As a true French woman, I love my baguette, but white bread is a staple that is always useful to have. It makes great quick sandwiches, I love it also in the morning with jam when I don’t have brioche, and it is just so easy to make and store.
I love this recipe as it doesn’t take much time to make, is simple and gives great result.
What are the ingredients to make this white bread recipe?
Flour: I use unbleached bread flour.
Milk: whole milk to get all the good fat from it
Butter: use a good butter with as much fat content as possible. I usually try to get an 84% for all my recipes (not too important for this recipe, but very important when you do viennoiseries such as croissant)
Dry active yeast: we will let it rise with a bit of warm water (or milk) and a pinch of sugar to activate it
A bit of sugar and salt
Can I replace the dry yeast for sourdough?
Absolutely! If you make your own sourdough, you can use 60g of refreshed sourdough and 10g of fresh yeast.
If you want to use fresh yeast only, use 15g of it.
What type of utensils do I need?
You will need a stand mixer with the hook attachment to make this recipe. You can do it by hand, but it is easier and faster with a stand mixer. You will also need a cooling rack.
See my article about Must needed baking tools to see my recommendations for both.
You will also need a Pullman loaf pan with the cover. They are a bit expensive but worth the price. I only have 2 and use them all the time. They have them in small size and large size.
How to use white bread
You can use white bread to do so many things:
- Croque Monsieur / Madame is my favorite one. See recipe here
- Sandwiches
- Breakfast
- French Toast: beat eggs and milk with a bit of sugar. Dip a slice of bread in the mixture and cook it on a frying pan slightly greased for about 5 minutes
How to store White Bread
You can wrap you White Bread in a kitchen towel and keep it for 3 to 4 days at room temperature. You can also freeze it. Wait until it cools down completely before wrapping it in plastic wrap. Remove from freezer a day before.
I had never put bread in the fridge before leaving I the US. In France, the bread tends to become hard and then we use it to make French toast, or we give it to chickens. In the US however, I noticed my bread gets mold easily. If this is your case too, you can definitely store your bread in the fridge to avoid getting mold on it.
Important note
Make sure the bread doesn’t rise too much in the loaf pan. If it touches the lid even before baking, with the action of the heat (when baking) it will completely overflow from the pan. Keep it a good centimeter minimum (1/4 inch) away from the lid before baking.
Remove your loaf from the loaf pan as soon as you take it out of the oven and let cool down completely on a wire rack. The humidity from the bread will evaporate. If you keep it in the pan, the bread will keep all the humidity, the texture will be affected, and it will go moldy quickly.
White Bread
Ingredients
- 475 g bread flour
- 300 g whole milk
- 100 g butter
- 5 g dry yeast or 15g fresh one
- 75 g water
- 15 g sugar
- 10 g salt
Instructions
- Dissolve the yeast in warm water (about half a cup, from the 75g) and a pinch of sugar. Let sit for 5 minutes.
- In the bowl of your mixer, add all ingredients except for the butter. Using the hook, knead for 5 minutes, first speed, then 4 minutes second speed. The dough should now be soft and form a ball around the hook. Add the butter (room temperature, soft) and knead on first speed until well incorporated (about 4 to 5 minutes).
- Cover your bowl with a kitchen towel and let rise for 1h30 in a warm place. Every thirty minutes, remove air from dough.
- Place the dough on a lightly floured surface. Gently press the air out, roll into a ball and then gently roll to have the same length as your loaf pan.
- Place the dough, seam down, in your loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Close with the lid (also spray the lid with cooking spray) and let rise 45 minutes (check the dough, it shouldn’t touch the lid, you need about ¼ inch clearance).
- Preheat your oven to 200C (392 F). Bake for about 35 minutes. Remove from loaf pan and let cool down on a wire rack.
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