Julia Child’s White Sandwich Bread
Julia Child’s White Sandwich Bread
AuthorJulie
Pour 1/2 cup of the water into a bowl (preferably that of a stand mixer) and stir in the yeast and sugar. Let sit for 5 minutes, until it dissolves- if you're not sure of its age, make sure it gets foamy. (If the yeast doesn't do anything, toss it out and buy fresh yeast.)
Add the rest of the water and about half of the flour. Stir until well blended. Add the rest of the flour, the salt and butter and stir with the dough hook (or by hand) until well combined and shaggy. Continue to knead (I let the dough hook go for about 8 minutes, poking it down once in awhile) until it's smooth and elastic. (You could do this by hand, too.) If you used the dough hook, turn the dough out onto the countertop and knead a few times to make sure it's evenly smooth. Doesn't it feel great?
Shape it into a ball and put it back into the bowl. Cover with a tea towel and let it sit for 1 - 1 1/2 hours, until it's doubled in size.
Butter two 9x5-inch loaf pans, or line them with parchment. Punch the dough down (love that part!) and pat each piece into a rectangle that's about 9x12 inches - or a bit bigger than a standard piece of paper.
Starting at a short end, fold it in thirds, like a letter. Place seam side down in the loaf pans, tucking the ends in. Cover with the tea towel again and leave them for an hour, until they puff right up out of the pan. As it rises, preheat the oven to 375°F, with the rack in the middle of the oven.
If you like, brush the tops of the loaves with milk before baking. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until the loaves are honey brown. Immediately turn the loaves out of their pans and onto a rack to cool.
Ingredients
Directions
Pour 1/2 cup of the water into a bowl (preferably that of a stand mixer) and stir in the yeast and sugar. Let sit for 5 minutes, until it dissolves- if you're not sure of its age, make sure it gets foamy. (If the yeast doesn't do anything, toss it out and buy fresh yeast.)
Add the rest of the water and about half of the flour. Stir until well blended. Add the rest of the flour, the salt and butter and stir with the dough hook (or by hand) until well combined and shaggy. Continue to knead (I let the dough hook go for about 8 minutes, poking it down once in awhile) until it's smooth and elastic. (You could do this by hand, too.) If you used the dough hook, turn the dough out onto the countertop and knead a few times to make sure it's evenly smooth. Doesn't it feel great?
Shape it into a ball and put it back into the bowl. Cover with a tea towel and let it sit for 1 - 1 1/2 hours, until it's doubled in size.
Butter two 9x5-inch loaf pans, or line them with parchment. Punch the dough down (love that part!) and pat each piece into a rectangle that's about 9x12 inches - or a bit bigger than a standard piece of paper.
Starting at a short end, fold it in thirds, like a letter. Place seam side down in the loaf pans, tucking the ends in. Cover with the tea towel again and leave them for an hour, until they puff right up out of the pan. As it rises, preheat the oven to 375°F, with the rack in the middle of the oven.
If you like, brush the tops of the loaves with milk before baking. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until the loaves are honey brown. Immediately turn the loaves out of their pans and onto a rack to cool.
I’ve been using this recipe for some time now and to this day it’s still the best ever! I make my bread by hand, at home, one loaf at a time. On the 12th of March I tried to video my bread making style. I remember back when first wanting to make bread how mysterious the process was to me and how reluctant I was to try. This is why I would like to share my video for those that need a nudge to get in there and bake! I’m a man, mediocre cook at best so when I make this bread the feeling of accomplishment is immeasurable. Thank you Julie for sharing the recipe! This is my youtube video link https://youtu.be/ey2cU_Z6pWw
So great to hear it!
Julie, this looks really good! I think I need to make these for myself and the kids. Love this idea!
Thank you very much! I like this bread! Wonderful combination of ingredients. It look so yummy!
Ok – My review: This is slightly different than my original ‘JC White Bread’ recipe, which calls for 7 cups of either AP or bread flour, but that little difference is almost not worth mentioning. However, I did try this one… and Loved it. I think the Crust is outstanding.. the Crumb is even better; softer in the middle than most recipes I’ve tried, which I like… and my breads wins top prize whenever I enter them in competition.
I’ve tried the King Arthur white bread recipe many times and liked it. It’s a good method – but not GREAT. This one is GREAT. So I’m going to highly recommend this to anyone willing to test themselves… and try something new. It’s definitely a keeper, and my new go-to white bread recipe. Thanks Julie.
