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Soft White Bread Pan Loaf (Sandwich Loaf)

Jump to Ingredients – Jump to Method – Jump to Printable Version

storage tipI make bread (a triple batch) around once every month or two. I usually make whole wheat bread, but sometimes I make white bread as a treat, or because I intend to use it for a specific recipe. White bread can be very simple. A fantastic pan loaf can be made with simply flour, water, and yeast. Since I do not make it often,  however, when I do make it, I like to make more than just basic white bread. This is still a simple bread recipe. It is just a bit enhanced to create an amazing tasting, soft, and fluffy loaf of bread. Store bought white bread, that tastes like air and smells like pretty much nothing, is no comparison. This bread can be used for anything you would typically use store bought white bread for. Even fussy bread eaters who only want wonder bread will likely love it. It is simply scrumptious!

The recipe for the dough for this bread can be found here. Please follow that entire recipe, and once the dough has risen, as it did at the end of that recipe, you can come back here and use this guide to finish the job. If you made the full triple batch of dough, then you can make as many as three of these loaves, but if you made only a third of that recipe, or if you are doing something else with the rest of the dough you will obviously only make one loaf. It is totally up to you. Today I am making two pan loaves and a tray of “bread muffins”, basically just little rolls cooked in a muffin tray.

 -Ingredients-

approximately 1.5 pounds Soft White Bread Dough

Again, the recipe for the bread dough can be found here. You will be ready to begin this portion of the recipe when all steps in that guide are complete. In the picture you can see that I am cutting the whole triple batch of dough into three roughly equal pieces. These will be somewhere close to 1.5 pounds and that is good enough. It does not have to be perfect.

cut dough into 3 pieces

melted Butter

For coating pans and, if desired, the loaves. Preferably unsalted butter. It does not have to be a tablespoon like in the picture. Just use as much or as little as you need

1 tbsp unsalted butter

-Method-

You will now shape about 1.5 pounds worth of dough into a loaf. In the picture below you can see the dough directly after it had been cut from a larger mound of dough. See the structure of the dough? See the skin? Keep this in mind when shaping the loaf. You want a smooth, unbroken skin all along the surface of your shaped loaf.

example of skin on doughThere are many ways you can form a pan loaf. This is only one way and you can feel free to use a different method if you prefer. I have a few different methods that I switch between. There are few things in the world that are as fun to play with as bread dough, so just enjoy the experience of shaping the loaf, and however you end up doing it, the rest of the process is the same.

So, for this method, you first want to flatten and degas the dough, since it has just finished rising. You want to push out all those large air bubbles. Don’t be afraid to be a little rough with the dough. If you want you can even use a roller to help ring out some air. This is optional. Try to form the dough into a rough oval or rectangle shape while pressing it. If it looks absolutely nothing like these shapes it is OK. In that case simply degas it completely and fold all edges into the center, knead it a couple times, round it off, and give it a five minute bench rest. Then you will have a nice round mound of dough that you can again, flatten, and you will be able to form an easy oval with it.

flatten and degass dough for pan loafFold one end into the center of the dough and press it down. Pinch the edges of this flap into the dough beneath it.

fold one long end into centerFold in the other side and press and pinch it down as before.

fold in other sideNow fold the top of the dough  (the edge farthest from you) about a third of the way down the rest of the dough and press in the edges once again.

roll half of dough into loaf shapeRoll the remaining dough up over the top of the loaf and press the edges in.

roll up other side to form loafFlip the loaf so that the seam is on the bottom and pinch the edges down a bit. Be gentle and try not to tear the skin of the dough.

flip loaf over and tuck in endsButter an 8×4 loaf pan and place the loaf inside. It should be just about a perfect fit. You want the edges to touch the sides all around the pan or at least come very close. You may choose to brush the loaf lightly with butter at this point, or not. Since I am baking two loaves today, I will brush one with butter and not the other, so at the end of this article you can see the difference.

place loaf into butterd pan and brush with butterNow the dough must rise. You can simply drape a damp cloth over the pan and leave it on the counter top to rise, or you can cover it loosely with plastic wrap, or leave it completely uncovered, though if you do this you will end up with craze lines all along the crust once it is finished baking, because the crust will have dried out a bit too much, but this is not a terrible thing. It is only a cosmetic problem, and some people like it. The main things to keep in mind for this step is to try to keep the skin of the dough from drying out (if you don’t want craze lines), don’t let the dough stick to anything (sometime it will stick to the damp cloth or plastic wrap. You will just have to develop a feel for it and learn how to avoid it), and the warmer the dough is, the faster it will rise, though a slow rise in a cool room is just fine. So whatever your style, set the dough aside to rise.

