In this Instructable, I'll show you how to make bread you can use for sandwiches. I got this recipe from a baker who actually sells this bread in his shop.

This dough is pretty sticky at the beginning. If your not used to handle it don't add loads of flour, you'll ruin everything. Proceed lightly with the help of your bench scraper. Try using slightly less water in the recipe next time and when you're confortable with it, you'll be able to add more water.

Step 1: Ingredients and Tools

Ingredients (for 2 loaves)

500g plain white cake flour (it's important you don't use strong bread flour)
9g of salt (1.8%)
25g of sugar (5%)
25g of egg (1/2 of a beaten egg, you can save the rest of something else or bake 4 loaves - 5%)
15g of sunflower oil (3%)
15g of fresh yeast (about 6-8g of dry yeast - 3%)
260g of water at room temperature (52%)
20g of unsalted butter (+some for the cake tin - 4%)

That will make 869g of dough so 2 loaves of 434g each. You can adapt this recipe with the percentage of each ingredient, based on the amount of flour.

Material

I use a food mixer but you can also knead by hand
Cake tin
Bench scraper
Temperature probe

Step 2: Kneading

In you bowl, combine all the ingredients except butter.

Start kneading with the hook at speed 1 for 4 minutes. If you knead by hand, 5 to 6 minutes is OK.

Set you mixer at speed 2. After 1 minute of kneading, add half of the butter. After another minute, put the rest in in. About half way, stop the mixer, scrape everything from the bottom of the bowl and from the hook, that'll ensure you everything is mixed thoroughly. Mix during 6-7minutes. By hand, keep going for 8-10 minutes.

By the end of your kneading time, you'll get a rather sticky dough (don't worry and don't add flour).

Step 3: Bulk Fermentation

Pour the dough on a lightly floured table. With the help of a bench sraper, fold the dough 4 times over itself, it's going to give it some strengh so it can hold itself together. Try to add as little flour as possible and manipulate lightly with your fingertips and you'll succeed.

Lighly flour a bowl and, allway with your benchscraper, transfer the dough in it, stitch underneath.

Add a little bit of flour over your dough. At this point, the face siding up should be non sticky with a silky feeling.

Cover the dough with a plastig bag or a wet towel so it won't dry.

Wait 30 minutes at room temperature (21°C) until your dough begins to rise. You might need to adapt this timing depending of the room temperature.

Step 4: Pre-Shaping

With the help of a scraper, empty the bowl on a lightly floured table.

It's now time to divide the dough in 2 equal portions. You can weigh your portions of 434g each.

Between your hands, roll the dough to add some tension in the gluten and make a nice ball that holds itself together.

You really need the dough to stick a litlle bit on the table. Not enough flour and it will stick too much and too much flour and it's just going to slide and you'll do nothing to the strength. You can give a kind of scooping movement to build the structure you need.

Transfer the 2 balls on a lighlty floured tray, add some flour on top and cover again with your plastic bag or wet towel. Let the dough stretch for 10 minutes.

Step 5: Final Shaping

Since I only have 1 cake tin, I transfer 1 ball in the fridge to stop the fermentation and proof/bake my second loaf later.

Shape the dough like a batard. On a lightly floured surface, transfer the dough and press it down to an oval shape.

From the right if you're right-handed, fold and press (stitch) 1/3 of the dough all the way along.

Turn around your shape 180° and fold over your stitch.

Proceed again without turning around this time to enclose your stiches.

Roll your batard a little bit to give it a nice pointy shape and transfer to your greased cake tin, stitch underneath, for the final proofing.

You can add seeds at this point if you feel like it.

Put some seeds in a baking dish. You can use whatever you feel like (sunflower, poppy, sesame...). Brush your batard with water and place the wet side on the seeds. This way, they'll stick nicely.

You can also freeze your batard before the final proofing if you want to cook your bread later.

Step 6: Final Proof

The final proof takes 45 minutes at 30°C.

In order to have a proper fermentation environement, I use my oven.

I put the bread in its tin in the oven. I turn it on and once it reaches 29°C on the probe and turn the oven off (don't forget!).

If you want to use a frozen batard, the night before, put your loaf in a tin overnight in your oven turned off (12 hours). It should slowly be ready to be cooked the following morning.

Step 7: Baking and Drying

After 45 minutes of proofing, take your loaf out of the oven and preheat at 210°C.

When it's hot, transfer the loaf in its tin for 25 minutes.

If you want to make sure your loaf is cooked properly, insert your probe inside the bread. The temperature should reach 95°C. Otherwise, you may use a knife, the blade should come out dry.

After the cooking time, open the door of the oven and continue cooking for 3 minutes, this will dry the bread and give it a nice crust that holds itself nicely for sandwiches.

As soon as you take your bread out of the oven, transfer the loaf on a cooling rack for at least 30 minutes (2-3h is best), so the moisture gets out of the crust but stay inside the bread.

After the long waiting, you can cut slices to make awesome sandwiches.

Introduction: Sandwich Bread (bakery Recipe)