Simple French Sandwich Bread
It has been quite some time since I shared a new sandwich bread recipe! I love making bread. I would say it is the origin story for my passion of making food from scratch. I learned how to bake bread years ago when we first moved to Iowa. I thought that it was an art only reserved for professional bakers, and that it would be impossible to ever be able to make a decent loaf at home. How wrong I was! I grew up in the suburbs and the only baking I did was drop cookies, so I had absolutely no knowledge of bread making. Sometimes I am honestly shocked at how far I have come in the last decade!
I hope that if anyone who reads this feels similar, that they know that you can make bread at home that is absolutely delicious (more delicious than anything you could buy at the store) and you do not need special equipment to make it.
what is french bread?
French bread is often the name for any bread that is made with white wheat flour and has a strong, crunchy or chewy crust. I do not doubt that Americans have turned “French” bread into all sorts of shapes and different ideas than what is actually considered a French bread in other parts of the world. There are loaves of French bread cut into sandwich slices sold at every grocery store here in the states, but it is not a baguette nor a boule. It’s simply just white bread.
This loaf is basically that. Though there is no sugar involved, like a real French bread, and it does have a nice crusty crust. It only had four ingredients: flour, yeast, salt, and water. It’s a super easy beginner loaf that you will be able to bake up and eat in about 2 hours!
the method:
As promised at the beginning of this post, you do not need fancy equipment to make this bread. In my recipe, I recommend using a standing electric mixer with a dough hook. This is my preferred bread making method because it’s fast and efficient, but you could easily bring this loaf together with just your hands and a wooden spoon.
The dough should be kneaded until it is smooth and stretchy. If the dough is too dense, or it feels floury and heavy and not stretchy/elastic, then it will most likely not rise. This is often what happens for a first time bread baker. Go easy on the flour and really study how the dough feels. The final product should be soft, sticky, and stretchy. It should not feel soupy nor cling to your fingers and stick all over the palms of your hands.
The rising time for this loaf is about 1 hour and 30 minutes. It rises pretty quickly, so keep an eye on it. The dough is fully proved when you make an indent with your finger and the indent does not bounce back.
Even with only four ingredients, this bread has a lot of flavor! If this is your first time making bread, I think you will be pleasantly surprise with how easy this is and how much you will be blown away by the taste. If this is your 500th time making bread, I hope that this is a nice quick and easy recipe that you can store in your recipe book. I often make this bread or my Super Easy Italian Bread for a weekly loaf that we use for sandwiches and alongside supper.
xoxo Kayla
Simple French Sandwich Bread
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups warm water
- 1 tbsp active dry yeast
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
Instructions
- In a standing electric mixer fitted with a dough hook, whisk together the water and yeast. Allow the yeast to bloom, or grow and become bubbly, about 5 to 8 minutes. Then, whisk in the salt.
- Begin to incorporate the flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until a soft dough forms that no longer clings to the sides of the bowl. It should pull away from the bowl but still be soft and elastic, about 8 minutes total.
- Grease a medium bowl. Shape the dough into a ball and place it into the prepared bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a damp kitchen towel and let it rise until doubled about 30 to 45 minutes.
- Gently deflate the dough with your hands. Then place it onto a lightly floured surface and press it flat into a 9 x 12-inch rectangle. From the shorter end of the rectangle, roll up the dough into a loaf shape, like a jelly roll. Pinch the seam and ends closed.
- Grease a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan. Set the loaf into the pan, seam side down, and cover again. Let it rise until nearly doubled, about 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 375° F. Bake the bread for about 35 to 40 minutes, or until it is lightly golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped upon with your fingertips. Let the bread rest in the pan for about 10 minutes. Then, move it to a wire cooling rack to finish cooling completely before slicing, about 1 hour.
