But what if, you can achieve this with minimum effort and exceptional results… even beating your fav bakery, now that’s sweet!
Not to mention, the inherent benefits of avoiding the preservative laden mass-produced loaf of bread, which is a complete no-no in our family!
Presenting soft luscious sandwich bread that is great for making cold sandwiches…and when toasted, crisps up equally well for hot-sandwiches too. Try this look-no-further recipe for Sandwich Bread that is as easy to make as is delicious to eat! And an added bonus, recipe works great for making dinner rolls too 🙂
Ingredients:
Ingredients
570 gms or about 4 1/2 cups Bread Flour/All purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp Salt
1/4 cup Sugar
2 tsp Yeast
1 1/2 cup luke-warm Milk
1/3 cup Oil
Method:
Whisk flour, and measure out. Or for more accurate results weigh out exact measure.
Add yeast in one corner
Add salt in another
And sugar in another.
Add milk
…and gently stir with a wooden spoon.
Add oil,
..stir to combine to a shaggy mass.
Using your hand swirl dough around till it comes together into a smoother mass, and wipes the bowl clean.
Pinch dough and stretch between fingers. You will see that the gluten has started to develop, lending elasticity to the dough.
Transfer to work surface and pat down with hands.
Fold dough, bringing top end down.
Rotate dough to bring seam side on right. Fold again and rotate again.
Continue to do this till it becomes a really smooth mass, about 3-4 minutes.
Tuck into a smooth round ball.
Transfer into greased bowl, spray top with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and keep aside to rise. Till it more than doubles in volume….around 2 hours.
Transfer to work surface.
Use about 28-32 ounces (depending on the size of your loaf tin)
I stole a little dough to make a couple of dinner rolls for the kids to indulge 🙂
Pat to a smooth rectangle, about the length of your loaf tin, and start rolling the dough into a tight roll…
pinching after each roll to seal tightly
…till you roll it into a tight cylindrical log.
Bring seam side up and pinch seam close really tight. This is important, or the bread will start to unfold and become loose while baking.
Transfer the rolled cylinder to a greased loaf tin.
Spray with oil and cover with plastic wrap.
Leave aside to rise and proof, till it doubles in volume again.
Ideally you want the dough to rise about an inch above your loaf pan, so that it domes well.
Also shape your dinner rolls, in any shape you like, I placed them in clusters of three in small steel katoris, to make pretty clover shaped dinner rolls.
Apply a generous layer of milk wash, using a pastry brush.
Place the proofed dough in a 350F preheated oven for about 40 minutes.
For the dinner rolls, bake only for 20 minutes and then cool on wire rack.
Once the loaf finishes baking…Place pan on wire rack, with the loaf of bread still inside. Allow the loaf to cool for 10 minutes in the pan.
Remove bread from pan. Now, cool on wire rack by placing the bread on its side…10 minutes on each side.
Flip back to top, allow to cool completely and only then slice…do not rush!
Enjoy your delicious freshly baked homemade bread! 🙂
Recipe Courtesy: Peter Reinhart