Best Sandwich Bread Ever
Making delicious homemade sandwich bread is easier than you think with our foolproof recipe that uses basic staple pantry ingredients. This homemade white bread is soft and fluffy with a slightly crusty top - and is the perfect base for your favorite sandwiches.
Servings: 12
Calories: 171kcal
Ingredients
- 1 cup Water 240ml, warmed to about 110°F
- ¼ cup Whole milk 60ml, warmed to about 110°F
- 2¼ teaspoons Platinum Yeast from Red Star instant yeast 7g (1 standard packet)
- 2 tablespoons Granulated sugar 25g
- 4 tablespoons Unsalted butter (¼ cup; 60g), softened to room temperature
- 1½ teaspoons Salt
- 3⅓ cups All-purpose flour 416g, bread flour (spooned & leveled)
Instructions
Preparations
- Fit your stand mixer with the paddle attachment and pour the warm milk, water, sugar, and yeast into the mixing bowl. Cover with a towel and allow the yeast to activate for 5 minutes.
- Once the yeast has activated, foam will start to appear on the surface. Then, add the butter, salt, and 1 cup of flour and beat on low speed for 30 seconds to incorporate the ingredients.
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add another cup of flour, beating on medium speed for another 30 seconds before adding the remaining flour.
- Continue to beat the bread dough for around 2 to 3 minutes until the bread dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl.
- Beat the dough for another 2 minutes to knead the dough so that it becomes stretchy and smooth.
- Grease a large bowl with melted butter or olive oil and place the dough inside, covering it with plastic wrap.
- Leave the bowl in a warm place for around 2 hours until the bread dough has doubled in size.
- Once the bread dough has risen, punch it down with your hands, transfer it to a lightly floured surface, and roll the dough out to fit your loaf pan.
- Grease the loaf pan and place the bread dough inside. Cover with a towel or wrap and let the dough rise again for around an hour. The dough should rise above the loaf pan.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (177 degrees Celsius) and place the oven rack near the bottom.
Cooking Instructions
- Press the bread dough with your finger to see if it leaves a fingerprint. If it does without springing back, it is ready for baking.
- Bake bread for 30 - 35 minutes until the top becomes golden brown.
- Remove the fresh bread from the oven and allow it to rest for 5 - 10 minutes before slicing and serving with butter, or let it completely cool.
Recipe Notes
Water and milk temperature
Using room temperature water and milk (around 110°F) is essential for helping the yeast activate. If it’s too cold, the yeast won’t activate properly, and if it’s too hot, you risk killing the yeast.
Making bread by hand
If you don’t own a stand mixer, no worries. You can easily make great sandwich bread with just your hands and a wooden spoon! Just mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl until it forms a rough dough, and knead for about 5 minutes on a lightly floured surface.
Bread temperature
If you're unsure that your bread is cooked completely, use an instant-read thermometer to check if the internal temperature reads 195°F (90°C).
Top browning too quickly
The top of the bread will start brown quickly if it is too close to the top of the oven. If you notice that your bread is browning quickly, loosely cover the loaf pan with aluminum foil.