwiches with my tea. But I couldn’t actually make it (or anything else) because I just had hand surgery. Then I thought about the blog—what am I going to do about this week’s post?
I don’t like repeating posts, but under the circs, it seemed necessary. And besides, this bread was one of my first posts eight years ago, so none of you probably even saw it. But I wanted to tell you anyway, in the interests of full disclosure and all.
Unlike store-bought white bread, this bread is very flavorful. But typing with one hand is getting pretty annoying, so without further ado …
Classic white sandwich bread is something anyone who wants a reputation as a cook needs to master. Even if you really can't cook a lick, if you can make yeast bread everyone thinks you're some kind of cooking genius. Seriously, yeast bread (and pie crust) really impresses people. Master these and you'll be able to fake it as a cook for the rest of your life.
If you've never made bread before, just follow my can't-fail step-by-step below. If you prefer to use a heavy-duty stand mixer for mixing and kneading bread dough, here is the same Classic White Sandwich Bread - Stand Mixer Method.
Don't forget to Pin it and share it!
Classic White Sandwich Bread
(Makes 2 loaves)
5 dip-and-sweep cups (25 ounces/709 grams) unbleached all-purpose flour, divided
1 tablespoon sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
2 cups (16 fluid ounces/473 ml) milk or water, room temperature
2 tablespoons (1 ounce/28 grams) melted unsalted butter or extra virgin olive oil
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
2 cups (16 fluid ounces/473 ml) milk or water, room temperature
2 tablespoons (1 ounce/28 grams) melted unsalted butter or extra virgin olive oil
1 In large bowl (a straight-sided 4-quart bowl makes it easy to tell when dough has doubled), whisk together 2 cups flour, sugar, salt and instant yeast. With dough whisk or large wooden spoon, stir in liquid and butter or oil until thoroughly mixed. Stir for 1 or 2 minutes, then stir in 2 1/2 cups flour a half cup at a time. Finished dough will be shaggy and sticky.
2 Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 1 hour at room temperature, then refrigerate for 24 hours. (Back when my grandmother made this bread, instead of using yeast, she would just keep back a small piece of dough from one batch to leaven the next, which also added flavor. In this updated version, I've added flavor by mixing the dough the day before.)
3 Remove dough from refrigerator and let rest for 1 hour to warm up a bit. Scrape dough out onto lightly floured (from remaining 1/2 cup) surface. Knead for about 5 or 6 minutes, adding more of remaining flour as needed to keep dough from sticking. Cover dough with plastic wrap and let rest a few minutes while you clean out and oil bowl for second rise.
4 Flatten out dough and continue kneading for another 5 or 6 minutes, or until dough is soft and smooth. Place dough in oiled bowl, turning dough to oil surface and pressing it flat. Cover with plastic wrap and set in warm (82F/28C is ideal) place to rise until doubled, about 1 hour. If house is cool, heat oven to 200F/93C, allow to heat for 2 minutes, turn off oven and put dough in to rise.
5 Lightly oil two 8 1/2-by-4 1/2-by-2 1/2-inch (also called 1-pound) loaf pans. Turn risen dough out onto lightly floured (still from that remaining 1/2 cup) surface, flattening gently to break up any large bubbles. Divide dough into two equal pieces. Press each piece into a 9-by-12-inch rectangle. Fold in short ends of dough until piece is about 6 inches long. Roll from one rough edge, pinch seam to seal and roll gently to form a tight log the length of pan.
6 Place seam-side down in prepared pans and press dough into pans so that it reaches sides, ends and corners. Cover loaves with oiled plastic wrap and let rise for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, or until dough rises just above top of pans and springs back just a little when lightly poked with a floured finger. (I put the pans and a mug of hot water under an 11-by-17-inch baking sheet held up by a 1-pound can in each corner and covered with a towel.)
Just one of the ways I improvise a makeshift proofer |
7 During the last 20 minutes, heat oven to 450F/230C/Gas8. Put loaves in oven and reduce heat to 375F/190C/Gas5. Bake for about 45 minutes or until loaves are golden brown, shrink from sides of pans, and bottoms of loaves sound hollow if tapped. Remove immediately from pans and let cool on wire rack for 1 hour. Wrap well as soon as bread has cooled thoroughly. Store at room temperature or freeze in zipper freezer bags. Yields 2 loaves.
Disclosure: We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon .com and affiliated sites.
Jean
Disclosure: We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon .com and affiliated sites.
Jean
88 comments:
Beautiful looking loaves of bread...good job.
Thank you, Karen. I think bread is my very favorite thing to make. Kneading dough is so therapeutic! :D
Jean, I totally understand your craving for simple white bread: nothing quite beats that baking smell. I do hope your hand recovers quickly.
