Easy Sandwich Bread

I’ve been trying to get into the habit of baking more when I’m at home. This helps us to have a healthier option (have you looked at the plethora of added ingredients in store bought bread?!?!) and to limit the amount of money we spend on baked goods as the costs have definitely risen lately.

So here’s a recipe that yields 2 loaves of bread, and trust me you’ll need to make 2 minimum, because as soon as this comes out of the oven, everyone swarms to grab a bite!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups warm water

• 1.5 tbsp. instant yeast

• 1/4 cup honey or sugar

• 2 tbsp. melted unsalted butter

• 2 tsp. salt

• 5 cups bread flour

Directions:

Mix the warm water with the honey (or sugar), and yeast and let sit approximately 10 minutes or until the mix is bubbling and frothy.

Add yeast mixture, bread flour, salt + butter + knead with hands or with a dough hook attachment for 7 minutes. Sprinkle extra flour in if it’s too sticky. Don’t skimp out, either, kneading the dough allows the protein molecules in the flour to form, creating healthy gluten strands and helping give your loaves structure and that characteristically chewy texture. And hey, you’re also getting a pretty good upper body workout if you opt to do it by hand!

Here comes the time consuming part… The waiting. Place your kneaded dough in a bowl, cover at set aside in a warm, non-drafty area for 1 hour. I like to kill 2 birds with one stone… get some laundry done while creating warmth for my bread by placing my bowl on top of the dryer while it’s going. Work smarter, not harder folks!

After the hour has elapsed, punch down the risen dough and separate in half. Placing each half in a buttered or parchment lined bread tin. Cover, and let rise another 30 minutes.

While the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 350⁰. Place in oven after second rise, and bake for 25 minutes. Butter the tops of the loaves and let them bake another 5 minutes (30 minutes total oven time). Try to let the loaves sit for an hour before slicing (this hardly happens in our house, everyone swarms as soon as it’s out of the oven with butter + jam in hand!)