American Sandwich Bread

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I've had really good luck with this recipe.  It is a fast riser, so not one to leave unattended or at least without an alarm.  This is the closest to soft store bought white bread if found in 10 years of bread making.  Great for sandwiches.    Sorry about the font, don't know how to fix it.

• 1.5 teaspoons of salt
• 2.5 cups (13.7 ounces) of bread flour (optional) start with one to three rounded (cereal) spoons of wheat flour and bring to 13.7 oz with bread flour. All white flour gives you a very soft loaf.
• 2 teaspoons of yeast (instant or rapid)
• 2 tablespoons of unsalted melted hot butter (to mix with cold milk)
• 3/4 cup of whole milk
• 2 tablespoons of honey or agave
• 1/4 cup of beer or water (reserved)

 

• In your mixing bowl on scale (if weighing) but leave off…add salt
• Turn on scale or zero
• Optional… add wheat flour
• Add bread flour until to 13.7oz
• Melt the butter and then add milk to hot butter; you can also warm milk to skin temp if you like… add to flour
• Add honey or agave
• Mix ingredients… you should have a dry mix with loose flour. Add reserve liquid in small amounts until all the flour is incorporated and dough has a wet sheen. Then add just one more splash.
• Rest for 15-20 minutes.
• Knead on medium high for 6 minutes (check with pull test) or by hand until ready.
• Form into a tight dough ball. I use wet hands and unfloured work space to shape the dough ball using the circle method.
• If you have one let it rise in a rectangle shaped container. Rise until doubled. I averaged 1.25 hours. Cover or grease the top with cooking spray.
• Grease a 9x5 loaf pan. Make sure to get the top also. You can hand shape also if needed.
• Flour your work space and drop the dough. I put the pan at the top of the work space.
• Flatten the dough and shape in to a rectangle that is 9” wide. I use a rolling pin and pound and roll to size.
• I fold in the top corners like a paper airplane and the role down. Seal the edge and tuck in the ends to make a roll about the length of the pan. Set in pan.
• Set timer to 35 minutes.
• After 35m, turn oven to 450
• The loaf can have a very large oven lift. Need to keep an eye on the pan. About 30 minutes after turning on the oven, look for the the top of the dough to be 1/2 inch above the top level of the pan.
• If you have a bakers razor blade, score right down the middle and cut deep. If not, try leaving it alone. Sometimes the loaf will grow and fold over to one side. Ugly but tastes good.
• Put the pan in the oven and spray in water. Skip if you don’t have a sprayer.
• VERY IMPORTANT… turn oven down to 350 degrees. If you forget, don’t worry. Crust may be a little more crunchy.
• Start checking at 30 minutes, but I normally go 40m. Looking for a brown crust (like a store bought loaf) and internal temp over 200 degrees.
• Let rest for 15 minutes and then de-pan.
• Let completely cool.