Recipes are written down so that they can be repeated. And this one qualifies on merits. Also, it occurs to me that if you toast a couple of slices of your “Wonder” bread, it will make a good splint for that wrist of yours. (Might have to secure with some bacon wrap.) Take care, heal, and get Mr. Delightful to cook you some chicken soup…
Jean, your sandwich loaves turned out bakery perfect! My husband will love it since he loves white bread.
Sorry to hear about your hand surgery. I hope you heal quickly. I know it is frustrating not to be able to do the things you love. The bread looks delicious. Just yesterday I bought some Irish butter at Walmart, just for something different. Blessings, Mildred
Thanks, Pauline. AND it is so perfect for tea sandwiches!
Thanks, Sully. And, no, Mr Delightful won't be making chicken soup for me today; he'll be having CTS surgery!
Angie, thank you. Homemade white bread is soooo good! Your husband should try my recipe!
Thank you, Mildred. Yep, the frustration has set in. Enjoy that wonderful Irish butter - it's sooo good!
Oh Jean, hand surgery is never fun for anyone who loves to cook. When they say you can do it with one hand tied behind you're back we know the truth. A good cook can't. Those hands are tools. Especially for bread!
Well, I've not seen this one before so I'm glad you reposted it. I 'll share with the resident bread guy!
You're so right, Jeanie - I need both hands, my best tools! Hope the resident bread guy of yours gives the bread a go!
I hope you and Mr Delightful get better soon.That bread looks delicious!Hugs!
Such lovely loaves, Jean. I've been faking all these years-Love that. I do hope you are recovering well. Take care and let someone else do the cooking. ♥
Thank you, Maristella! Hugs to you.
Oh Martha, I'm glad you noticed that! :-) Yes, I think we'll be better than new fairly soon, thanks.
This looks so good - cannot beat home-baked bread #TriumphantTales
YUM! There is nothing better than homemade bread.
Happy weekend, dear Jean. Hugs!
Beautiful loaves and I wish I could enjoy the aroma of your kitchen while the bread was baking.
Thank you, Kate. Yes, home-baked is so much better.
Stephanie, thanks. And hugs to you.
Thanks, Ellen. And you have hit on the best part -- the aroma while it's baking! :-)
Your bread would be perfect for dainty tea sandwiches. Wishing your hand a speedy recovery!
Thank you, Margie. I should be ready to knead some dough next week. I especially like this bread for cucumber sandwiches.
I have baked all sort of sweet bread but not this one, I need to give this wonderful bread a try..
Since I've been to culinary school and spent many hours in the pastry kitchen - making bread, I've really been on a bread binge at home. I try to make it once a week. Thanks for a new recipe to try! Pinning.
T and T, thank you so much. I hope you will. And let me know how it turns out for you.
Lea Ann, I've been on a "bread binge" (love that term!) since I was a young girl. Nothing wrong with that! Thank you AND thanks for Pinning.
Hi Jean. I hope the surgery went well? I am going to definitely try your recipe and method. The 24 hours in the fridge threw me a little. I have not heard of that element in the process before. I have made a couple of loaves of wholemeal bread recently. One loaf didn't work that well but the other was successful. Where I go wrong is the kneading. I am not sure I am doing it correctly. I have watched two You Tube videos demonstrating kneading but I am am still not sure about it. Any tips you might have would be most welcome. Hope you can still raise a glass of wine. All the best, Tony
Hello, I think anything homemade taste better than the store bought. Your bread look delicious. Baking bread just smells delicious. Thanks for sharing. Happy Friday, enjoy your weekend!
Thanks, Tony. Yes, getting better, should be kneading dough in no time! People get hung up on the kneading because they think it has to be done a particular way. As long as you're smooshing and folding the dough, it doesn't really matter exactly how you do it. Where most people go wrong is that they don't do it long enough (and/or they add too much flour). It takes 5 to 10 minutes. Just smoosh it away from you with the heel of your hand, fold it back toward you, rotate the dough a quarter turn (no need to be precise about that), repeat. Smooshing and folding. Let me know how it goes.
Oh Jean, I hope your hand heals quickly from your recent surgery. I know how much you love cooking and baking. Your bread looks wonderful, and you know me, I'm a regular bread baker. I'm not snobbish about food, but do have to have my homemade bread toasted for my breakfast, plus I love giving loaves away.
Take care, Jean...thinking of you. xo
Thank you, Eileen. I try to limit my bread intake these days, but even if I just have one delicious slice, the best part is the kneading (therapeutic AND good exercise!) and the aroma of it baking!
Kitty, thank you. Now that I have the big bandaging off, I can type a little better. I'm going to try kneading some dough (with a rubber glove on the hand) next week. I know you love your daily homemade toast - and I bet giving loaves away makes you very popular (not that your sweet personality isn't enough to do that)!
