Early on in our switch to real food, I made it my personal mission to switch from white flour to wheat flour. I even took on the additional work of soaking grains, like in my soaked whole wheat bread.
And you know what happened? My family retaliated.
I don’t remember his words exactly, but I’m pretty sure my husband said something like, “Wheat bread is too wheat-y. Can’t you just make homemade white bread instead?”
Of course, being the stickler that I am, I said no and kept making whole wheat bread for the family.
And they begrudgingly ate it, ONLY because I didn’t give them a choice.
I confess that this has been a slow lesson, but I learned that making something from scratch that my family doesn’t like creates an awful domino effect:
- I spend hours prepping and cooking, thinking I’m doing something good.
- They hate it, eat the bare minimum to get by and refuse to eat the rest.
- It sits on the counter or in the fridge for days, uneaten.
- It gets moldly, wilty or grows antennae and eventually gets thrown away.
- I feel bad for throwing food away and inconvenienced for wasting my money and time.
- Then, I make my family feel bad for making me feel bad.
- Finally, I feel bad for making my family feel bad, and for making them eat something they didn’t like.
Does this sound familiar?
This scenario happened more often than I care to admit, especially when we first switched to real food. But then I realized that making food from scratch – even if it’s not THE ABSOLUTE BEST QUALITY ON THE PLANET – is still infinitely better than buying pre-packaged, processed foods at the store.
Case in point: homemade yellow cake mix. My homemade version has 4 simple and healthy ingredients. Store-bought boxes have A LOT more ingredients than that, including hydrogenated oils.
This (and homemade chocolate peanut butter cups) helped me to realize that it’s okay to make white sandwich bread. Half of my grocery bill every week is fresh fruits and vegetables. The most “processed” food I own is a package of nitrate-free ham I found marked down at the grocery store last week!
When I look at our overall eating habits, I feel like we’re on the right track. So heck, why can’t we make a loaf of homemade white sandwich bread and actually enjoy it?
The Best White Sandwich Bread Recipe
Ever since my husband created infamous 90 Minute Man Bread, so many readers have emailed and left comments saying that Man Bread is the only bread they make – because of their picky eaters – and they use it for nearly all their bread purposes, including sandwich bread.
This gave me an idea. Man Bread really wasn’t intended to be used for sandwiches. I mean, you CAN use it for sandwiches, and we’ve done that plenty of times ourselves, but it’s denser than the typical soft white bread from the store that we’ve all come to know and love.
So I took Mr. Crumbs’ original idea, modified it slightly and created a homemade white sandwich bread recipe that is everything white bread should be:
- White!
- A soft, lightly brown crust (that is worth of eating and not cutting off)
- Durable enough to hold hearty sandwich fillings
- Soft enough for a PBJ to slightly stick to the roof of your mouth
Friends, this is when we ban together and rejoice. YES, we can feed our family healthy food and NO, it doesn’t have to taste like cardboard!
Anytime I talk about food, my inner self is actually teaching about food (which kind of explains why I created a course teaching you how to eat real food on a budget!). So I don’t want you to jump into this recipe without a few bits of advice:
Working with yeast is not hard.
This recipe includes proofing the yeast, which is basically making sure your yeast is active. If you get mix yeast and water and honey and get bubbles, keep going. If you don’t, get new yeast. (Read more in my Beginner’s Guide to Using Yeast.)
Kneading bread is not hard either.
The purpose of kneading bread is to work the strands of gluten. Gluten is what makes bread light and fluffy and sponge-y. This recipe calls for kneading twice. Your mixer can do the first, but you’ll do the second.
There is an art to kneading, but if you focus on folding in thirds and pushing the air bubbles out, you’ll be fine.
Shaping bread is probably the hardest part.
I’m not an expert at shaping, and I’m not pleased with the shape of my loaf in these pictures, BUT know this: even ugly bread tastes good.
My method for shaping bread is, once I’ve kneaded it well enough (usually 3 times of the folding in thirds method above), I roll the bread as tightly as I can. This probably isn’t the professional way, but I’m not a professional so it works for me!
