Here’s a not so well kept secret: I love me some bread.

Like, really love it.

So much so in fact, that I started making it homemade bread every single week! I know. But there’s far less effort involved than you might think. It also helps that a majority of the work is done by my KitchenAid. I can’t say I would be doing this if I had to knead by hand! Sorry foremothers, that’s one vintage skill I’m going to skip over.

Now, I’m not going to say that I’m a genius, (I want you to say it, obvs.) but I think I make some pretty good bread. But after a while, making the same recipe over and over gets a little dull. So I went online and found this recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction and decided to modify it to fit my bread preferences (my breadferences, if you will). Admittedly, I was a little worried about how this whole ‘going rogue on a popular recipe’ situation was going to turn out. But it’s actually amazing! Am I biased? Oh absolutely. I am not a world class baker by any means— But I AM a world class eater of delicious foods. So when I say it’s good, you bettabuhlieve it’s good. So if you’re looking for a simple sandwich bread recipe that a self-proclaimed dummy can make then you’re on the right blog post, friend!

So let’s get to it!

Ingredients

• 1 cup warm water (110 degrees)

• 1/4 cup warm milk (110 degrees)

• 2 tbsp sugar

• 2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast

• 1/4 cup shortening (or butter)

• 1 egg

• 1/2 tbsp salt

• 3-3 1/4 cups bread flour (I only needed 3, I like my dough a little sticky)

Instructions

1. Whisk together warm water, milk, yeast, and sugar in a small bowl & let bloom for 10 minutes

2. Mix in the shortening, egg, and salt & stir until combined

3. Stir in flour 1 cup at a time until dough begins to form

4. Knead by hand or in the stand mixer (use bread hook attachment) for 5-7 minutes or until the dough forms a smooth ball. (Try not to add more flour or else your bread will become chewy. Often when dough is “too sticky”, it really just needs to be kneaded a few minutes more.)

5. Place dough in a greased bowl & cover with a clean tea towel or linen napkin. Rise in a warm spot until doubled. (roughly an hour and a half in my kitchen, but yours might take up to two.)

6. Punch the dough down and knead for one minute on a lightly floured surface. Form a loaf, place in a greased loaf pan, and let rise for an additional hour or until the loaf rises 1” above the edge of the pan.

7. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and bake on the lower third rack for 30 minutes or until top is lightly browned and inside reaches 190 degrees. If it starts to brown too quickly, you can loosely cover the loaf with a piece of tin foil. I always place a piece of foil on top after 15 minutes. (You can even reuse the same piece to cover bread over and over again to limit waste!)

8. Let it cool completely (if you have the willpower) & slice. If you intend to use this for sandwich bread (we do!) you’ll need to let it cool for around 2 hours before slicing in order to get that nice sandwich bread texture. (Fun fact: the bread actually keeps “cooking” on the counter once it’s out of the oven!) I promise that if you let it fully cool for 2 hours or even overnight (wrapped loosely in a clean tea towel), your loaf will have that nice chewy-yet-airy sandwich bread texture you crave!

9. Once cooled completely, store in an airtight container in your breadbox for 3 days or in the freezer for 3 months. Pro tip: Wrap up any bread you aren't going to eat within the next 2 days and freeze it in 2 slice portions. That way when you’re rushed making lunch in the morning, you don’t have to mess with an entire loaf of frozen bread! You can just toss them in the toaster on defrost real quick and make your sammie or slap some butter and jam on there.