How to Make Homemade White Sandwich Bread

In case you’re here just to do a quick recipe print: Printable White Sandwich Bread Recipe

When I posted about my baking day back in June, I mentioned that sandwich bread was one of the items on my baking list, and a number of you asked for the recipe. So, here it is!

If you prefer to make whole wheat bread, you might want to use my Whole Wheat Bread recipe, or you can substitute whole wheat flour for part of all of the white flour in this recipe. If you’re not an experienced bread baker, I would probably not try for 100% whole wheat, though, as it’s harder to get your bread to turn out nicely with nothing but whole wheat flour.

However, if you’re looking for a white bread, this recipe will work well for you. I mostly make this when I need bread for panini sandwiches or for other dinner sandwiches. The recipe is from my old (it was published in the 70s!) Better Homes and Garden Homemade Bread Cookbook

In pictures, here’s how to make the bread, and the actual recipe will follow.

Combine yeast and flour in the bowl of a standing mixer.

Heat milk, butter, sugar, and salt in the microwave or on the stovetop until it reaches 120-125 degrees.

Pour the milk mixture into the dry ingredients and beat for three minutes.

Add enough additional flour to make a soft, but kneadable dough. See how the dough is stretchy? That’s the gluten at work.

Turn the dough out onto a floured counter and knead for 5 minutes, or until dough bounces back when poked with a finger.

I think I took this picture partway into the kneading process, because my dough NEVER looks that neat when I first dump it onto the counter.

After you’re done kneading, your dough should look like this.

Put it back into the mixing bowl, cover it with a wet towel, and let it rise for an hour. Once it’s risen, punch it down, divide it into two pieces, and roll each piece into a rectangular shape.

Starting from the short end, roll the dough up and place into a8x4 inch bread pan. The Williams Sonoma Gold Touch pans are my favorite.

Cover with a wet towel, and let rise for 30 minutes, or until doubled.

Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 20-25 minutes, or until lightly browned. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool.

And here’s the real recipe:

White Sandwich Bread

Printable White Sandwich Bread Recipe

5 3/4-6 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 pkg (2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast
2 1/4 cups milk (you can use water if you don’t do dairy)
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon butter or vegetable oil
2 teaspoons salt

1. In a large mixer bowl, combine 2 1/2 cups of flour and yeast.

2. In a saucepan or in the microwave, heat milk, sugar, butter, and salt to 115-120 degrees.

3. Add hot liquids to flour and yeast. Beat at low speed until combined, then beat at high speed for 3 minutes.

4. Add enough additional flour to make a soft, but kneadable dough, and turn out onto a floured surface. Knead for 5-10 minutes or until smooth and elastic.

5. Put dough back into mixing bowl, cover with wet tea towel, and let rise 1 hour.

6. Punch dough down, divide into two pieces, and roll into a rectangle, about 6″x18″. Starting from the short end, roll up jelly-roll style and place into two greased 4×8 inch loaf pans. Cover with wet tea towel and let rise 30-40 minutes, or until doubled.

7. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 25-30 minutes. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool before slicing.