It’s not always easy to find good sandwich bread, and when I need just one loaf I enjoy using the bread machine. I don’t bake it in the machine, because I don’t like the look of the loaf, but it’s neat and easy for mixing and rising. Here’s my formula, made in any standard-size machine.
Recipe information
Yield
For an 8-cup fairly straight-sided loaf pan
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Proof 2 teaspoons yeast, 1 1/2 tablespoons tepid water, and a pinch of sugar in a cup (see page 81). Meanwhile, melt 1/2 stick roughly sliced unsalted butter in 1/2 cup milk, then cool it off by adding 1 cup cold milk. Pour into the container of the machine along with 2 teaspoons salt, 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar, 3 1/2 cups plain unbleached all-purpose flour, and the proofed yeast. Start the machine and follow directions for “dough.” After its rise, remove the dough, flatten it, fold into 3, and return it to the machine for a second rise. Then the dough is ready to form and bake.
Step 2
Either bake as in “Baking in a Loaf Pan” on page 84, or, for a flat-topped, evenly rectangular loaf, fill the buttered pan by no more than a third, and let rise to slightly more than double. (Form any extra dough into rolls or baby loaves.) Cover top of pan with buttered foil, and set in the lower-middle level of the preheated 425°F oven. Set a baking sheet on top of the pan, weighting it down with a 5-pound something, like a brick or a metal object.
Step 3
Bake 30 to 35 minutes, until the dough has filled the pan and is browning well. Then uncover the pan and continue another 10 minutes or so, until the loaf comes easily out of the pan. The interior temperature should be 200°F.
