Baking bread doesn't have to be intimidating, and this easy homemade sandwich bread recipe is proof. Ready in a little over an hour, you just might consider it the world's fastest bread recipe! You'll never want store-bought again.
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Why You'll Love This Sandwich Bread
Confession time: I've always been super intimidated by cooking with yeast. I pretty much avoid it at all costs and get super nervous when a video client sends a yeast bread recipe. Although they always seem to turn out fine, the anxiety is there.
So when my friend Rebecca from Food with Family released her second cookbook, Ready, Set, Dough!: Beginner Breads for All Occasions, I knew I had to finally face my fears and make some white sandwich bread.
Spoiler alert: It came out sooooo good! I'm thrilled to be able to share her killer recipe for this seriously easy bread from her book. It comes together so quickly and easily — even for a bread novice like me! Here are a few other reasons why I love it:
- Baked in 40 minutes
- It has that classic sandwich bread taste and texture
- Made with super simple ingredients
- No preservatives, artificial flavors, or any other nasties
- Perfect for sandwiches, toast, and more!
Ingredient Information And Substitutions
- All-Purpose Flour: All-purpose flour is the go-to for this instead of bread flour — I always have some on hand, and it works great for this recipe.
- Instant Yeast: To make the bread rise. For this recipe, instant because it works a lot more quickly than active dry yeast.
- Granulated Sugar: Don't worry, this sandwich bread isn't sweet. You need the sugar to activate the yeast — plus it helps the crust turn golden brown as it bakes!
- Kosher Salt: You can substitute this with regular table salt, but you'll have to reduce the amount to 1 ½ teaspoons in that case.
- Warm Water: Also activates the yeast. You don't need boiling water — really warm tap water is just fine.
- Olive Oil: For better texture, flavor, and color.
How To Make Sandwich Bread
Step 1: Create the dough.
Add the flour, yeast, sugar, salt, water, and 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the bowl of a stand mixer. Stir with a sturdy spatula or wooden spoon until a wet, shaggy dough forms.
Step 2: Knead and let it rise.
Add the dough hook attachment to your mixer and knead for about 4 minutes, or until it comes together. Use your hands to form it into a smooth ball in the bowl.
Cover the bowl with a clean towel. Allow the dough to rise for 15 minutes. If you place it in a warm spot, it will rise better!
Step 3: Divide and place the dough in the loaf pans.
When it's done rising, divide the dough in half and shape each piece into a tight ball. Place each ball into the ungreased loaf pans and drizzle the remaining olive oil on top. Use a sharp knife to slash the top of each loaf.
Step 4: Bake.
Place the loaf pans in your cold oven — don't preheat, this is key! — on the middle rack with a pan of hot tap water on the rack below it. Set the oven to 400 degrees F and bake for 40 minutes.
Let your white bread loaves cool completely on a cooling rack and enjoy!
Frequently Asked Questions
For this particular sandwich bread recipe, yes!
No, none of the recipes in the book call for a bread maker.
I use instant yeast for this recipe, so no need to mix it with water to activate it first. You do need to add warm water to the bread dough, but as it's instant, it doesn't need extra time to proof.
There are a variety of factors that could play into this, but the bottom line is to add a tablespoon or two of flour and let it knead a bit longer.
You can keep the bottom of your sandwich bread from getting soggy by making sure to remove it from the loaf pan within a few minutes or removing from the oven. Then, allow it to cool completely on a wire rack.
This bread stays fresh for 3-4 days at room temperature.
I'd strongly encourage you to because during the cooling process the glutens finish developing resulting in an overall better textured loaf.
Tips For Making Easy Fast Bread
- Make sure you use a super sturdy spoon when you first start mixing the ingredients together, it'll make getting the dough started so much easier.
- You can always knead the dough by hand, but if you have a stand mixer with a dough hook, this will make it so much easier.
- Use the dough hook attachment for kneading when the dough starts to look shaggy.
- Kneading takes around 4 minutes. The dough will be ready to rise when it's a smooth ball. It should be tacky but not crazy sticky.
- This particular sandwich bread has a really quick rise time. One thing that helps is by letting it rise in a warm place. I put my next to our fireplace.
