White sandwich bread – nothing beats this bread for BLTs, grilled cheese or a classic PB&J. It’s no wonder this bread is a staple in America. I was taught how to make this bread by my mother – this is her recipe. We made this together when I was a wee lad using a large copper bowl and mixing everything by hand. We didn’t have a stand mixer then but boy does that help me now. You can certainly mix this by hand but I recommend a stand mixer and a dough hook to get it ultra smooth and silky.
My white sandwich bread uses scalded milk – just like my mother and her mother used for great bread. Now some folks think this is no longer required. There are many reasons to scald milk, some may no longer apply today, however I think some do; such as the denaturing of protein and the breaking down of lactose sugars.(Biochemistry. Reginald H. Garrett, Charles M. Grisham.) Here is a Wikipedia article on scalded milk.
This bread also uses room temperature butter. Remember to follow food safety around room temperature ingredients. Also instant dry yeast is not sensitive to salt so need to worry about salt exposure killing it. I do not recommend using active dry yeast.
Making this bread always brings me back to my childhood. With great memories of cold winter days having grilled cheese and tomato soup to French toast Sunday mornings, this bread brings me comfort. I hope it does for you too.
