White Bread, the good old fashioned bread made without any preservatives. This is my go-to white bread recipe that yields such a soft bread. It tastes so much better than any store bought bread. 

I have been baking whole wheat bread for years at home. But i never tried my hands on this classic white bread until a year ago. Ever since i had started baking this white bread at home, it's become our family favourite. My kid loves this bread so much and eats as it is without anything on it.

If you're looking for an easy yet fool-proof recipe for white bread, then look no further, here it is ! Do give it a try and i'm sure that you love how incredible it is.

All purpose flour

First thing first, to make  bread you need the flour. Here for this recipe, i'm using the unbleached all purpose flour. 

I have tried this bread with a couple of brands of all purpose flour including the Walmart brand and i didn't find any noticeable difference in the taste and texture of the bread.  So go ahead and use whatever you have  in your home. 

Yeast

Next, to make the bread, you need the yeast. I switched to instant yeast a long time ago for all my baking that needs the yeast because it's so easy to use and you don't need to worry about proofing the yeast.

If you're a beginner in baking, i highly recommend to use the instant yeast over the dry yeast. So far i never experienced the proofing failure in using the instant yeast. 

Tips for beginners 

1. Don't tightly pack the measuring cups with the flour. Spoon the flour into the measuring cup while measuring the flour. Too much flour makes the bread so dense.
2. Depends on the quality of the flour, you may need 1 to 1& 1/4 cups of water. Start with 1 cup and if needed add more. 
3. Kneading the dough is highly important to make soft bread. For kneading the dough, you can use either the dough machine or simply your hands. In this recipe, i have used my hands for kneading and it still yields perfect bread loaf. So don't worry if you don't have a dough kneading machine, still you can make this bread without any compromise in taste and texture :-)
4. Make sure to mix the sugar in the flour before adding the yeast in the flour. Sugar helps to grow the yeast and makes the dough proof. Instead of sugar, you can also use honey.
5. Make sure to use the lukewarm water to make the dough. It helps to activate the yeast fast.

That's it ! Now let's check how to make this incredibly delicious white bread.

White Bread | White Sandwich Bread

Preparation Time : 2 hrs | Cooking Time : 40 mins | Serves : 2 
Recipe Category: Bread | Recipe Cuisine: English
White Bread, White Sandwich Bread White Bread, the good old fashioned bread made without any preservatives.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients

All purpose flour - 3 cups

Sugar - 1 tbsp

Salt - 1 tsp

Instant yeast - 2 tsp

Water - 1 to 1&1/4 cups

Melted Butter - 2 tbsp + 1 tsp

Procedure

In a large bowl, measure and add the flour(don't press the flour while measuring ), next add the sugar and salt. Mix it well with the flour.

Then add the yeast, mix it well with the flour and make a well in the center of the flour.

Add the water(make sure that the water is lukewarm) and butter(2 tbsp). 

Mix it all together with the spatula. Once it all comes together as a single mass, transfer the dough into the counter top.

Start kneading the dough with the kneel of your palm , fold and then knead. Repeat the same for about 10 mins. After 10 mins, you can able to stretch the dough thinly without tearing and see through it. It's called window pane test and the dough should pass it or else knead little more.

Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl and then apply a little bit of melted butter on top of the dough.  Cover the bowl with a lid and set it aside in a warm place for about 50 mins to 1 hr.

After 1 hr, the dough should be doubled. Punch the dough to release the air and then transfer the dough on to the counter top. Roll the dough into a rectangle(8*12 approx) with a rolling pin.

Next start rolling the dough from one side to the other and then pinch the edges so that it sticks together.

Place the dough in a loaf pan and keep it aside for another 30-40 mins. In the meantime, preheat the oven @350 F.

Once the dough is proofed again into double. Apply a little bit of butter on the top and bake it in the preheated oven for 35-40 mins. After 40 mins, take the loaf pan from the oven and place it on a wire rack. 

Once the bread is cooled  down a bit. Cut into slice and enjoy a warm slice of  bread with bread. Yep! That's my way of treating myself for making the homemade bread :-)

Related:How to make Whole Wheat Bread

Notes:

• It stays well for 2-3 days at room temperature.
• You can also freeze this bread. It freezes well and tastes fresh once thawed.