Food and Recipes Recipes Sandwich Bread Be the first to rate & review! Impossibly soft, yeasty, and buttery, this is the ultimate sandwich bread recipe. This homemad recipe uses a natural method to prevent the bread from going stale quickly. All you have to do is briefly cook a small amount of flour and milk in a saucepan before you assemble the rest of the dough. This crucial step keeps the inside of the loaf tender for longer so you can enjoy the bread for a week without needing to rush. The milk and butter also help keep the crumb extra soft while adding subtle and delicious rich flavor.Once the dough has risen it's ready to be shaped. Try twice rolling the dough into a rectangle and rolling it into a log to create the stretchy swirling effect in each slice of bread. As the bread bakes in the oven, it'll fill your kitchen with the wonderful aroma of yeast and butter as it rises into a perfect domed loaf. You can look forward to a beautifully browned crust because of the sugar in the dough. After the bread has been inverted from the pan and cooled, it's easily sliceable and makes the ideal base for your favorite sandwich—everything from a BLT to a PB&J. We know you'll love this recipe as much as we do. By Micah A Leal Micah A Leal Micah Leal is a chef and recipe developer with 5 years of professional experience in restaurants and bakeries such as Husk Restaurant and Harken Cafe & Bakery in Charleston, South Carolina. He has also developed nearly 200 recipes for SouthernLiving.com and Southern Living Magazine. Southern Living's editorial guidelines Published on April 27, 2020 Print Rate It Share Share Tweet Pin Email Photo: Micah A. Leal Active Time: 35 mins Total Time: 4 hrs 15 mins Yield: 1 loaf Ingredients 3 cups bread flour, plus more for dusting 1/2 cup milk + 1 Tbsp. milk, divided 3/4 cup warm water (105°F - 115°F) 1 (1/4-oz.) package instant yeast* 2 1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt 1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened and broken into pieces Directions Measure 3 cups of bread flour into a bowl; remove 3 tablespoons of the flour and add to a saucepan with 1/2 cup milk. Cook over medium-high, whisking constantly, until the mixture becomes a thick paste, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat. When flour paste cools to being warm but not hot to the touch, whisk together water, yeast, and sugar in a large clean bowl until sugar is dissolved. Add cooked flour mixture and whisk until well combined (a few lumps may remain). Allow to sit at room temperature until foamy, about 10 minutes. To the foamy yeast sponge, add remaining flour and salt, and mix with hands until a shaggy dough forms. Add remaining 1 tablespoon milk and butter; combine with hands until butter is well incorporated. Transfer dough to work surface and knead until smooth, 3 to 4 minutes. Place dough in a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and allow to rise at room temperature until almost tripled in volume, about 2 hours. Punch down dough and on a lightly floured surface, roll out to an 8- x- 15-inch rectangle. Roll from one short side to the other, making an 8-inch long roll. Press down the roll, and roll out again into an 8- x- 15 inch rectangle, lightly flouring as needed to prevent sticking. Roll again from one short side to the other. Place roll seam side down in a lightly greased 9- x- 5-inch loaf pan. Cover and let rise until dough rises about an inch over the lip of the pan, about 1 hour. Preheat oven to 350°F and adjust oven rack to the lowest position. Bake loaf, rotating pan halfway through baking, until top is well browned and bread has a hollow sound when tapped, 35 to 40 minutes. Let loaf cool in pan for 15 minutes before inverting on a wire rack to cool completely. Chef's Notes It is imperative to use instant yeast and not active dry yeast for this recipe. Rate it Print