This bread machine white bread is made especially for sandwiches, for those times when you want to make thrifty homemade bread but you’re craving your favorite store-bought.
Recipe | Using Milk Powder | Making Substitutions | Proofing Your Yeast
I love homemade bread. It’s soft and warm and wonderful. You can pull off big chunks of it and slather on some butter. I could easily make a meal out of homemade bread and butter.
When you’re craving a grilled cheese or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, you need a bread recipe that will stand up easily to slicing. This is that recipe.
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Ingredients
Ordinarily, you need only five ingredients to make a white bread from scratch but I wanted to add a little extra sweetness. Adding milk is the perfect choice.
- Bread flour
- Sugar
- Yeast
- Vegetable Oil
- Instant Milk Powder
- Salt
Using milk powder to make bread
I prefer to use milk powder for the milky goodness but you can use milk, if you prefer. Healthline has more milk powder substitutes too.
I didn’t use milk in this recipe because I don’t like heating up milk. You would need to heat it up to the same temperature of the water. Milk powder is a convenience and it’s nice to have in the pantry anyway, just in case.
If you want to use milk, use one cup water plus ⅓ cup milk instead of 1 ⅓ cups water.
Making Substitutions
As far as I can tell, these two flours have no difference and are interchangeable for this recipe. It’s probably only marketing with the two names.
The most common forms of yeast are active dry and quick rise. When using a bread machine, there are specific rising times preprogrammed. These don’t work as well with quick rise yeast. As far as I can tell, bread machine yeast is the same as active dry yeast and can be used interchangeably for this recipe. Again, probably only marketing.
If you prefer the taste of butter (and who doesn’t), use the same amount of butter stated, but cut it into small pieces so you don’t end up with a big hole of butter. Not cutting it up could mean that your bread will be wet and uncooked in spots.
Proofing your yeast
I know that most bread machine instruction books I’ve seen don’t include this important step. In the beginning, I didn’t do this and there were a couple of times that my bread was pretty solid. Brick-like? Maybe. Don’t tell.
If your yeast has expired, it may not rise at all. That’s what happened to me. I didn’t realize that it had expired.
In a two cup measure, place water, yeast and sugar. Stir it up.
If the yeast hasn’t expired, the yeast will start bubbling fairly quickly.
In about 10 minutes, you should have a nice foamy layer to the water mixture and you can go ahead and use it. You’ve confirmed that it’s alive and ready to make you some soft, fluffy bread.
Using a bread machine
I’ve used a Cuisinart bread machine for this recipe. In fact, I use the Cuisinart for all 24Bite bread machine recipes.
If you don’t have a bread machine, have a look at this Cuisinart Bread Machine which we use. We’ve had it for over seven years and it still works great. (This is an affiliate link, by the way. If you click it and buy, I may get a little something something from them at no extra cost to you.)
What else can you do with a bread machine?
Our Cuisinart bread maker will mix, rise and bake, right in the bread pan. I prefer to use the machine for dough so that I can form it in whatever shape or size I like.
I’ve used the bread machine to make homemade pizza dough and mashed potato dinner rolls. Although I haven’t tried it yet, you can even make jelly in there! Who knew?
Serving Suggestions
This bread recipe is made especially for sandwiches. It’s study enough to make nice clean cuts and stands up to your peanut butter and jelly like a champ.
For breakfast, you can eat it freshly sliced or toast it. Serve it with jelly or jam and butter.
If you want to make your own jelly, I have a recipe for small batch fruit jam. You can make it with only one pound of fruit, sugar and a little bit of lemon juice.
My jam recipe makes one cup of jam. You don’t need to know how to can and there’s no pectin required.
You make the jam in only 30 minutes. That’s it!
Recipe
Bread Machine White Sandwich Bread Recipe
For more information, be sure to check the recipe details in the attached 24Bite® post.
Equipment
- Bread Machine, if using Bread Machine instructions
- Standing Mixer with dough attachment, if using Standing Mixer instructions
- 12" x 4.5" loaf pan, if using oven for baking
Ingredients
- 1 ⅓ cup Water, warm, 105-115°, to activate yeast
- 2 ¼ teaspoons Yeast, equal to one standard packet
- 3 tablespoons Sugar
- 2 tablespoons Vegetable Oil
- 3 ¾ cups Bread Flour
- 2 tablespoons Milk Powder, instant dry milk powder
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- Vegetable oil, optional, if making by hand or mixer
- Cooking Spray, like Pam, optional for any use other than baking in bread machine
Instructions
- Proof the yeast: In a small bowl or glass measuring cup, stir together water, yeast and sugar until mixed well. Set aside.
- After 10-15 minutes, check the yeast to see that it has a nice foam layer to ensure the yeast is viable. If there is no foam layer, check your yeast. It may be expired and you'll need to try again.
- Add vegetable oil to bread pan in bread machine. Add yeast mixture to bread pan in bread machine. Add flour and mlik powder to bread pan. Add salt to bread pan.
- Set bread machine to bake, light or dark loaf as desired. Or, alternatively, if you prefer a standard size loaf, set to dough only.
- If making dough only, once bread machine is finished, remove dough ball and place in loaf pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Cover with towel and allow to rise about 20-25 minutes then proceed to baking in the oven, as below.
- Preheat oven to 375℉. Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden. It should sound hollow when tapped on the top.
- If desired, spread top with butter and sprinkle on sea salt.
Notes
Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet. All amounts are estimates and 24Bite® takes no responsibility for actual figures since calculations vary by packaging and supplier. Please calculate the amounts yourself based on package labeling if you have specific dietary requirements. 24Bite®, Kim Guzman or Christian Guzman shall not be liable for adverse reactions or any other outcome resulting from the use of recipes or recommendations on this website or actions you take as a result.
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Louise Martin says
Is this for a 1, 1-1/2, or 2 pound loaf?
Christian Guzman says
This one definitely filled the bread pan so it’s a 2-pound loaf, for sure.