Julia Child’s White Sandwich Bread
Today I baked bread. It wasn’t planned, I just did. My inspiration? Not wanting to go out to the store. After 2 weeks of the plague, this being the third weekend, I’m the only one the flu is still clinging to. And with very little voice and a sore throat, I wasn’t in the mood to brave Sunday shoppers, or even take off my PJ pants to run to the bakery. But I really wanted bread. White bread. Good white bread. Anything grainy seemed too ambitious to chew, swallow and digest. I was berating myself for not stirring up a batch of no-knead bread yesterday, but flinched at the thought of its thick, crusty exterior anyway. And then it occurred to me while making coffee – If I’m going to be around the house all day, why not just stir up some old-fashioned white bread dough? Like people used to do when corner stores weren’t open 24 hours a day?
More importantly, it occurred to me that W will never ever remember one of us running to the store to pick up a bag of bread. But he will remember coming home from the dog park to a house filled with the smell of baking bread on a Sunday afternoon. There really is no comfort like it.
This loaf? Nailed it on the first try. It seems wordy at first, but is the sort of thing you can make once, and then every other time after that it could not be simpler. I can imagine easily scattering it with cinnamon or cheese before folding and tucking it into the loaf pans. (They’re just 4″x8″ pans, available anywhere that sells baking pans – and often at garage sales or Value Village for about a dollar.) If you’ve ever wanted to try your hand at a traditional loaf – give this one a go. I plopped everything in my stand mixer and let the dough hook do the work, then brought it out and kneaded it myself a few times, just for good measure, and because it felt so nice and smooth. If you do this, don’t flour the countertop – it should be nice and tacky, but won’t stick to the counter. Promise. Some people dump on the flour for extra insurance, but then your dough absorbs too much and can be heavy and dry. All these measurements were perfect. The resulting loaf has a divine crumb and golden, soft crust. Perfect for kids, or grown-ups with sore throats.
Also? It means we have bread for the week. (Or the next few days, anyway.) Homemade bread that’s perfect for sandwiches and toast in the morning.
Your yeast should get foamy – if it doesn’t, toss it.
Mix in half the flour. Just like making paper mache paste.
Then add the rest of the flour and the salt – it needs a buffer so it doesn’t kill the yeast.
Add some soft butter too. It’ll look shaggy.
Then cellulite-y. It needs to be nice and smooth. Don’t worry about it being sticky at this point – you want it to be tacky.
Let the dough hook – or your hands – go until it’s smooth and elastic. Knead it a few times on the countertop if you did it in the mixer – and don’t add any more flour (unless it’s really too wet).
Put the ball of dough back in the bowl (no need to wash it out and oil it – in fact I find the dough harder to work with when it’s all oily) and cover with a tea towel.
Walk away. Forget about it for an hour or so.
Divide the dough in half and pat each piece into a rectangle a bit bigger than a standard piece of paper. No need to be exact here.
Fold it in thirds like a letter, then place seam-side down in the pan, tucking in the ends. Not sure why Julia does it this way, but I can’t argue with the shape of that loaf.
Cover with the tea towel again and leave for another hour or so.
And then bake. Really, it’s not a whole lot of effort, all told. Especially for the reward of two beautiful, freshly baked loaves, that probably cost under a dollar to make.
This may just be my new Sunday thang.
Julia Child’s White Sandwich Bread
2 1/2 cups warm water
1 Tbsp. active dry yeast
1 Tbsp. sugar
7 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup butter, softenedPour 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, unit foamy. (If the yeast doesn’t do anything, toss it out and buy fresh yeast.)
Add the rest of the water and 3 1/2 cups 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 4″x8″ loaf pans. Punch the dough down (love that part!) and pat each piece into a rectangle that’s about 9″x12″ – 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.
Preheat the oven to 375°F and put the rack in the middle of the oven. 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.
Makes 2 loaves.
March 04 2012 09:19 pm | bread
voula martin on 04 Mar 2012 at 10:36 pm #
As I read this,drooling, I wonder why store bought white bread is the nutritional devil but homemade white bread is angelic… And then I decided who cares and got up to make some
. Thanks for the inspiration, as always, and feel better soon!
suchalab on 04 Mar 2012 at 10:54 pm #
Oh my goodness, this looks so good I can smell it! Worth a try for sure.
Mardi@eatlivetravelwrite. on 05 Mar 2012 at 4:26 am #
I made this for Tuesdays with Dorie last month and was stunned that I managed it on my first go. Normally yearted breads and I do not get along at all. Hope the lurgy leaves your house once and for all SOON. Hugs xo
Mardi@eatlivetravelwrite. on 05 Mar 2012 at 4:26 am #
Gah. That would be YEASTED breads. Clearly not enough coffee going on over here!
Jennifer @ Loving Bytes on 05 Mar 2012 at 7:50 am #
I’m going to make this right now. My son had the flu all weekend and I’m bracing myself for the fact that it might cycle through our family of 5! Will be good to have some fresh bread either way!
Kelly on 05 Mar 2012 at 8:38 am #
I LOVE making homemade bread, but have yet to find “the” recipe worth making more than once. I will give this a try today.
Thanks!!
Suzy on 05 Mar 2012 at 9:39 am #
This is my favorite white bread recipe…so simple and yet so delicious!
