Homemade Sandwich Bread
Make soft, fluffy homemade sandwich bread with simple ingredients and no preservatives. Perfect for sandwiches, toast, and everyday meals!
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup warm water
- 2¼ teaspoons active dry yeast 1 packet
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 tablespoons butter softened
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Instructions
- Start by proofing your yeast – combine the warm water (it should feel like warm bath water on your wrist, around 110°F) with the sugar and yeast in a large bowl. Let it sit for about 5-7 minutes until it gets foamy and smells like bread.
- While the yeast is proofing, measure out your flour into a separate bowl. I like to give it a quick whisk to remove any lumps.
- Once your yeast mixture is foamy, add the softened butter (make sure it’s really soft but not melted), egg, and salt. Mix until the butter breaks up into small pieces.
- Add about half the flour and mix with a wooden spoon until it forms a wet, sticky batter. Then gradually add more flour, about ½ cup at a time, mixing between additions. The dough will start to pull away from the sides of the bowl when you have enough flour.
- Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead for about 8-10 minutes – you’ll feel the texture change from rough to smooth and elastic. When you press your finger into the dough, it should slowly spring back.
- Coat a large bowl with the tablespoon of vegetable oil. Place your dough ball in the bowl and turn it to coat all sides with oil. Cover with a damp kitchen towel and let rise in a warm spot until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
- Once doubled, punch down the dough and turn it onto a clean surface (no need to flour it this time). Pat it into a rectangle roughly the length of your loaf pan. Roll it up tightly from the short end, pinching the seam and ends to seal. Tuck the ends under if needed.
- Place the loaf seam-side down in a greased 9×5 inch loaf pan. Cover again and let rise until the dough crests about 1 inch above the rim of the pan, usually 45-60 minutes.
- Preheat your oven to 350°F while the bread is on its second rise. When ready to bake, the dough should barely spring back when you gently poke it with your finger.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes until deep golden brown. The bread should sound hollow when tapped on the bottom, and if you have an instant-read thermometer, the center should read 190°F.
- Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack. Here’s the hard part – try to let it cool at least 30 minutes before slicing, or you’ll squish the loaf.