Homemade Sandwich Bread
With step-by-step pictures and plenty of helpful tips, learn how to make Homemade Sandwich Bread using a few baking ingredients like flour, water, honey, yeast, salt, and milk. This simple sandwich bread has a super soft interior with an extra chewy crust. This recipe yields 2 standard loaves and comes together in just a few hours, so it’s perfect for a growing family.
Let’s make homemade sandwich bread with a perfect crumb for slicing! We keep this bread on a weekly rotation at in our kitchen! There’s nothing quite as satisfying as warm homemade bread and this recipe is absolute loaf perfection-- an extra large and tall loaf with an airy texture.
If you ask my kids, they'll enthusiastically tell you this is the best homemade bread for making sandwiches. And if you're new to baking daily bread, rest assured this is the perfect recipe to begin with. I promise you will finally feel like a true bread baker when you master this basic bread recipe.
This Homemade Sandwich Bread is:
- Simple to make
- Easy to prep ahead and freeze
- Golden brown with a super soft crust
- Extra chewy white bread
- Perfect for sandwiches
Looking for a no yeast alternative? Here’s my Easy Sourdough Sandwich Bread!
Variations for this recipe include Honey Oat Sandwich Bread and Homemade Cinnamon Rolls. One recipe & method, a few easy swaps and endless possibilities!
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Ingredients
- Bread Flour I Bread flour makes a lighter and fluffier dough. Regular all-purpose flour can absolutely be used in this recipe, I recommend adding 2-3 tablespoons if the dough is feels too sticky. See note below for using fresh milled flour. If you are using a kitchen scale, you will need about 1,000 grams of bread flour for this recipe.
- Milk Whole milk helps to add flavor and richness to the dough because of the fat content. Skim milk or milk alternatives may be substituted. It will change the dough texture and I have not recipe tested it, so no guarantees.
- Butter Choose real, full fat, unsalted butter.
- Water To get maximum yeast activity and the best rising dough, use filtered water. Chlorine and other additives are specially designed to inhibit growth. Not ideal for growing an active yeast culture!
- Honey Quick doughs need a little help getting the yeast to grow quickly and shorten the rising times. You can substitute sugar at a 1:1 ratio and will get great results-- I've done it many times!
- Yeast Pro tip: buy yeast in bulk and store it in the freezer. It will last for such a long time!
- Salt My go-to is Redmond's Real Salt, sea salt, Celtic salt, French salt, Himalayan sea salt or any non-iodized salt.
- See recipe card for quantities.
See recipe card for quantities.
How to Make Homemade Sandwich Bread
For all of my dough recipes, I am always very careful when measuring the dry ingredients. Flour is scooped, not packed. Salt is measured, not pinched. Totally not my normal free-spirited style of cooking, but it is important here!
1. Using a large glass measuring bowl, add the milk, water, and cubed butter. Heat it in the microwave or a saucepan until warm, but not boiling.
The butter will melt, but there should be some solid pieces floating. The temperature needs to be warm enough to activate the yeast, but not so hot that it kills it. Aim for 110°F.
- In a stand mixer or large bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients EXCEPT one cup of flour. This will be added as needed. Mix the ingredients together and then pour in the warm liquid mixture. Attach the bowl and dough hook to the stand mixer and begin kneading on about a speed two (slow and gentle). You can also knead by hand. Form into ball shape with your hands
- Continuing on a slow speed, add the remaining one cup of flour, a few tablespoons at a time until the dough clings to the hook and the sides of the bowl are clean. I usually have to add the entire cup of flour, for reference. Knead for two minutes more. This is a very sticky and wet dough, so resist the urge to keep adding extra flour or your loaves will be tough.
4. While the dough is kneading, bring a cup of water to a boil in the microwave and leave the door shut. This will create a warm and humid proofing box to help the dough be even fluffier.
Transfer the dough too a lightly greased large mixing bowl (or grease the mixing bowl it was made in).
Quickly put the dough into the microwave and close the door. Let it rise for 45 minutes to an hour.
I do not cover my dough when it proofs in the microwave, but if you're proofing it on the counter, cover the dough with a loose damp tea towel.
5. Spray two 4X9 inch bread pans or 1 13X4 pan with cooking spray. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface.
Shape the loaf (or loaves) and place them in the pans. Pour 1 tablespoon of melted butter over each loaf. Cover with a tea towel and let them rise for 20-30 minutes until the top of the loaf has domed over the pan.
6. Preheat the oven to 350°. Bake the bread for 50 to 60 minutes, until the crust is golden brown and the sides of the loaf feel firm. The internal temperature of the loaf will be about 195°F when it's fully baked.
7. Remove the loaf from the oven. Let the bread cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then remove it from the pan and place it on a cooling rack to cool. Let it cool completely before slicing.
