hey guys it's Bettie from BakerBettie.com and today I am going to walk you through
the process of making a fluffy white sandwich bread. now this is the kind of
bread that is super soft and tender and perfect for things like a peanut butter
and jelly sandwich or a grilled cheese sandwich or it even makes a really great
french toast. now as always you can find the full printable recipe on my website
linked in the description so let's go ahead and get started. we're going to
start by combining warm water with warm milk both at 110 degrees Fahrenheit. now
it's really important that your liquid is not too hot so if you don't have a
thermometer err on the side of it being a little too cool so you don't kill the
yeast. it should feel just barely warm. next you want to add one 7-gram package of
either active dry or rapid rise yeast and then I'm going to add a large pinch
of sugar and whisk all of that together to dissolve the yeast and wake it up. now
this is called proofing the yeast and it is going to ensure that our yeast is
alive and give it a little jumpstart before we move on with the recipe. now
we're going to let that mixture sit for about ten minutes and you should see
small bubbles forming on top. now I've sped the video up here so you can see
how the bubbles are popping up and it looks a bit foamy. if you don't see any
of this activity at all then your yeast might be too old and you need to start
over with new yeast. next I'm going to add the rest of the sugar to the bowl
along with some really soft butter salt and then the bread flour. now you can use
either bread flour or unbleached all-purpose flour here either will work
fine but bread flour is going to give your sandwich bread a little more
structure and chew. now stir all of that together until it is combined and I
actually switched over to using my hands because it works a little better to
really combine the ingredients and make sure all of that flour is absorbed. it's
going to look a very shaggy and sticky at this point
okay now flour a clean work surface and turn your dough out onto it and then
flour the top of the dough and we're going to start kneading it by hand fold
the dough in half and push it away from you using the heels of your hands to
stretch it out. now turn it 90 degrees and fold it in half again and push it
away from you. do this over and over again now what we are doing here is
working the gluten structure to build strength in our dough. this gluten
structure is what is going to hold in the gasses that the yeast creates as our
dough rises. you can use a bit more flour as needed so it doesn't glue itself to
the countertop or to your hand but you want the dough to stay sticky so use as
little flour as possible. it's going to take about eight to ten minutes of
kneading and you will know your dough is ready when it is smooth and elastic and
when you round it up into a ball it's going to stand up nice and tall. you can
also press in on it with your fingers and if it bounces right back up that is
a good sign that you have built a nice gluten structure. now I'm transferring
the dough to a lightly greased bowl and turning to coat it and I'm covering it
with plastic wrap to let it rise until it is about double in size. now this
should take about one hour if you used quick rise yeast or two hours if you
used active dry yeast. once the dough has risen gently press the air out of it and
turn it out onto a clean work surface
divide the dough in two equal pieces and now we're going to shape it start with
the dough in roughly a rectangular shape and press down on it to make sure all of
the gas is out of it. starting at one of the short edges pull out on the corners
and bring it into the center of the top of the dough and then press to seal. now
fold the top of the dough over to meet the seam that you created and press that
to seal. now do this process again two more times of pulling the corners out
and bringing them into the seam and then the top down now what we are doing here
is creating tension on the outside of our dough so that we have a nice rolled
shape and this is going to ensure that our loaf has a really even crumb and
that it rises up instead of spreading out. now you can fold the dough over
itself to finish sealing below and roll it under your hands slightly to seal the
seam and even out the distribution of the dough. now place it in a greased loaf
pan and gently pat it down to fill the pan. now just shape the second loaf the
same way a full batch of this recipe does make two loaves but if you look at
the written recipe I have given you the quantities to make a half batch which
will only make one loaf if you prefer. cover the shaped loaves and now we
need to let them rise again which is also known as proofing. you want them to
rise until they are about double in size and the dough is starting to crown in the
pan. this should take about one hour with rapid rise yeast and two hours with
active dry yeast. once the dough has proofed you can brush the tops with a
bit of egg wash which is just an egg whisked with about a tablespoon of water
this is optional but it's going to give the loaves a really nice brown and shiny
look to them. we're going to bake them at 350 degrees Fahrenheit until they are
golden brown and baked through. turn the loaves out onto a cooling rack and let
them cool completely before slicing. at the very least you need to wait an hour
if you slice bread while it is still hot it's going to stale
out very quickly. and that is it, super fluffy sandwich bread with a very few
ingredients and just a little bit of effort. I hope you enjoyed this recipe
and if you did go ahead and give it a like and if you're new here, welcome, I am
so happy to have you and make sure you subscribe for weekly recipe tutorials.
leave me any questions you have down in the comment section I'm always happy to
answer them and I'll see you guys next time with another recipe tutorial