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How to Make Homemade White Sandwich Bread

A sliced loaf of homemade 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.

Dry ingredients in a mixer bowl.

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

Butter and milk in a Pyrex measuring cup.

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

Bread dough on a mixer paddle.

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

Stretchy bread dough on a mixer paddle.

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.

A ball of kneaded dough on a floury counter.

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

A batch of kneaded bread dough.

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.

Bread dough rolled out onto a counter.

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.

Two loaves of bread dough in rectangular pans.

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

A baked loaf of white bread on a cooling rack.

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.

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Wendy

Sunday 30th of August 2020

I'm confused. The ingredients say 5.75 - 6.25 cups of flour, and then step 1 says 2.5 cups of flour. Does the remaining flour get added during step 4?

Kristen

Sunday 30th of August 2020

Yep, I'm sorry that I didn't make that clear. You start with just part of the flour, and then before kneading, you add in most of the remaining flour; enough to make a soft, kneadable dough.

Caitlin

Thursday 11th of June 2020

Just leaving a comment to add my continual thanks for this recipe. I make 4 loaves at a time, and freeze the extra. I think I have it memorized by now, but I love having it here to pull up.

Kristen

Thursday 11th of June 2020

Isn't it great when you memorize a recipe? It makes the baking process so much faster!

Jeanette Henley

Thursday 30th of November 2017

This recipe is very popular in our house! I am about to make my second batch this week! Keep up the good work! Your recipes are wonderful!! Thank you!!

Rachel

Monday 23rd of January 2017

I just tried making this and not only did I forget the salt, but the sugar got left out because it all sat on the bottom of the pan when and I didn't notice until later. The recipe didn't say to stir when I was heating. I am going to try again, should I stir the milk mixture to mix in the sugar?

Kristen

Monday 23rd of January 2017

I just use a spatula to scrape the liquid container out...that helps to make sure any undissolved sugar and salt make it into the bowl. :)

Ingrid

Tuesday 18th of October 2016

Hi there, Do you have a printable version of this recipe?

Kristen

Tuesday 18th of October 2016

I added one just now for you!

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