During my year of bread baking I was on the look-out for a top-notch sandwich bread. The Engineer takes his lunch to work; he always takes a sandwich. Every week day since December 1984 makes for a whole lot of sandwiches. For a long time I have fought his love of deli meats due to my concern about his intake of nitrates. During the past year I have been reading about the chemicals added to store bought bread as well. At this point I look at his Tupperware sandwich container and see a ticking time bomb.
I found two options that made a nice bread that can hold up in a sandwich without being dry or too chewy. The first recipe is found at Deep Dish South, named amusingly Amish Bread for the KitchenAid. I don’t know many folks in the Amish community personally, but I am fairly sure they aren’t big proponents of the KitchenAid. Amish or not, the bread is good.
The second recipe is one my sister-in-law, Renee, gave me nearly fifteen years ago. There is a note that the basic recipe can be used to make many “family favorites”.
Renee’s White Bread
5 to 6 cups all purpose flour
3 Tablespoons sugar
2 Teaspoons salt
2 packages active dry yeast
2 cups water
1/4 cup oil
1 Tablespoon butter, melted
In large bowl, combine 2 cups four, sugar, salt and yeast. Blend.
Heat water and oil to 120-130 degrees. Add warm liquid to dry mix. Blend at low speed, then beat 3 minutes on medium. Stir in 2 1/2 to 3 cups of flour by hand until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
On a floured surface, knead in an additional 1/2 to 1 cup of flour for about five minutes, making a smooth, elastic dough. Grease a bowl and put dough in covering with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel. Put in a warm spot to rise until doubled in size, 45 to 60 minutes.
Grease two loaf pans. Punch down dough to remove air bubbles. Divide and shape dough into two loaves. Let rise in greased pans for thirty minutes.
Preheat oven to 375. Bake 40 to 50 minutes until loaves sound hollow when tapped. Remove from pans, brush with butter and allow to cool on wire racks.