Some of my other favorite bread recipes that the family loves (and that are easy):
No-knead Artisan Bread // Rosemary Sea Salt Flatbread // Maple Oatmeal Bread // Homemade Hamburger Buns
And a few baking-hack posts to help you in your bread endeavors:
How to Make Bread Machine Recipes By Hand // Ultimate Guide to Freezing Bread // Ultimate Guide to Troubleshooting Bread // How to Cook Bread in the Slow Cooker
The Best White Sandwich Bread Recipe
- Prep Time: 2 hours
- Cook Time: 23 mins
- Total Time: 2 hours 23 mins
- Yield: 1 loaf 1x
- Category: Breads
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups milk, warmed to 105-110F
- 2 Tbsp honey
- 1 Tbsp yeast
- 4 – 4 1/2 cups all purpose flour, divided, plus more for dusting
- 2 Tbsp coconut oil, melted
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
- Whisk together milk, honey and yeast in a large mixing bowl, or in the bowl of a stand mixer. Allow the yeast to proof until the surface is covered with bubbles. If you don’t see bubbles, your yeast has gone bad.
- Add 1 cup of flour and either mix by hand or on low until the flour is mostly combined.
- Next, add coconut oil, salt and 3 1/2 cups of flour and knead by hand or on medium-low until the dough is soft and smooth. Add additional flour if necessary. I consider the dough done when the bowl is mostly clean and it is tacky to the touch (not sticky).
- Cover with a towel and place in warm spot to rise for about an hour.*
- Meanwhile, butter and flour a loaf pan.
- When the dough is about double in size, lightly flour the counter or a baking mat. Turn dough out onto the mat and knead for a few minutes to get rid of the excess air bubbles (see my method in the post).
- Shape the dough (again, see the post for my method) and place it seam down in the loaf pan.**
- Cover the dough with a towel and let it rise for about an hour.*
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Bake the bread for 20-23 minutes, until it is golden brown on top and sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.
- Let it cool on a cooling rack before cutting, about 20 minutes.
Notes
* The rise time of this recipe is very flexible, but you get a softer crumb (the inside) when it rises for at least an hour. You could shorten the rise time to 30 minutes each, but the dough will be more dense.
** To make two loaves, let the dough rise for 90 minutes the first time. Divide into two loaves before kneading and shaping, and then let it rise for another hour or so.
Keywords: white sandwich bread recipe
This is a solid recipe, ratio wise! I like to use 2 cups AP flour, 1 cup white, and 1.5 cups bread flour. It’s just my boyfriend and I. We aren’t picky so I can make us about anything 🙂
★★★★★
Awesome Alexandria! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Thank you so much for this post. Just what I needed to hear. I’ve been baking bread regularly since July and sometimes struggle with feeling like white bread is so bad. I usually do 50% bread flour and 50% whole wheat. The texture is definitely better than 100% whole wheat. Thanks forthe reminder that I don’t need to feel guilty about eating homemade white bread. I’ve tried to find white whole wheat flour because of its milder taste but it’s almost $8 for a 5lb bag and difficult to find. Have you had any success with white whole wheat flour? Thanks
I have no experience with white whole wheat flour but based on my research $8 for 5 Lbs. is a pretty good deal. I did find this for bulk buying though, https://www.webstaurantstore.com/extra-fine-white-whole-wheat-flour-50-lb/104KANSAS.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=GoogleShopping&gclid=CjwKCAiA_eb-BRB2EiwAGBnXXvldKROYw30TU15TS2wcOJgxqj_7s2U4cIBC_Cx2RZwIEb9_g85iFhoCFeoQAvD_BwE
Tiffany-I made this recipe for the first time today. I have been baking home made bread for about 12 years-this not my first rodeo! I cut my teeth on “Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day” , graduated to America’s Test Kitchen then other sites and blogs, baker’s books, etc. I was stunned at the amount of flour for one loaf of bread, but I always follow any recipe exactly to the directions first time then I know that if I want to make it a second time what I may want to change to suit my own tastes-if anything. I always weight my flour for consistent results. Well, 24 ozs (!) of flour later( I only used 20 in the mixer and some of the remainder for the board) and all the rest, after first rise I had me one pretty stout wad of dough for my 5×9 bread pan. I thought, “Maybe I should cut that in half and use two 4×8’s”. But Tiffany hadn’t said I needed to do that- and I realized, after reading “The Healthy Bread Fiasco” with her and children…well, like Mother Nature, it wasn’t nice to fool with Mother Tiffany. So I merrily proceeded with the second rise and it was about 3/4ths of an inch above the rim after around 45 minutes-so into the oven it went and I set the timer for 21 minutes.
