Delicious homemade white sandwich bread is made in an extra large loaf pan from scratch with few simple ingredients and every bite is deeply satisfying. This basic white bread is the perfect sandwich bread! It’s soft yet holds its shape without falling apart. Warm and fresh from the oven it’s heavenly. I absolutely love it!
Prep: 15 mins
Cook: 30 - 40 mins
Additional: 1 hr 40 mins
Total: 2 hrs 30 mins
Yield: 1 big loaf
Ingredients
5 1/2 - 6 cups all purpose or bread flour
1/4 cup milk powder
1 1/2 tbsp yeast
2 cups plus 1/4 cups warm water
1/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp salt
2 tbsp vegetable oil
16x4x4 inch loaf pan
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees .
Steps:
1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, dissolve yeast with 1/4 cup warm water and sugar, then wait for the yeast to bloom or proof (yeast gets bubbly and foamy), for 5 to 10 minutes( over proofing will give an unpleasant taste in the bread) at this stage.
2. In another bowl mix the dry ingredients milk powder, salt, and 4 1/2 cups flour.
3. To the bloomed yeast add all the dry ingredients mixture along with the oil and remaining water. Knead the dough till everything is incorporated well together. Slowly add more flour, 1/2 cup at a time, to knead the dough till the dough comes together. The dough should be smooth and a little sticky to touch, but not very sticky, (water or flour amount varies from flour to weather ) it’s best to feel your dough. The dough should be slightly sticky to your fingers when touched, but not be overly sticky. You don’t need to add all the 5 1/2 to 6 cups of flour ( I used only 5 3/4 cups flour, too much can result in a crumbly bread dough). Mix until the dough starts to pull away from the bowl.
4. Place the dough in a large oiled bowl, and coat the top with a few drops of oil all over, cover with a plastic wrap and leave it to rise in a warm place for an hour, or until doubled in size ( over proofing at this stage will result in the bread having holes or tunnels in the bread during baking).
5. When the dough has proofed, lightly sprinkle some extra flour on the work surface and place dough on it to give it a good knead by folding the dough over itself on all sides for 6 - 8 minutes to develop the gluten, the dough should be smooth and elastic. Do not tear the bread while you’re kneading it by hand.
6. Place the dough in a well floured surface and flatten the dough, tightly roll out into a large rectangle .Fold the short side, to form a log or a roll. Seal the ends of the dough by pinching the edges in the dough. Roll the dough into a tight cylinder.
7. Place the rolled log seam side down, into the greased bread pan, and lightly pat the top to gently flatten the loaf, loosely cover with plastic wrap and keep the pan in a warm place to rise or double in size for the second time. The dough should rise at least 1 - 1 1/2 inch over the top of the loaf pan.
8. Bake for 35 -40 minutes, loaf is ready when it has a golden brown top and sounds hollow when tapped. Brush with melted butter, if desired. Remove to a cooling rack and cool completely before slicing.
Bread is good at room temperature for 3 to 5 days.
Notes:
The extra large loaf pan, it’s a great pan!
An extra large bread pan that makes a large bread like store bought in your own home.
Under proofed bread had a smaller dense loaf. To check if the bread has proofed properly, gently press a finger into the dough, if the indentation remains, the dough is perfectly proofed, but if it bounces back without an indentation, the dough is under-proofed. An over proofed dough can go flat or collapse on pressing with the finger, in case it happens repeat the second proofing.
Baked bread should have the internal temp of 195°F.
Remove loaf from the hot pan after removing it from the oven, after few minutes to avoid them to be soggy and sweaty in the pan. Air dry the bread.
You could make 2 loaves of bread with this recipe with 8 ½ x 4 ½ inch loaf pan (2) or
9x5-inch loaf pans (2).
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