Yummy Sandwich Bread

I've been experimenting with bread-baking for the past several months. After much tweaking, here is my favorite sandwich bread recipe. It makes two loaves. I freeze one; two loaves last us about 7-10 days.

2 cups water
4 1/2 teaspoons yeast
1/2 cup milk
10 teaspoons sugar (or 1 teaspoon and 3 tablespoons)
2 teaspoons salt
3 cups bread flour
1/4 cup wheat gluten (you can find it above whole wheat flour in the grocery store)
3 cups whole wheat flour




To get started, warm up the water just a little bit, till it feels slightly warm (I use cold tap water, microwaved about 25 seconds). You don't want it too hot or it will kill the yeast and your bread won't rise. Dump the water into your mixing bowl. Add the yeast and stir. It will look like brown water:



Then add the milk, salt, and sugar, mix a little more. Then add the bread flour. Mix till most of the flour is mixed in. Then add the wheat gluten, and finally the wheat flour. Now knead the dough for about 5-8 minutes, till all the flour is mixed in and the dough is somewhat smooth.



Cover the dough with a towel, put it someplace warm (or at least out of a draft), and let it rise for about an hour, till doubled in size. It should look like this:



Punch the dough down. Then take it out of the bowl, and use a serrated knife to cut it in half.



Roll each half into a semi-rectangle shape. Don't overwork the dough; it doesn't have to be perfect. Use a little flour if your dough sticks.



Roll up the dough into a log and put it into a greased 9x5 bread pan, seam side down.



Let the loaves rise for another hour or so, till the dough tops the bread pan by about an inch.



Bake at 400 for 30 minutes. Immediately remove from pan and let cool on rack. After cool, wrap one loaf in aluminum foil and freeze if desired.



See, bread-making is not that hard, after all! Don't be intimidated by it - give it a try! Experiment and see what works for you. Sometimes I add a little melted butter (3 or 4 tablespoons) when I add the milk, or a few teaspoons of flax seed. You can make it with all white flour if you prefer. If you use wheat flour, you do need the wheat gluten, or your loaf will be very dense. You could also substitute honey for the sugar. You don't have to have a mixer, kneading by hand is not that hard. Just put it on a floured surface and have at it (form the dough into a ball, push down and out in the center, then fold the dough back over, turn 1/4 of a turn, and do it again - just do a google search for how-to videos). One last tip - I am not picky about ingredient brands except yeast. Use Fleischmann's. I tried store brands and they did not work near as well. Have fun with it!