We got a breadmaker as a wedding gift. A few weeks ago now, we busted it out of the box and gave it a whirl. The first loaf I attempted was a disaster (it rose so much that it was pushing out the top of the breadmaker!), and I had to stop it in the middle of the cycle and trash it.
The second loaf was OK, but it wasn’t the best bread.
And then I found this recipe from Dinner with the Bickfords. I decided to give it a try, and I’m really glad I did. It is really good bread!
When I made it on Sunday, we used it to make really good turkey sandwiches for dinner (turkey with honey mustard, cheddar cheese, and thin slices of granny smith apple). It is perfect for sandwiches. Michael has been making his PB&J lunch sandwiches on it all week. Now it’s gone… I have to make another loaf tomorrow!
Breadmaker Wheat Bread
Ingredients:
1 1/3 cups warm water (about 110 degrees)
1/3 cup olive oil (do not substitute with vegetable oil–use olive oil!)
2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (if you wish to make white bread, substitute this for bread flour)
2 1/2 cups bread flour
‘2 tbsp. and 2 tsp. white sugar
3 tsp. yeast (I used one of the packets)
Directions:
NOTE: This recipe is best suited for a 2 lb. breadmaker.
In the breadmaker pan, combine water, oil, and salt.
Add the flour on top of the liquids. Pour sugar into one corner of the breadmaker pan. Make a well (a dent) in the center of the flour and pour the yeast into it.
Set the breadmaker for a “basic” loaf (and I used the “light” crust setting), and press start. Walk away… in three hours, you’ll have delicious fresh bread!
41 Responses to Best Breadmaker Sandwich Bread
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About
I'm Heather. I'm 33 and have been married to Michael for seven years. Together, we have two beautiful little girls we love more than anything, and a miniature dachshund who drives us crazy. I'm a full-time working mom who has very little time for my own "stuff" these days, like home improvement, cooking/baking, cake decorating, and photography. Despite the team not making the playoffs since 1999, I'm STILL a Buffalo Bills fan, which I think speaks to my loyalty AND sense of humor. I can't wait to pick up the pace with travel again some day... you know, when we're done being ruled by tiny fists. Welcome to my blog.
You were right about this being some good sandwich bread. I have jhad very little success finding something that would cut well, then be able to be toasted.
Thanks so much for labeling it in your blog so well. It was the number 2 result for my search in google.
My husband and I have been trying to find the perfect bread recipe for a while now. This is by far the best breadmaker sandwich bread I’ve ever had! We have stopped buying bread at the grocery store, and instead make two loaves of this per week. Thank you!
I can’t figure out how to ask Heather a question in private. It is not crazy just a worldview sort of thing. Any suggestions?
Thank you so much for this recipe! Finally a loaf of bread that is not dense. Light and delicious.
Hi everyone – I love this recipe – thank you! Just wanted you to know that I accidentally had to vary the ingredients slightly and the difference was amazing!!! Instead of olive oil I had to use Safflower oil – the difference in the rise of the bread AND the moisture was astounding.
Tried this recipe and love, love, loved it! I’ve got a 6 year old son who lives to make fresh bread each day and this has quickly become his favorite sandwich bread. Thanks so much for sharing.
Yep, this is it! I have been trying a new bread recipe every day for about a month, in search of THE ONE. Most of them I have chucked out and what we have eaten we have not enjoyed and eagerly awaited the next attempt. THIS is the one that we will use from now on! Great bread!! THANKS!
How do you store this bread? I usually put mine in a ziploc bag on the counter, but was wondering if anyone tried keeping it in the refrigerator to ease cutting?
I do the same as you, just in a ziploc bag. I’ve never tried to put it in the refrigerator. I just use a nice serrated knife to cut it and don’t have many problems.
I only have a 1- 1.5 pound loaf breadmaker, a small one, will this be too big of a batch? I can’t find anything on how big your breadmaker is! Help!
same question as above… 1.5-lb or 2-lb loaf?
Hi Angie (and Lizzie), I’m sorry, but I don’t know how big my breadmaker is. I thought they came in a standard size. This is the one I have, and it doesn’t say anything about size. But maybe you know more than I do, and this info will help? Again, I apologize I don’t know more.