Jean, I hope you heal up quickly from your hand surgery. I dodged the surgery this time around, thank goodness! I made bread a lot when I was first married but once the babies started coming, I didn't have time. Now, I can't knead bread for different reasons. Oh my, your bread looks so good! Nothing trumps fresh bread from the oven. Hubby and I are trying to limit our bread intake these days too. If I did have home made bread around, I'm afraid I would pig out on it because it's my favourite. I do however have to give in from time to time and savour a nice tea sandwich, with the crusts cut off of course. Hope you have a splendid weekend and I hope your hand is up to kneading bread soon. Take care!
Sandi, thank you so much. Glad you dodged surgery! Ohhh yes, we must save our limited bread allowance for tea sandwiches! :-) I'm so excited, I get to go out for afternoon tea in a few days!
Is it wrong of me to LOVE white bread? I know I am supposed to want whole-grain breads and such, but I just love white bread. Especially for a BLT with homegrown tomatoes! Or a cucumber sandwich. Or, honestly, still warm from the oven with French butter. I will have to compare your recipe to my Gramma’s - I think they are very similar.
I hope your hand heals well. That must be tough for a blogger! And I appreciate that you don’t repeat recipes... I try not to, either, unless I am updating it!
No, David, it is NOT wrong of you! We like some whole grain breads, but there are certain things that simply CALL for good white bread. Whether I'm using organic white flour or organic whole grain flour, it's organic, it's non-GMO, AND it is still a "simple carb," which I'm trying to limit. So, to my mind, a small amount of either is fine!
That is a great point, Jean! It is just so hard to limit carbs when they are your first love and best friend!
I know what you mean, David! I love bread and pastry and all that, so since none of it is "good for you," I'm going to have exactly what I want and eat something else for nutritional value!
Get well soon. We take our hands and feet for granted until we can't use one of them. Your white bread sounds delicious! I haven't made regular loaf bread in a long time. I'll have to give it a go!! Take Care!!!
I'm sorry to hear about your hand surgery, Jean! Having had bilateral carpal tunnel surgery last fall, I know just how difficult it is to manage with one hand! Your yeast bread recipe looks wonderful, and as always, your excellent directions visualize it perfectly. I love to make homemade bread, and one of my favorite recipes uses honey and oatmeal. It is so light and airy. However I like the thought of letting this bread sit in the refrigerator for a day. I want to try this soon! Homemade bread is the best! Hoping your hand heals quickly :)
Hi Jean,
I do hope that your hand is feeling better. That sounds so painful! Everything must be a challenge especially washing the dishes. Your bread looks amazing. Have a Wonderful Weekend! Karen
Thank you, Marisa. It seemed like it would never get better, but today it took a leap in improvement. You're right, we take it for granted. While my husband was waiting for me to come out of surgery, he saw a teenage girl come in who had lost a hand. Suddenly our troubles seemed small.
Marilyn, thank you. I usually make bread at least twice a week, so this is frustrating. I think even if I have to develop a one-handed kneading method, I'm simply going to have to try it in a few days. A light and airy honey and oatmeal loaf sounds wonderful, too.
Thanks, Karen. And if I can manage it with my hand in a few days, Thursday I'll be posting another yeast recipe I think you'll like. I hope you have a wonderful weekend, too!
H-m-m-m-m I can smell it from here... There is nothing better than bread baking in the oven... I’m sorry about your hand ... and hope that it heals quickly ... It is amazing how we find ways to compensate... and somehow I think you’ll be quite imaginative....Take care...I’m sending healing prayers your way ..xoxoxox
Thank you, Zaa. And I will think of you as I come up with a way to compensate this week! :-)
I wonderful recipe to pull out of the archives, Jean! Hoping your hand heals quickly! xx Karen
This must be delicious and good for health. I hope your hand get well soon.
Thanks, Karen! I'm counting the days (6) till the stitches come out.
RTC, thank you. Only a few more days of store-bought bread, I hope!
I know my boys would love this! I should really get over my "fear" of baking... I'm just so terrible at following instructions and measuring things, and I know that's exactly what you need to do when baking...
I hope your hand heals quickly!
Andrea
Andrea’s Wellness Notes
Thanks, Andrea. If you want to get over the "fear," just pick one good recipe and make it several times before moving on to another. For example, if you wanted to make white bread, don't try this recipe and then another and another. Just make this one (or any one) and make it over and over until you have it down. You'll amaze yourself! :-)
This looks delicious! Thanks for joining in at #TriumphantTales
Thank you for commenting on my blog. Had you not done that, then I wouldn’t have found you, and now I am your newest follow work. I hope you recover soon from your hand surgery, but in the meantime I think I’m going to try this bread. I have been on a real bread baking tear lately (yesterday I made a delicious loaf of rosemary and sea salt), but I haven’t made classic white bread, believe it or not. I will be trying it this week. Thanks again, great post, and like they say, if you haven’t seen it it’s new to you, so this post was new to me.