What I often do, is boil a bit of water, pour it into a pan in the oven (turned off but with the light on) and put the dough into the oven to rise. I do not cover the dough with any plastic or cloth and just let the gentle warmth of the oven and little bit of steam from the hot water keep the dough from drying out and aid in the rising.

pour boiling water into pan in oven
The dough is finished rising when it crests over the top of the pan two or three inches. With this method it typically only takes about 20 minutes, but it may take as long as an hour, depending on how you treat the dough during rising.
risen loafsThe best way to tell if the dough is ready is to press a finger into the dough. When you remove your finger the indentation should remain. If this happens the dough is definitely ready. If it fills back in when you move your finger it needs more time.

Do not worry about ruining the nice shape of the loaf by doing this. It will plump while baking and it will be like the indentation was never there.

press finger into doughfingerprint left in dough

Take all dough out of the oven and set it aside, as you preheat the oven to 375. I leave the water from my rising technique in there. Steam during baking is good for the crust. This is not required, but if you can get some hot water in the oven to steam your bread during the baking then do.

If you want to slash the loaf, now is a good time. Some people like to give their loaf a slash down the middle, or a few diagonal slashes, or some other design. This is totally optional and will not affect the rest of the process, so if this is your desire go ahead and slash the loaf. I typically do not slash pan loaves.

Bake the loaf for approximately 35 minutes. You will know it is finished when the crust is golden brown and when you take the bread out of the pan and tap the bottom and it sounds hollow. The bread should feel light weight. If you have a food thermometer you can be absolutely sure that it is ready by measuring the internal temperature. Anywhere from 194 to 205 degrees means that it is perfect. I like to get closer to 205.

205Take the loaf out of the pan right away. You may give the pan a minute to cool if you desire. Place the bread onto a cooling rack. It is releasing moisture and if you leave it in the pan or place it directly onto a surface the bottom may end up soggy.

Below you can see the difference between the buttered loaf and the unbuttered loaf. Can you guess which is which?

The only real difference between the two is that the buttered loaf looks a little more smooth and shiny, and the crust may be just a tad more tender. Sometimes I butter, and sometimes I don’t. It just depends on what I feel like doing at the time.

two loaves of bread

At first the whole loaf may feel like it is rock solid, but as soon it cools you will see that it softens greatly. The crust will have just a little bite to it but not enough to be tough or crunchy, if all went well. The bread itself should have a tight smooth,  uniform crumb. Ideally there should be no big air bubbles, but occasionally you will have them. No big deal. This is what will happen if you failed to degas the dough completely before shaping. You can also have gaps if you failed to pinch the ends down during shaping, or did not press everything together tightly.

I know that in the picture it looks like nothing more than mushroom shaped wonder bread. You may be wondering what the big deal is. Trust me this is something you just have to taste to understand how great it is.

You can slice the bread as soon as it has completely cooled. I find that it is easier to slice the next day, but naturally you’ll want little bit right away to enjoy it fresh. I usually just slice as needed and otherwise keep the loaves intact.

sliced bread

I always save the end of the bread when I slice it partially. If I am going to leave the bread out for a while I just cap the open loaf with the end of the bread and that keeps things reasonably covered. I leave it out for hours this way at times.

storage tipFor longer storage you do want to protect the bread a bit more, though. If I had a bread box I would just toss everything into there. Since I don’t I wrap the completely cooled bread in plastic, or foil, or just a plastic zipper bag.

Depending on the time of year the bread will last different amounts of time. I find that if it is not too hot or humid it will be pretty fresh for four to five days. If it is not ideal conditions it may start to become less than awesome at around three days.

I really need to get a bread box.

storing bread

-Printable Version-

 

SOFT WHITE BREAD PAN LOAF (SANDWICH LOAF)

Ingredients:

approximately 1.5 pounds Soft White Bread Dough

Melted Butter for brushing pans

 

Method:

1. Flatten and degas the dough

2. Form the dough into a loaf that will fit an 8×4 loaf pan.

3. Brush the loaf pan with butter and place the dough, seam side down in the pan.

4. Set it aside to rise for 20 minutes to an hour, or until the loaf crests over the pan 2 to 3 inches.

5. Preheat the oven to 375.

6. Bake the bread for about 35 minutes. It is done when the internal temperature reaches 194 to 205.

7. Remove the bread from the pans and allow it to cool on a rack.

8. Slice and serve once the loaf is cooled.

 

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  • Susan

    I just finished baking this bread and I must say it’s the best bread ever ?????? thank you
    Very much for a great Recipy
    Susan Amin
    Bellport NY

    • thecookinggeek

      I’m very happy to hear that, Susan! Thanks for the feedback!