- Be sure that you don't preheat the oven. Part of what makes this bread come out so perfectly is that the preheating is part of the baking time.
- Make sure you cool it completely before slicing unless you intend to eat the whole loaf right away. I know it's super tempting, but the cooling process allows the bread to set — Rebecca gets a little more in-depth about the science behind this in her book. Let it do its thing.
- This white sandwich bread recipe will give you 2 loaves of bread.
- Ingredients to prep ahead: Once you get going this recipe moves pretty quickly — that's why I call it a quick sandwich bread! As such, there isn't really much you can do to prep ahead except measure out all of the ingredients you'll need.
- Leftovers and storage: As mentioned, this bread lasts for about 3-4 days. Do not store bread in the refrigerator, as it will get stale quicker. Store it at room temperature in a bag.
What To Serve With White Sandwich Bread
The better question would be... what not to serve with this sandwich bread?! I use it for everything from toast and sandwiches to garlic bread and croutons if it starts to go stale. Here are a few specific recipes to try:
- Egg Salad Sandwich with Olives
- Steak and Onions Sandwich
- Open-Faced Egg Sandwich
- Copycat Panera Chicken Salad
Other Bread Recipes To Try
Love this recipe? Please leave a 5 star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating in the recipe card below ⬇️ and/or a review in the comment section further down. Check out my Amazon Store for all my favorite tools, including those used in this recipe. And follow @thelifejolie on Instagram and TikTok!
Easy Homemade Sandwich Bread Recipe
Ingredients
- 6 cups all purpose flour
- 2 Tablespoons instant yeast
- 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 Tablespoon kosher salt (or 1 ½ teaspoons table salt)
- 2 cups warm water (get your tap water really hot and use that)
- ¼ cup olive oil, divided
Instructions
- Combine flour, yeast, sugar, salt, water and 2 Tablespoons of olive oil in the bowl of your stand mixer. Stir with a sturdy spatula until a wet dough forms (it will look shaggy).
- Use the dough hook attachment to knead the dough until it comes together, about 4 minutes. Form it into a smooth ball.
- Cover the bowl with a towel and allow the dough to rise for 15 minutes (placing the bowl in a warm spot will help this process).
- Once the 15 minutes are up, divide the sough in half and shape each half into a tight ball.
- Place each dough ball into the ungreased loaf pans and drizzle the other two tablespoons of olive oil over the top of them. Using a sharp knife, slash the tops of each loaf around ¼ inch deep.
- Place the loaves in a cold oven on the middle rack and place a pan of hot tap water on the rack below it (I used one of my 9" x 13" pans filled about half way). Do not preheat the oven- this is important!
- Set the oven to 400 degrees and bake for 40 minutes (this includes the preheating time once the loaves are in).
- After the 40 minutes is up, remove the loaves from the oven and cool completely on a cooling rack.
Video
Notes
- Make sure you use a super sturdy spoon when you first start mixing the ingredients together, it'll make getting the dough started so much easier.
- You can always knead the dough by hand, but if you have a stand mixer with a dough hook, this will make it so much easier.
- Use the dough hook attachment for kneading when the dough starts to look shaggy.
- Kneading takes around 4 minutes. The dough will be ready to rise when it's a smooth ball. It should be tacky but not crazy sticky.
- This particular sandwich bread has a really quick rise time. One thing that helps is by letting it rise in a warm place. I put my next to our fireplace.
- Be sure that you don't preheat the oven. Part of what makes this bread come out so perfectly is that the preheating is part of the baking time.
- Make sure you cool it completely before slicing unless you intend to eat the whole loaf right away. I know it's super tempting, but the cooling process allows the bread to set — Rebecca gets a little more in-depth about the science behind this in her book. Let it do its thing.
- This white sandwich bread recipe will give you 2 loaves of bread.
- Ingredients to prep ahead: Once you get going this recipe moves pretty quickly — that's why I call it a quick sandwich bread! As such, there isn't really much you can do to prep ahead except measure out all of the ingredients you'll need.
- Leftovers and storage: As mentioned, this bread lasts for about 3-4 days. Do not store bread in the refrigerator, as it will get stale quicker. Store it at room temperature in a bag.
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