Fresh Milled Flour Sandwich Bread
Soft, tender sandwich bread made with 100% fresh milled flour. This kitchen-tested yeast bread recipe delivers a loaf that slices beautifully and holds up in a sandwich.
Ingredients
- 425 g water, cold or room temperature, (plus more, if needed) *see notes
- 50 g (1/4 cup) oil
- 80 g (1/4 cup) honey
- 10 g (2 tsp) lemon juice or apple cider vinegar
- 12 g (2 tsp) fine sea salt (see notes)
- 630 g freshly milled flour, about 3 1/3 cups of wheat berries
- 5 g (2 tsp) lecithin (or 1 egg)
- 10 g (1 Tbsp) instant yeast
Instructions
- In bowl of stand mixer (or large bowl if doing entirely by hand) combine water, oil, honey, lemon juice or vinegar, and salt. Stir to combine.
- Add lecithin to flour and lightly mix with fingers, breaking up any lumps.
- Add the flour to water mixture and mix (with hands, mixer or preferred implement) until flour is completely moistened. Cover and allow to rest for at least 20 minutes and up to 2 hours. I typically rest for one hour.
- Sprinkle yeast on top of the dough and knead until smooth and elastic. The dough will start as a shaggy mass, then gradually come together into a smooth mass that cleans the sides of the bowl. If needed, add more flour or water so the dough is moist and tacky, not wet or dry. Confirm it's ready with a windowpane test: pull off a small piece and stretch it between your fingers, if it's thin enough to see light through without tearing, it's ready.
- Once the dough is done kneading, it's time for bulk rise. I often let it rise in the same mixer bowl. If you want to see exactly how dough is rising, you can transfer it to a straight-sided container. Oil the container lightly before adding the dough.
- Allow to rise until it's almost double and gently domed. For me, it takes about 40-45 minutes but the time will be different depending on your ambient temperature. The cooler your home is, the slower it will rise and vice versa.
- Gently deflate the dough to remove large gas bubbles. Divide in half. To shape each portion into a loaf, pat and press the dough into a rectangle slightly narrower than your pan, then roll it up tightly, like a jelly roll. Place seam-side down in a greased loaf pan. NOTE: If dough keeps shrinking back as you try to press it out, it needs a rest. Form dough into a ball, cover and let rest a few minutes before trying again.
- Cover loosely with plastic wrap and allow to rise until almost doubled in size. If using 9x4 pullman pans, the dough will just about reach the top of the pan.
- Slash the top of the dough right before placing in the oven. Slashing is optional but recommended as it helps to avoid the crust tearing during the bake.
- Bake in preheated 350°F oven for 30-32 minutes or until it reaches 195-200°F at center.
- Remove from oven and immediately remove bread from pans and set on cooling tray. Allow to cool completely before slicing.
Notes
Water:
For softer bread, you can use milk for some of the water. I have been using about a third (120g) whole milk and the rest (305g) cold water.
How much salt?
I typically use either a fine sea salt or kosher salt. If using sea salt, it's about 2 teaspoons but if using kosher salt, the amount is quite different. Because of this, I strongly recommend weighing your salt for the most accurate measurement.
Can I bake in a different size pan?
This recipe makes about 2.7 lbs (1,208g) of dough total, which I divide into two loaves of about 604g each for my 9x4 pans. I like the tall, square shape so I specifically sized my recipe to fit these pans.
You could use 9x5 pans but the recipe as written makes an amount short of what's needed for 2 full 9x5 pans. I did try it and it worked fine but the loaves were a bit shorter than I would want. You have a few options:
- Option 1: Use 1 9 x 5 and 1 8x4 pan. Divide the dough using around 680g for the 9x5 pan and the remainder for the 8x4 pan.
- Option 2: Use 2 8x4 pans (around 454g each) and make a few rolls with the remainder.
- Option 3: Scale up the recipe by about 15% to better fit 2 full 9 x 5.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!