How to Make This Bread With Fresh Milled Flour
Before I explain how to convert this recipe, first ask yourself the following question: Do I like eating bread made entirely with whole wheat flour?
If the answer is yes, then cool! You'll use approximately 4 ⅔ cups of wheat berries for this homemade sandwich bread recipe. I like to use hard white or Khorasan, or a combination of both.
I'm not giving you an exact weight, because all wheat berries have a slightly different weight in grams to convert from cups. You can find a conversion chart in my post about How to Make Flour With a Grain Mill.
To make a lighter loaf, I strongly recommend sifting the flour or only using 30% fresh milled wheat and 70% bread flour.
As an amazon associate, this post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. See my full disclosure here.
Substitutions
- Dairy free - I have not recipe tested this bread with dairy free milk and butter alternatives, but bakers in my instagram audience have reported that they made it and it worked!
- Gluten free - Unfortunately, this can not be made gluten free.
- Whole Wheat Flour - Whole wheat flour will make a denser loaf. Add the flour slowly and allow it to incorporate fully before rising.
- Fresh Milled Flour - This recipe can be made with fresh milled flour! The loaves will be dense if you don't sift the fresh flour. See note above.
Storage
Fresh bread is best enjoyed within 3 days. Store bread at room temperature in a linen bread bag, bread box or parchment bread bag. To learn the Best Way to Store Homemade Bread, read this post!
Recipe
Homemade Sandwich Bread
Equipment
- 2 9X5 bread pans
- large bowl or stand mixer
Ingredients
- 2 cups whole milk
- 1 cup water
- ½ cup butter
- 8 cups bread flour *see note below for fresh milled flour
- 6 tablespoons honey or sugar
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 9 teaspoons yeast active dry
Optional topping
- 2 tablespoons butter melted
Instructions
- Using a large glass measuring bowl, add the milk, water, and cubed butter. Heat it in the microwave or a saucepan until warm, but not boiling. The butter will melt, but there should be some solid pieces floating. The temperature needs to be warm enough to activate the yeast, but not so hot that it kills it. Aim for 110°F.
- In a stand mixer, combine the honey and all of the dry ingredients EXCEPT one cup of flour. This will be added as needed. Mix the ingredients together and then pour in the warm liquid mixture. Attach the bowl and dough hook to the stand mixer and begin kneading on about a speed two (slow and gentle). Form into ball shape with your hands
- Continuing on a slow speed, add the remaining one cup of flour, a few tablespoons at a time until the dough clings to the hook and the sides of the bowl are clean. I usually have to add the entire cup of flour, for reference. Knead for two minutes more.
- While the dough is kneading, bring a cup of water to a boil in the microwave and leave the door shut. This will create a warm and humid proofing box to help the dough be even fluffier.
- Transfer the dough too a lightly greased large mixing bowl (or grease the mixing bowl it was made in) and cover the dough with a loose tea towel.
- Quickly put the dough into the microwave and close the door. Let it rise for 45 minutes to an hour.
- Spray two 4X9 inch bread pans or 1 13X4 pan with cooking spray. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface.Shape the loaf (or loaves) and place them in the pans. Pour 1 tablespoon of melted butter over each loaf. Cover with a tea towel and let them rise for 20-30 minutes until the top of the loaf has domed over the pan.
- Preheat the oven to 350°. Bake the bread for 50 to 60 minutes, until the crust is golden brown and the sides of the loaf feel firm. The internal temperature of the loaf should be about 195°F.
- Remove the loaf from the oven. Let the bread cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then remove it from the pan and place it on a cooling rack to cool. Let it cool completely before slicing.
Notes
- Gluten free - Unfortunately, this can not be made gluten free.
- Whole Wheat Flour - Whole wheat flour will make a denser loaf. Add the flour slowly and allow it to incorporate fully before rising.
- Fresh Milled Flour - This recipe can be made with fresh milled flour! You'll mill approximately 4 ⅔ cups of wheat berries. I like to use hard white or Khorasan, or a combination of both.
Nutrition
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Can you make this sandwich bread with an automatic bread maker?
Hi Lori! I actually don't have a bread maker, so I haven't tested it. When you are baking a loaf in your machine, how many cups of flour does your regular recipe have? As long as this recipe isn't too much dough for the machine I am guessing it would work. Please let me know if you try it!
Just came across your site and excited to try more recipes! It does not say when to add the honey but I put it in with the water milk and butter. It is still cooling but it smelled heavenly and looks good!
New to bread making - can this recipe be used for dinner rolls? Maybe one loaf and the second used for rolls?
Hi Sue!
This big batch recipe is PERFECT for making one loaf of bread and a small batch of dinner rolls, cinnamon rolls or hamburger buns! Follow the recipe as written until you get to the baking time-- you'll want to shorten it to about 40 minutes. They're done when the internal temperature reaches 195-200F.
Happy baking!
Meg