      • Susan

        Do you have any Recipy for herb bread? Thank you

  • Guest

    thank you so much i have been baking bread now for about a month i was having problems with making my bread go nice and soft in the middle of the cooked bread i see what i was doing wrong now i was not getting all the air out of the dough

    • Cathy Lehman

      I hope you can help me with this question. I am making French bread; the recipe makes two loaves. In the past, if I put both pans in the oven at the same time, the bread tends to burn on the bottom edges because my oven is small and there is no space between the pans. Is it okay to punch down half the dough and let is rise again while the already formed loaf is rising? The recipe doesn’t say to let is rise twice, but will it make the bread weird in any way–like maybe coarse and heavy or holey? Thanks!

      • thecookinggeek

        Most doughs can handle an extra rise. What really matters is how lively your yeast is. If it is really fresh it should be able to do the extra rise but older and weaker yeast might fall flat during the extra rise. I do think the texture will be slightly different for the once risen and the twice risen loaf but i would expect both to be good.

        Another thing you can try is to rise the first loaf in a warm place and put the second one in the refrigerator to simply slow the rise. So rise the first one as quickly as possible and stunt the second one as much as you can and you may be able to rise both only once.

        Maybe you can also try baking on a lower heat to prevent scorching? Whatever you recipe says, brad baking temperature is variable, so maybe try playing around with that and see if you can manage both at once that way.

        The best thing to do is to just experiment and find what works best. I hope you work it out!

        • Cathy Lehman

          Experimenting is what I did, and it worked out great! I simply punched the 2nd half down and let it rise again. And here is a side note on yeast: did you know you can freeze it? I buy the big 2 lb. package at Costco and keep it in the freezer. I have used yeast that has been in the freezer for seven years, and it still works like new!

          • thecookinggeek

            Oh yes. I buy those big vacuum sealed bags at Costco too! I usually store about half in the freezer and half in a mason jar in the fridge until I need to break out the other half. Always fresh that way.

  • Eszrae

    I thank you so much i have been baking bread now for about a month i was having problems with making my bread go nice and soft in the middle of the cooked bread i see what i was doing wrong now i was not getting all the air out of the dough

    • thecookinggeek

      Yay! I am so glad that one of my tips helped you out! Thanks for the pictures too. Did you use a different recipe for those loaves?

      • Eszrae

        Yes I used two teaspoons of yeast two cups water and four cups flour and two teaspoons of salt and lot of mixed seeds

        • thecookinggeek

          That is a very easy recipe to remember haha!

  • Lou

    My bread pan is 16″ long–would that require more than this recipe for one loaf?

    • thecookinggeek

      16×4? This recipe is for a triple batch so for a pan that size i would use two thirds of the batch. Interesting pan. Seems like it is meant for a double the typical batch of bread. I might take a bit longer to bake. I can only guess how long so i recomend you use the temperature method. Once the center of the loaf is around 195 to 205 it is done.

  • Cassandra Fay

    Hello, can you please tell me at what stage is best to freeze the dough?, it would be great to be able to pull one out to thaw then cook when needed….Cheers!

    • thecookinggeek

      Form your loaves/buns/whatever and freeze immediately before the final rise. When you want to bake the bread, remove the dough from the freezer ahead of time to allow it to thaw and rise. If it is a large loaf, you may want to thaw it in the refrigerator to allow the outside of the loaf to rise more slowly as the interior thaws. It will likely take a few hours. Smaller buns can usually thaw at room temperature and rise in reasonable time.

      It can be harder to judge how long it will take for your dough to rise and thaw sufficiently as there are a number of variables. It will just take a little trial and error to get the timing right. Be careful not to let it rise too much though or your bread will fall flat. At the same time, you want to try to make sure that the dough if fully thawed before baking.

  • Terri Ng

    Pretty awesome, 1st go and it came looking great from the outside… can’t wait for it to cool so I get a look in the inside and have a taste ! Many thanks :)

  • Laura

    My dough keeps falling when it is in the pan rise! I did the finger press and it was like popping a balloon! the other loaf was fine! The first time I accidentally forgot about the loafs…this time, it waiting until I touched it! ANy thoughts?!

    • thecookinggeek

      I cannot be totally sure. I have never had that problem. In Googling the issue it seems the most likely culprit of over proofing. Maybe you left it a little too long? Maybe your yeast is super active and it proofed faster than it should have? That is the best I can guess.

  • Kelly N Russ Smith

    Oh …my ….WORD!! My first attempt at making bread and I’d followed your I instructions exactly. I have two beautiful loaves and one pan of lovely pull-apart rolls…!!!
    You’re a GENIOUS!!!
    Thank you for sharing your recipes, tips and tricks! ???

  • Humphrey

    This is a great recipe, and a great step by step instruction on how to make home made bread. However, I would skip adding in the salt after the first rise, and just add it in at the beginning. I found that trying to add the salt to already prepared dough was difficult, and ruined the “skin” of the bread as well. It also did not rise as much as the second loaf I made where I added in the salt at the beginning. The yeast will not be compromised by saving yourself the hassle of trying to add salt to prepared dough, and will also be more evenly distributed by adding with the wet ingredients.

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