Hearty Sandwich Bread Recipe

For those who've been asking for healthy eating and budgeting tips, and recipes -- here we go! I can't say that I ever thought food would become a part of this blog, but as a new member of the Shrinking Kitchen writing team, I'm realizing that I've long had a passion for beautiful, whole food. Some positive, encouraging feedback from y'all was just the push I needed to share here.

Making your own bread can save you a bundle of money, and I think this homemade loaf is the perfect place to start. A conventional, white bread that will replace your store-bought sandwich stuff. There are a few steps, but it's truly simple to make -- not to mention quite therapeutic, in my humble opinion!

Maile and I like to share a buttered slice, fresh out of the oven, and it. is. marvelous.

Traditional White Loaf (2 lb)

• 1 1/2 cups warm 2% milk
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 4 cups bread flour
• 1 3/4 teaspoons salt
• 2 tablespoons raw sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Add all the ingredients, in order, to your bread maker pan. Before adding the yeast, make a well in the center. You want to make sure the salt won't touch the yeast. Salt = yeast killer. 

Toddler fingerprint on your camera lens optional.

Select the Dough cycle, and press Start.

Our bread maker's dough cycle is an hour and a half, so I used that time to load the dishwasher, fold some laundry, and put Maile down for her afternoon nap. 

Once your dough is finished, remove it from the bread maker.

Lightly flour a counter, and knead the dough for 1 minute. 

Dust a bit of flour on top of the loaf, and place it in a 9-inch, buttered loaf pan. (If you want your loaf to be more even than mine, you can shape it into a pretty oval.) 

In my experience, butter works better for greasing than cooking spray; cooking spray typically gives you a super crispy crust ... sometimes with a funky taste to it, depending on the spray. Ick.

Cover with plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm place. I use our toaster, because it's directly below a window. 

Backlit darkness brought to you by the blizzard raging outside.

Let the dough rise for 45 minutes to an hour. It should about double in size.

Preheat your oven to 350 F. Remove the plastic wrap from your loaf, and bake for 35 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes before removing and slicing.

Then, wait for photobombing wee hands to start snatching the good stuff.

Because homemade bread is preservative-free, it doesn't stay soft as long as store-bought bread. I slice it, as needed, store it tightly plastic-wrapped on a shady, dry area of our counter, and watch it disappear. Maile loves a small slice with her morning eggs, oatmeal, sausage, cereal ... Tim architects gargantuan sandwich skyscrapers with the stuff. And it makes de-licious French toast. But that's for another post ...

Enjoy!

PS - Enter our current giveaway, from Jordan Diane Art, here!