Thanks, Jaki!
Pattie, thank you! Have fun with the bread, and do let me know how it turns out for you!
It's never a bad idea to bring a good post forward again, Jean - you'll always have new eyes for it! I hope you are recovering well from your hand surgery. Your Classic White Sandwich Bread looks lovely - light and delicious. It's definitely perfect for tea sandwiches. Take care and hope you are feeling a hundred percent again very soon! Thank you for being a part of the Hearth and Soul Link Party.
Thank you, April. Went out for afternoon tea yesterday and had some lovely tea sandwiches -- my favorite tier of the 3-tiered stand! Couldn't help thinking they would have been even better on my homemade bread!
Much as I enjoy so many fancy and complicated breads I just love to get back to classic bread like yours on a regular basis. You're making them look so inviting. You're also making me feel a little lazy or badly organised. I very rarely find the time these days to make any sort of bread without the help of as many machines that I can lay my hands on. Speaking of hands I hope all is going well and you're back to double handedness as soon as possible.
Hi Jean! I've never made bread but I could almost smell the delicious aroma of freshly baked bread reading your post. Thanks for sharing with us at #BloggersPitStop and hope you hand is okay soon.
Phil, thank you so much. At the earliest possible moment, I'll have my hands in some dough, to be sure!
Thank you, Sue. You should try it. But be warned, that aroma is highly addictive!
Homemade bread is glorious! Thanks for sharing at our To Grandma's House We Go DIY, Crafts Recipes and more Wednesday Link Party! Hope to see you again this week!
Dear Jean:
I am still trying the bread loaves but so far I haven't like the way it comes out for me. I think that with hand issues the problem is kneading. A little "equipment" would help! Thanks for sharing and I am going to keep trying.
Nothing beats good homemade bread and your loaves look amazing! Now I'm in the mood to bake.
I am so glad that you reposted this! It will be the perfect addition to the leftover corned beef I am planning to serve tonight.
Thank you, Sheri. I think homemade bread and bready things are my favorite food!
Bernideen, you can always throw the dough into the stand mixer for 5 to 10 minutes or the food processor for about a minute, but sometimes with hand kneading people end up adding too much flour and that results in a heavy loaf. I sure sympathize with the hand problems. I'm going to be putting a glove on my bandaged hand today and giving it a go because you can actually knead with just one hand. It's more about doing whatever you do for long enough rather than with a great technique. I think of the last time I visited my aunt who was completely crippled by rheumatoid arthritis and she made lunch for us. She would not allow me to help, and I watched her making meatballs of all things with her hands that were bent and frozen into claws. I have no idea how she did it! But back to the dough -- I've never tried it, but you *can* just repeatedly throw the dough down onto the counter as a way of kneading. I might be able to tell you more about that later today! :D
Carlee, thank you! I'm always in the mood to bake bread -- I think it's addicting!
Laura, thank you. Sounds delicious!
It's a classic for a reason, right? GREG
I can almost smell this fantastic bread as it comes out of the oven! Have a great first week of spring and thanks so much for sharing your awesome post with FULL PLATE THURSDAY!
Miz Helen
That's what I always say! Thanks, Greg.
Thanks, Miz Helen! I hope you have a beautiful spring.
Jean, how awesome to bake your own bread. I need to keep trying. Thanks for sharing your post at Dishing It & Digging It.
Linda, thank you. And you can soooo do this - just follow my step-by-step!
That recipe sounds good. Thanks for stopping by anointedtoday.blogspot.com.
Delicious. Nothing beats freshly baked bread and butter.
Amalia
xo
Thanks, anointedday.
I agree, Amalia! Thanks.
Hand surgery?! Hope you're recovering from that. And your bread is gorgeous! Great recipe, wonderful pictures. Thanks!
Thanks, John. I get the stitches out tomorrow, and I hope that will be the end of having to glove up for everything! Bread is my "thing" and I just had to knead some dough yesterday, even if it was mostly one-handed!
I just made baked loaves yesterday morning to take to a bereaved neighbor family. Almost everyone loves fresh homemade bread, right? It seems maybe more universally enjoyed than a casserole, plus you don't have to worry about trying to keep it hot or about food likes/dislikes. Maybe. And besides, I just love baking bread. When there's a fire in the stove, as there is today and as there was yesterday, it seems the thing to do.
Judy, what a great idea! I've never thought to make bread in that situation. I'm going to remember this!
Interesting that you let the dough rest overnight before kneading it. I've done it the opposite way around, letting it rise overnight after kneading it. Does it make a difference which order it's done in?
Ellen, lots of different ways work. This is just how I do it. Some people just get on with it and don't give the dough a long rest at all, but I like to do it because it builds flavor.
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