White Sandwich Bread

This is my current favorite sandwich bread and it is so easy to make!


Pour 3 1/3 cups of water in the bowl of your mixer. Add 4 1/2 teaspoons of rapid rise yeast.


Add 1/3 cup of sugar.


Add 3 tablespoons of softened butter.


Add 1 tablespoon of salt.


Start adding flour, 2 cups at a time.


I judge when bread dough is ready by sight. Keep adding flour until you have added approximately 8 cups.


The dough is ready when it pulls away from the side of your mixer. This works no matter what kind of mixer you use. If you knead by hand you already know how to tell when your dough is ready. It will be slightly sticky but not stick to the counter or your hands.


It should form a nice smooth firm dough.


Place it in a bowl to rise.


Drizzle it with a bit of melted butter and turn it to coat.


Cover it and sit it in a warm place to proof. It should double in size in about an hour. This dough rises very well.


Here it is after an hour. Split the dough in half.


Place the dough on your counter. Do not flour it. It should not stick because of the butter.


Roll it into a 12 inch square.


Roll it up jellyroll style and roll it tight.


Turn it seam side down. Repeat with the other half.


Place them in greased loaf pans.


Cover and let them proof again. It took about 30 minutes for mine to double.


The one on the left got a bit carried away. Bake these at 425 for about 40 minutes or until an instant read thermometer reads 190 degrees. I always use a thermometer to make sure my bread is done. Keep an eye on them and if they start to brown too much, cover them with foil. I covered mine after about 20 minutes.


Remove them from the oven and place them on a rack to cool. Beautiful loaves.


Next time I must remember to weight the dough so I split it evenly. The loaf on the left looks like it took steroids!


Brush the loaves with melted butter. It helps to keep them fresh longer and it drives Teddy crazy. I gave her a piece of this bread and she grunted like a cave man.


There is just something about fresh baked bread that makes me so happy.


And it took so little time to have 2 wonderful loaves of bread.


Look at that crumb! You can see that small air bubble on the bottom left of the loaf. This is why you need to roll the dough tightly so you don't get these bubbles.

In the next couple days I will show you what I made with this great bread.