Sandwich Bread Recipe

Several people have asked me for the recipe for my basic sandwich loaf, so I'm going to post it here. This is the bread that I've baked every week for my family for over a year. The girls enjoy it--Ellie especially want the heels because she likes the crust--and I think it's great for toast and grilled sandwiches because it's robust enough to get crispy in the skillet and it really holds in the melted cheese and fillings.

This isn't an artisan loaf or a the product of some complicated process. It doesn't require expensive ingredients or specialized equipment. After the first two times you'll make it, you'll stop needing to refer to the recipe. I've tried a lot of other breads, but I keep coming back to this one. Give it a try, especially if you're just breaking into the world of bread.

Ingredients:

3 cups water

6-1/2 cups flour

1-1/2 T instant yeast

1-1/2 T salt

Optional: 3 T flaxmeal

Directions:

Throw the flour, yeast, salt (and maybe flaxmeal) into a big mixing bowl and stir it around a bit. Let the tap water run until it's a little warmer than body temperature (about 100 degrees) and add it into the bowl. Mix it up well. If you have a stand mixer, you can use that; if you don't (like me) stir it until it forms a big ball and then knead it around a bit to mix all the ingredients. Shape it into a ball and put it in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover the bowl with a damp dishtowel or plastic wrap. Let it sit and rise anywhere between 90 minutes and 5 hours, preferably in a warm place.

Come back and divide the dough in half (a digital scale helps here, but it's not critical). Spray some oil in your bread pans and then shape each half of the dough into a log that will fit into the pan. Move the dough into the pans and cover with a damp towel. Let this rise about an hour or so, depending on how it looks. You can slash the tops or brush them with butter or milk or something, but I don't do either. It rises plenty and has a great crust without it.

Warm the oven to 350 degrees and put both loaves in the oven for 50 minutes. I check for done-ness and make sure it's at least 180 degrees inside. Turn them out of the bread pans onto wire racks to cool.

Yield: 2 loaves

That's it. It's a really forgiving recipe, and it has FOUR (maybe five) ingredients. If you want to remember the recipe (and be able to scale it and impress your friends), remember the 6-3-3-13 rule: 6 c. water, 3 T yeast, 3 T salt, 13 c. flour. That makes four loaves. The dough, by the way, will keep in the refrigerator for up to two weeks, after the initial rising time.

Anyway, if you try this out and like it, let me know. If you try and don't like it, whisper it quietly down a well somewhere.