I did add two cups of boiling water to a hot bread pan under the Bread loaf pan on the bottom rack…and man, oh man did I get oven spring! Now, as they say, I had ‘a situation’. Out came the probe thermometer, 119 degrees- bad. Into the oven for another 21 minutes-another probe-146 degrees-bad. Another 10 minutes (one hour) hit 195 and out she came and onto the cooling rack. This loaf of bread had already earned it’s name-Mother Tiffany’s White Bread Panettone (deconstructed). The candied fruit is used to make a sauce when you make french toast with it! I have photos but don’t how to load them here.
This is Man Bread and it doesn’t want to be put in a can (or a pan). It wants to ‘Man spread’ all over a hot pizza peel, it wants to make crunchy rolls to go with beer and spicy chili and beans at a football tail- gate on a cold autumn day. This is proud American Man Bread and it doesn’t give a “tinker’s dam* who’s offended. You go Mr Crumbs!
In the past twelve years of bread baking I have searched high and low (and baked) endless homemade white bread sandwich loaves and they all, without fail, end up being nothing other that rustic country white bread. That’s not IT. This is “IT”. I want bread that puts Wonder Bread and Sara Lee to shame. I want soft, tender, moist crumb and a nice crust…sturdy, but not too sturdy. This is IT!
It wasn’t until I read the reviews on Man Bread that I realized I could have left the bread in to 220 degrees-amazing. Mine could have gone a little longer, but it was delicious! The loaf is already half gone and it’s left-over meatloaf sandwiches for dinner tonight.
A thousand thank yous, Mother Tiffany. You’re the best.
JohninNCmtns
*this is not a curse. A Tinker repairs cooking pots (back in the day). A tinker’s dam is a dam made of lead used to surround a hole or leak while making a repair (with molten lead) and is a brief, temporary device and hence insignificant. Much the same meaning as “I couldn’t care less”.
★★★★★
Hello John,
Thank you for sharing your experience! We’re so happy you enjoyed it!
Can you use sourdough starter as the yeast in this recipe?
I’ve not done it, Kasey, but here is what I found… Substitute 1 cup of starter for each package of yeast, and then subtract about 1/2 cup of water and 3/4 cup of flour from the recipe to compensate for the water and flour in the starter. … Sourdough needs more rising time than quick yeast.
Tiffany,
I’m new to bread making, and your recipe turned out very well. I can’t eat bread (at this time), but my husband devoured three slices in abut 15 minutes! LOL I have one question: why does the recipe add one cup of flour and mix first? I’m trying to understand the science behind bread making. Thanks!!
Bonnie, honestly I am not 100% sure science isn’t my strong suit. I think it is to get the clumps out but the science behind it might be a better question for google. LOL
What size loaf pan do you suggest for this?
I use a 9×5 and it rises quite a bit – big, beautiful bread!
I am going to try this bread tomorrow. However, I am a 63 yr old widow living alone & rather new to this way of eating. Hopefully it will help me be healthier while saving money. I am also trying to teach a friend to do the same.
Normally I never post prior to making a recipe, but I am stumped. I just cant find your instructions on putting dough into a loaf pan the “proper” way. I knead the dough, form a log by squashing the dough long and flat enough to fit the pan, let it rise, & then bake it. Your instruction sound more involved than squash, flop, and rise. Please direct me to the right spot for more info. Thank you.