This super Soft Sandwich Bread Recipe is the perfect thing for homemade sandwiches. It is very easy to make without a bread maker and it is a family favorite. Our toddler loves it for homemade uncrustables.
Make-ahead
Beginner-friendly
You’ll Learn: How to turn pantry staples into delicious bread without a bread maker
Worth It: It builds a freezer stash for stress-free meals later
Bonus: Kid-approved and freezer-friendly
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Made with simple ingredients – you only need 7 simple ingredients to make this fluffy sandwich bread. Just grab all purpose flour, water, yeast, honey, butter, milk and salt.
- You don’t need a bread maker – bake your loaf in a standard loaf pan. No need for a fancy bread machine!
- Perfectly soft – Thanks to the milk, butter and honey this bread turns out super soft and moist. It is the perfect thing for peanut butter sandwiches or french toast.
- Great for kids – This soft, tender and slightly sweet bread is ideal for kids.
Serving Suggestions
Obviously this bread was made for sandwiches. We love to make our toddler some homemade uncrustables with peanut butter and strawberry jam.
My all time favorite sandwich is a BLT and this bread is perfect for a thick and delicious BLT. I love to use baked bacon because it gets perfectly crispy every time. I also like to make a turkey sandwich with lots of this homemade honey mustard sauce.
You can also use this homemade sandwich bread to make fantastic french toast. These air fryer french toast sticks are perfect for meal prep.
Ingredients
- All purpose flour – I like to use all purpose flour for this bread, but if you prefer you can use a bread flour.
- Active dry yeast – I like to cook with active dry yeast, but it does need to be bloomed in warm water before adding the dry ingredients.
- Whole milk – warm whole milk makes the bread a bit softer and richer than using just all water.
- Melted butter – a little bit of fat from the melted butter helps make the bread soft and moist.
- Honey – this adds just a subtle touch of sweetness to the bread.
- Kosher salt – be sure to use enough salt so that the bread has flavor.
Ingredient substitutions
Like I said, you can use bread flour, but I do not recommend using whole wheat flour. It will be too dry and dense.
You can use instant yeast in place of the active dry yeast. Instant yeast does not need time to bloom. Use himalayan pink salt or sea salt in place of the kosher salt, but do not use iodized table salt.
Feel free to use granulated sugar in place of the honey to slightly sweeten the loaf of bread. Be sure that the sugar is fully dissolved in the warm wet ingredients before adding the flour and salt.
You can replace the melted butter with olive oil, but it will result in a fairly different taste.
Tips and Tricks
- If your home is particularly cold you may want to have the dough rise in a warm place. This can be in a sunny spot or in the oven with the power off and the oven light on. On the other hand, if your house is very warm this will speed up the rise time.
- If you are new to bread making, use a glass bowl so you can watch the dough rise up the sides of the bowl and make sure that it doubles in size. You may want to move the dough from the bowl of a stand mixer to a large glass bowl.
- Be sure not to use too much flour when you are shaping the dough into a loaf. Use just enough so that your hands do not stick to the dough.
- Knead the dough in the stand mixer at a low speed. If you knead the dough too quickly you can harm your mixer and make the dough too tough.
- If you worry that your bread will stick to the loaf pan, line it with parchment paper instead of greasing it with oil
How to make
Step 1: Prepare dough and proof
Before you start, I find this recipe is much easier to make using a dough hook attachment on a stand mixer to knead, but you can knead by hand if you don’t have a mixer.
Add warm water, warm milk, honey, melted butter and yeast to a large mixing bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer (Image 1). Mix wet ingredients together and let them sit for 5 minutes for the yeast to bloom. In the meantime, mix the salt and all purpose flour together.
Pour flour and salt into the bowl and either mix with a wooden spoon until a shaggy dough forms or place on the stand mixer and mix with the dough hook on speed 2 for 5 minutes.
