Super Easy Fast Sandwich Bread

 

Okay, first before I share this recipe, quick disclaimer, this is heavily, and I mean HEAVILY, based on La Fuji Mama's Simple One Hour Bread Recipe.  I have just tweaked it a bit to make the crumb fluffier and softer and put instructions in to cook it in loaf pans so you can make standard loaves with it and my times are a bit different than hers so it'll take you a bit more time to make this.  Anyway, I definitely support the original recipe and suggest you try both ways of doing things and see which one works for you :).

I'm posting this mainly because I just keep getting e-mails once in a while asking me to share my bread recipe when I show pictures of home made bread, so I finally gave in and am sharing it.   Please let me know if I'm missing an essential element somewhere.  I have made this so many times I have it memorized and only when writing it out I realized how hard it is to type something when you aren't actively making it in front of you *laugh*.

So, here you go.  Sandwich Bread in an Hour.  Enjoy!

Super Easy Fast Sandwich Bread

Ingredients:

• 5 1/4 Cups Bread Flour
• 1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
• 3 TBS sugar
• 3 TBS Dehydrated Milk Powder
• 1 1/2 Rounded TBS of Instant Yeast (I only use SAF Instant Yeast)
• 1 1/2 TBS Cooking Oil (I like to use canola in mine)
• 2 Cups Warm Water (not too hot or you'll kill your yeast)

Procedure:

1.  Preheat Oven to 375 degrees F.

2.  Spray two loaf pans (I use cast iron loaf pans) with non-stick cooking spray.  Set aside.

3.  Combine all dry ingredients except the yeast in the bowl of your stand mixer.  Mix the dry ingredients in the bowl together quickly (I just use the tablespoon I used for the yeast to do this) and then add the yeast on top (I do this so that the salt doesn't come in contact with the yeast and kill it).

4.  Add the oil and warm water to the bowl and attach your dough hook to the mixer.  Mix on low speed for one minutes and then scrape the sides of the bowl.  Set a timer for 5 minutes and speed up mixer to medium speed.  Mix dough for the five minutes.  When the timer goes off, stop the mixer and spray a small section of your countertop down with non-stick cooking spray.  Dump the dough onto the greased countertop (the dough will most likely be pretty sticky, this is not a bad thing) and fold the dough over to get some of the nonstick cooking spray on top of the dough.  Knead the dough a few times until you can handle it easily (it doesn't take long).  Take a bench scraper or knife (I LOVE my bench scraper for this) and cut the dough in half.  

5.  Round the dough into balls in your hands and then take the balls and shape them into loaf shapes that will fit in your pans (this might take a few tries before you get good at it and you might end up jamming your dough into your loaf pans a few times...don't worry about it...you'll get better at it :).  Place dough into your loaf pans and put plastic wrap over loaf pans.  Set loaf pans in a warm place and set your timer for 15 minutes.  

6.  When timer goes off check your dough.  It should be pushing on the plastic wrap at this point.  Carefully remove the plastic wrap as the dough will want to stick to it a bit.  If your dough is just hitting the top of your loaf pans (which mine at this is), set your timer for about five more minutes.  Keep an eye on the dough and once the center of the dough goes over the top of the loaf pan by a bit (I'd say like an inch, but it is going to do depend on your loaf pan and I don't want you to over-proof your dough), place the pans in the preheated oven.  

7.  Bake at 375 degrees for 35 minutes.  Remove bread from pans, turn them over in your hands (use oven mitts is my suggestion) and then tap the bottom of the loaves.  The bread should sound hollow when tapped.  Place the loaves on a towel to cool (I like to place them on their sides for a bit so that the bottom cool a bit first and then flipped them so that the side can cool as well).  Once cool, enjoy as a wonderful sandwich and toasting bread.  

Honestly, since I discovered this recipe my family won't eat store bought bread anymore.  I've even found another variation that my son will eat as rolls so I don't have to buy hotdog and hamburger buns for him anymore (I'll share that recipe later).  After finding this recipe I gave away my bread maker as I didn't need it anymore.  Who needs one when you can make bread, from scratch in about an hour?  

Enjoy all!