Gemma on 05 Mar 2012 at 11:25 am #
I am going to make this today. My kids are going to love me when they come home from school to warm, homemade bread dripping with honey!
Jacqueline on 05 Mar 2012 at 12:47 pm #
Those loaves are so lovely, I wish I had a “scratch and sniff” computer screen! You’ve convinced me that I can do this, will give it a go later. Thanks Julie and hope you feel better soon!
Barb on 05 Mar 2012 at 6:19 pm #
I can smell the bread, too! Glad you’re feeling better.
Elizabeth on 05 Mar 2012 at 6:22 pm #
Oh, how I wish I could eat that bread (no gluten allowed)…….
Lisa on 05 Mar 2012 at 7:15 pm #
That looks lovely! One of my favourite quotes about making bread comes from Elizabeth David (in my case, via a 1977 Bernard Clayton book called “The Big Book of Breads”, which my mother owns, and I found for $2 at a Servant Anonymous book sale – score!)
“This is basic guidance to those who have already reached the conclusion that it is pretty ludicrous to spend three days planning menus to include shrimp-filled avocados, filet of beef in puff pastry, and no end of palaver over the grinding and percolation of coffee, if they cannot offer their guests a decent piece of bread.”
I love the retro-ness of the menu, but the solidity of the advice about a decent piece of bread.
Melissa on 06 Mar 2012 at 5:11 am #
That looks similar to the America’s Test Kitchen version, which I love but haven’t made since I started teaching this year. Do you have any tips on how to keep it fresh? With just 2 of us in the house, it’s hard to finish and seems like such a waste to throw away a stale half-loaf.
Ruth on 06 Mar 2012 at 12:08 pm #
Melissa, I love slicing homemade bread (once it has cooled) and then freezing it. Then I steal a few slices at a time for toast or sandwiches. Otherwise the bread gets stale by the time our two person household gets them eaten!
JulieVR on 06 Mar 2012 at 12:13 pm #
Melissa and Ruth – I was going to say the same! Bread freezes beautifully – and it’s easy to grab a slice if you slice it beforehand.
Ashley on 06 Mar 2012 at 1:47 pm #
This looks amazing!
Amy on 06 Mar 2012 at 9:04 pm #
Looks like something I must make! Do you think it would work to sub the white flour with whole wheat flour? Hope you feel better soon!
Katie on 06 Mar 2012 at 11:28 pm #
Your loaves look so beautiful! I’ve got this bookmarked to try.
Laurie from Burnaby on 07 Mar 2012 at 11:56 am #
I slice up the whole loaf while it’s fresh and freeze two slices at a time. I take it out a few minutes before I need it and let it thaw. Really fresh bread for a long time.
Char on 11 Mar 2012 at 5:55 pm #
My 2 loaves are in the oven right now – minutes from finished. I did one with Chinese 5-spice powder (ran out of cinnamon) & dried cranberries – smells delicious so far. Thanks for posting the recipe – I love baking bread but need the inspiration to remind me to do it.
17: Bake Bread « Daisy Sewing on 11 Mar 2012 at 7:57 pm #
[...] made this recipe from the blog Dinner With Julie. Actually, I made it twice because at first I was worried [...]
Rebekah on 13 Mar 2012 at 5:50 pm #
My roommates and I are enjoying this with jam right now. It turned out great!
moorni on 15 Mar 2012 at 9:42 am #
really good recipe and easy! I made it last week and used it for sandwiches all last week with the kids. they loved it. I also substituted a few cups of regular flour with whole wheat and it still turned out great. Thanks for the recipe!
Courtney on 18 Mar 2012 at 5:15 pm #
Made this this morning, and it turned out beautifully! I have a question for you Julie – we’re not big white bread eaters in my house ( although I am pretty sure this loaf will disappear pretty quickly!). I would like to try this recipe with WW flour – are there any adjustments I should make? Thanks!
Sosae Caetano — new bread on 19 Mar 2012 at 2:16 am #
[...] was so motivated by the first bread I ever baked, that I tried a new recipe today: Julia Child’s White Sandwich Bread. Oh. Wow. It is so yummy. In fact, my mouth, my tummy, and my soul are [...]
Melanie on 24 Mar 2012 at 3:27 pm #
Okay, so I have never baked bread before. Which is surprising if you know who my mom is. I forgot the salt, and I now know that my stand mixer is a piece of crap with a bowl that is too small and not enough power! Considering the not perfect conditions, it still turned out great! I will definitely make it again, and I think next time I may add some herbs to the flower to give it a little more flavour. It seems like a pretty forgiving recipe.
Thanks so much for sharing, and for the photos so I knew I was not crazy when the bread looked shaggy.
Yellow Suitcase Studio on 04 Apr 2012 at 7:14 am #
Thanks for sharing! I made this yesterday and shared it on my blog!
http://yellowsuitcasestudio.blogspot.com/2012/04/julia-childs-white-sandwich.html
Sosae Caetano — sunday morning on 15 Apr 2012 at 4:46 pm #
[...] like it right out of the oven, sliced thick and smeared with butter. (Please try this recipe – you will love [...]
Vicky on 20 Apr 2012 at 2:56 pm #
I was looking for some nice bread to go with Jamie Oliver’s Lamb shoulder with rosemary and garlic… this is it. Looks easy to make and delicious. One loaf is going straight to the freezer though.
Thank you for sharing!