After 5 minutes a smooth dough should remain (Image 2). If you are kneading by hand, turn shaggy dough out onto a floured surfaced and knead by hand until a smooth dough remains – this will take at least 5-8 minutes.
Leave the dough in a mixing bowl and cover with plastic wrap or a damp towel. Let it proof until it doubles in size. The first rise should take anywhere from 1 hour to 2 hours depending on how warm your kitchen is.
Step 2: Shape loaf and proof again
When the dough has double in size (Image 3), punch in down and turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Spread dough out on the work surface into a large rectangle that is about 12×16 inches (Image 4). Fold into a thinner rectangle and roll up into a log that is about the length of your loaf pan.
Then, place dough into an oiled bread pan, cover and proof again for about another hour (Image 5). During the second rise you want the dough to rise up over the top of the loaf pan (Image 6).
Step 3: Bake loaf
Preheat the oven to 350F when the loaf is almost done its second proof. Bake the loaf for 30-35 minutes. The top should be golden brown and the internal temperature should be at least 190F.
Allow the loaf to cool in the loaf pan for about 20 minutes before carefully removing from the pan and allowing it to finish cooling completely on a wire cooling rack. Do not cut into the bread until completely cooled for best texture.
Storage and freezing
This soft sandwich bread is made without an preservatives so it will go bad faster than store-bought bread. Store bread in an airtight container in the refrigerator to keep it fresh. Store in the fridge for up to 7 days
You can freeze this bread. I like to slice first and then freeze for up to 3 months in a freezer safe bag.
Check out these other homemade bread recipes
You can find the full recipe below. If you make this recipe, please rate and review it in the comments, or share it with me on Instagram!
You can find the full recipe below. If you make this recipe, please rate and review it in the comments, or share it with me on Instagram!
Email Recipe for Later
Recipe
Soft Sandwich Bread Recipe
Ingredients
- 240 g warm water
- 60 g warm whole milk
- 2 tbsp honey (44g)
- 4 tbsp melted butter (47g)
- 2 tsp active dry yeast (8g)
- 480 g all purpose flour or bread flour
- 2 tsp kosher salt (7g)
Instructions
- Add warm water, warm milk, honey, melted butter and yeast to a large mixing bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer. ***I find this recipe is much easier to make using a dough hook on a stand mixer to knead, but you can knead by hand if you don’t have a mixer
- Mix wet ingredients together and let them sit for 5 minutes for the yeast to bloom. In the meantime, mix the salt and all purpose flour together.
- Pour flour and salt into the bowl and either mix with a wooden spoon until a shaggy dough forms or place on the stand mixer and mix with the dough hook on speed 2 for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes a smooth dough should remain. If you are kneading by hand, turn shaggy dough out onto a floured surfaced and knead by hand until a smooth dough remains – this will take at least 5-8 minutes.
- Leave the dough in a mixing bowl and cover with plastic wrap or a damp towel. Let it proof until it doubles in size. This will take anywhere from 1 hour to 2 hours depending on how warm your kitchen is.
- When the dough has double in size, punch in down and turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Spread dough into a large rectangle that is about 12×16 inches. Fold into a thinner rectangle and roll up into a log that is about the length of your loaf pan.
- Place dough into an oiled loaf pan, cover and proof again for about another hour – you want the dough to rise up over the top of the loaf pan.
- Preheat the oven to 350F when the loaf is almost done its second proof. Bake the loaf for 30-35 minutes. The top should be golden brown and the internal temperature should be at least 190F.
- Allow the loaf to cool in the loaf pan for about 20 minutes before carefully removing from the pan and allowing it to finish cooling completely on a wire rack. Do not cut into the bread until completely cooled for best texture.
Recipe Notes
- Store bread in an airtight container in the refrigerator to keep it fresh – store in the fridge for up to 7 days
- You can freeze this bread – I like to slice first and then freeze for up to 3 months in a freezer safe bag.
Nutrition Information
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.
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