Yay, so glad to hear it! It’s my go-to too. 🙂
Thanks Julie for this amazing recipe. Making this recipe for over a year now and its a big hit with the family. They refuse to eat store bought bread. No matter if I am busy or not feeling well have to get the 2 loaves done over the weekend!!!!! 😉
Just wondering if I can try the same proportions of ingredients (for one loaf) and make this in bread maker?
I think some people have told me they’ve done this!
Awesome!!! Going to try this. Thanks again for this great recipe 🙂
You’ve mentioned that you’ve added puréed white beans to this recipe for extra protein. Can you explain how to do that? Thanks.
Here you go! https://www.dinnerwithjulie.com/2014/03/19/white-bean-white-bread/
I am curious about how to Incorporate the pureed beans as well. Thanks!
Here’s the link! https://www.dinnerwithjulie.com/2014/03/19/white-bean-white-bread/
This was my first successful bread recipe. Making a batch right now. Thanks Julie and Julia!
Hi Julie. My dough tends to be very sticky inspite of 6 1/2 cups of flour. I can’t seem to knead it without it sticking all over the place despite a floured surface. We do live in Asia where it is hotter. Does that have anything to do with it? Or should I be adjusting the flour with more? Would appreciate your inputs. Thanks!
Hmm… the climate should have little effect.. and yes, the dough should be very sticky! Not so much that you have to scrape it off your hands, but it will swell and smooth out as it rests. Have you tried rising and baking it, even when it’s sticky?
Yes I actually have tried it twice even when it is sticky. It still rises well but it is just pretty hard to roll… And I kinda really need to scrape it off my hands. Do you suggest I add a little bit more flour or will that change the consistency of the whole bread?
Best recipe I have tried thus far, and I have tried many. I had to leave the loaves a few minutes longer (using a regular non-convection oven)than the recipe calls. Will keep it in my recipe binder to pass on to the family!!!
Since you’ve share this it’s now our go to for home made bread.
Perfect every time!
Thanks!!
Been using this recipe for years-thanks so much for sharing! Everyone loves it- I’ve even added raisins/cinnamon or cheese/chives to change things up. Do you think I could freeze the baked, cooled loaves and then reheat again in the oven when ready to serve?
Absolutely!
Thank you for this recipe, it’s a big hit with the family.
Do you have a Whole Wheat bread recipe?
So if I wanted this to be fresh in the morning, would I do the first rise in the fridge overnight, then shape it and let it rise an hour at room temp then bake it?
Yes, that should work!
do you have a gf alternative that is amazing?
Sadly no.. gluten free is tricky!
No video?
I recently bought a bread machine and each time I bake bread according to a new recipe. According to your recipe, the bread was baked on the weekend, thanks, it is very tasty!
We recently made this bread. It turned out really well, but noticeably salty – we used table salt, which may have been an error. If we’d used kosher salt instead, especially of the relatively low-density crystal variety, we think it would have been perfect.
I just made this and it is beautiful and delicious. My question is, have you ever substituted oil for the butter? In normal times it would not matter, but butter is a little more difficult to come by these days.
Now I use this recipe every time my children ask for a sandwich. They no longer accept bread sold in the store. Honestly, I am also used to eating sandwiches only with this bread. I also like that bread always turns out delicious. Thanks for the recipe, thanks to him I am a great baker!
It really is the best, isn’t it?? years ago my son started referring to it as his “favourite bread”!
Can I use sourdough starter in this recipe? If so, how much and no yeast?
Thank you!
I haven’t made this one with sourdough starter – if you do, just look at the ratio of starter to flour in other recipes you make and gauge it that way!
The dough was extremely sticky with so much water to only 6½ cups of flour. Should I use less water? Thanks.
I have no idea when you’ll check this, but the first time I made this bread recipe, It came out perfect. I’ve tried to make it twice this past week and both times I’ve failed. During the 8 minutes in the mixer, it never got to the point where it never climbed up the the hook. I tried to mix it longer and that didn’t work. This time I mixed it almost 12 minutes starting out on speed one and only going up to 4. Nothing changed. Does anyone now what I’m doing wrong. What I find so frustrating is that the very first time I made this bread, it looked exactly like the picture on this blog. Same flour, same mixer, same everything. HELP! Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
That’s so strange!! did you change your bag of flour??
I made this bread two weekends ago and am about to do so again because this is the BEST white bread recipe I’ve made thus far. It’s perfect for toast and sandwiches. Thanks so much for sharing it!
I am searching high and low for the original source of this recipe. I’ve found her pain de mie but that’s different than this. Do you know?