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The Best White Sandwich Bread

Yield: 20 slices (2 loaves)
Prep Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 3 hours

Ingredients

  • 6 ½ to 7 ½ cups (923-1065 g) unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 2 ½ teaspoons salt
  • 1 ½ tablespoons instant yeast
  • ¼ cup sugar or honey
  • 2 ¾ cups very warm water
  • ¼ cup neutral-flavored oil, like grapeseed, canola, vegetable, avocado
  • Butter for top of loaves, optional

Instructions 

  • In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the dough hook (or in a large bowl, if making the dough by hand), combine THREE cups of the flour, salt, yeast and sugar.
  • Add the water and oil and mix until combined. The mixture will be thinner than bread dough.
  • Cover the bowl and let the batter rest for 10 minutes; it will be slightly bubbly at the end.
  • With the mixer running (or stirring by hand), gradually add another 3 to 4 cups of flour, until the dough comes together in a cohesive ball that clears the bottom and sides of the bowl and doesn't leave a lot of doughy residue on your fingers when touched while still being just slightly tacky (not overfloured and dense).
  • Knead for about 2 minutes until the dough is smooth and supple.
  • Lightly grease a large bowl. Transfer the dough to the prepared bowl, cover with greased plastic wrap or a light kitchen towel, and let rise until doubled, about an hour or so, depending on the warmth of your kitchen.
  • Lightly punch down the dough and divide it into two equal pieces.
  • Grease two 8 1/2-inch by 4 1/2-inch bread pans.
  • Press each piece of dough into a thick rectangle about 8-inches long; roll it up, pressing on the seams, and pinching the final seam together.
  • Place the dough loaves into the prepared pans.
  • Cover with lightly greased plastic wrap or thin kitchen towels and let rise until doubled and the dough has risen about 1-inch above the top rim of the pan, about an hour or so, depending on the warmth of your kitchen.
  • While the dough rises, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
  • Bake the bread for 30-32 minutes until golden and baked through.
  • Remove from the oven and turn the bread out onto a wire rack. Immediately brush the tops of the loaves with melted butter (or use a stick of butter, peeling the paper back and rubbing it on the top of the hot bread).
  • Let the bread cool completely.
  • The bread can be stored at room temperature, covered in a bread bag, for a couple days, or frozen for up to a month or so.

Notes

Flour Type: I always use unbleached all-purpose flour and haven't made this bread with bleached all-purpose flour but I'm guessing it will work just fine. I've also made this bread with bread flour in place of the all-purpose - delicious if you have it on hand and like an extra chewy/sturdy loaf of bread!
Yeast: if you don't have instant yeast, you can dissolve the same amount of yeast in 1/4 cup water with a pinch of sugar until it is foamy and bubbly and then use it in the recipe (add it with the oil and water). 
Flour Amount: as with all yeast doughs particularly bread dough, I use the flour amount in the recipe as a guideline and encourage you to do the same. The exact amount of flour you use will depend on how you measure flour (this is how I measure flour), the climate and temperature where you live (humidity can be a factor), and several other things. Add flour gradually until the texture of the dough is soft, smooth, and only just slightly tacky to the touch.