Sometimes, you just want a slice of home-baked, plain old-fashioned sandwich bread. It's very easy with this recipe. Mix the dough in a bread machine or stand mixer, then bake in the oven.
2cupsFlour(all white or up to 50% whole wheat or spelt)
2tablespoonsGluten Flour(optional)
1teaspoonYeast
Instructions
Wash hands with soap and water. Ensure worksurface is clean.
Put ingredients in bread machine pan or stand mixer bowl in order listed. Put bread machine on dough cycle.
Meanwhile, lightly spray a bread pan with cooking spray, not forgetting the underside of the top lid if using a Pullman pan. Set aside.
Clean any counters where raw flour may have spilled, and wash any utensils that came into contact with it.
Check on the mixer after about 4 to 5 minutes of activity. If your flour has been stored a while, either at your house or the store, it may have gone somewhat dry and want a few more tablespoons of water. If so, add a tablespoon at a time and see if the dough takes it up. Too dry a dough will prevent a good rise on the bread.
When the bread dough is finished mixing completely, let it rise in the bread machine and go through first punch down, and then pull the dough out. If using stand mixer, let rise in mixer bowl for 30 to 40 minutes, then pull the dough out.
Place in the prepared bread pan. (If using a Pullman pan, place the cover ¾ on.) Cover with a tea towel to help stop dough from drying out, which would impede rise. Check after 30 to 60 minutes and every 10 minutes or so after that. When the dough has risen about ⅞th of the way to the lid if using a Pullman pan, heat the oven to 175 C (350 F).
Close the lid carefully if using a Pullman pan, put the bread pan into the oven and set a timer for 40 minutes.
At the end of this, using hot mitts, remove from oven. Turn immediately out of bread pan onto bread rack to cool.
Notes
Use bread flour or a strong all-purpose such as King Arthur, unless you're in Canada, in which case instead of bread flour just use any all-purpose flour.Instead of the water plus powdered milk, you can use 1 cup (250 ml / 8 oz) of milk instead.The gluten flour is optional. It does truly help to ensure a good full rise and crumb structure even though we have cut back a fair bit on the more carb-heavy regular flour; you do really notice a difference. You can just use two tablespoons more of regular (bread) flour instead. It also allows you to use up to 50% of various whole grain flours and still get a decent rise.If you use iodized salt, you may need more yeast because iodine kills yeast. It's cheaper to use un-iodized salt so you don't have to use more yeast.Ideally the dough will be just a little bit on the stickier side when you turn it out of the machine to give you a better rise in the bread pan and avoid collapsing during baking. If your flour is older and dry to start with, you may need to add a tablespoon or more additional water — you'll be able to see during the mixing process.When mixing in your bread machine, let it mix, and go through first rise just until after the first punch down in the machine. That will likely be 30 to 40 minutes after the machine starts mixing. Once you learn, write it down, and in the future just set a timer to come and get the dough at that point. Don't let it do the second rise in the machine — you want that to happen in the bread pan.It has come to light over the past few decades that raw flour is increasingly cross-contaminated with pathogens such as salmonella, and consequently worksurfaces and utensils that come into contact with it must be treated as if they had come into contact with raw meat.Directions in this recipe follow the Safe Recipe Style Guide .