Heather, your Oster 5838 ExpressBake Breadmaker bakes up to a 2-pound horizontal loaf according to Amazon. I use a similar recipe with Whole Wheat flour in my older Hitachi 1.5 lb machine that has a vertical 7″ by 5 and 1/4 inch square Pan and I have never had the loaf expand over the top. It stops safely near the 3/4 mark. Whole wheat does NOT rise as much so you can use more flour in total than your normal all white Flour recipes. You should be safe, especially with your .2-pound Oster 5838. You may find that this loaf on your machine is 3/4 high as well only in a Horizontal form which makes better slicing for sandwich bread instead of vertical bread machines like mine.
I must say though after looking back at your baked loaf picture above and the sliced bread, it seems like your loaf is tall which might imply the narrow width sides makes the loaf rise taller than expected.
Heather, your link above does not work anymore as I believe it’s discontinued at Bed Bath and Beyond. I was able to find it on amazon though: http://bakingsmart.com/oster-expressbake-bread-machine-review/
This is the best recipe!
It’s doing it’s thing in the machine.. Hope it’s as great as the reviews. So far, all my ‘sandwich loaves’ have been coming out too dense. Great expectations!! :)
You might want to let people know this recipe is for a 2lb machine. My machine is smaller and now I have a mushroom topped loaf that won’t bake through. :( Next time, I will just make the dough in the machine and bake it separately. Thanks for the recipe!
Hi Samantha, sorry for the trouble the recipe gave you. I know very little about breadmakers and sizes, as you’ll see from the previous comments before you. But yeah, it sounds like I have a 2 lb. breadmaker, so I’ve never had any problems with any recipe being too big. It never crossed my mind, and wasn’t part of the original recipe or I would’ve included it here as well. Again, sorry that it didn’t turn out. I hope you’ll try it again knowing what you know now!
No problem Heather! I actually finished it up in the oven and, aside from the mushroom top (that i ate!), it was perfect!! Makes a great grilled cheese! :)
Yes! This is IT! I am new to bread making….this is my fourth loaf….I am wanting a healthier preservative free alternative to the store bought kind. I don’t eat alot of bread but my kids are at the PB&J stage. So……I was beginning to think this a daunting task after three prior loaves that were just average. I just cut into this loaf and it is wonderful! Perfect texture for sandwhiches, way better than the 3 prior loaves. I baked mine in the oven since I have already returned my bread machine (way too bulky and I couldn’t bear to give up my counter space to it). I kneaded by hand for 10 minutes after mixing the dough in my mixer with a dough hook. I let it rise until doubled in size. I baked it in a glass loaf pan for just under 40 minutes at 350 degrees with tented foil over the top for a large part of the baking so the crust would not get too hard. I did add 2 TBSP of powdered milk to the dry ingredients and 1 TBSP of raw honey. I used 1 packet of rapid rise yeast. I couldn’t help but notice as I was kneading this by hand that it felt very similar to a cinnamon roll dough I make because it is so elastic. I knew that was a good sign! Love Love Love! **As a side note it did mushroom at the top slightly and the very center could have been a little more done. I believe a slightly larger/longer pan will remedy this as I will be able to make the loaf a little less compact. Then I will have the perfect homemade sandwhich bread! There is no doubt this can be done in the oven with a little tweaking** Thanks for sharing :)
This bread turned out perfectly! I’ve been looking for a whole wheat bread machine recipe that would slice well for a while now. I’m thrilled. I only made a couple of substitutions. I don’t have bread flour so I used all purpose and I like multigrain flour instead of whole wheat so I used that. It came out absolutely perfectly.
Thank you!
This is probably a stupid question but what kin of yeast do you use?
I use Fleischmann’s yeast, in the packets!
I tried this recipe and my loaf fell after rising. Does anyone have any suggestions?
Good stuff! Thanks for the amazing recipe!
Hi, I really like this recipe, thanks for posting it. I made it several times and my husband prefered it with all white flour. He eats way more bread then I do, so I make it how he likes it. I have a cusinart 2 lb convection machine and it always grew too much and touch the top. I’ve played with the amounts and reduced the recipe to a 1.5 loaf. Hope this helps those with smaller machines. I also proof the yeast in water first.
Proof 2 1/4 tsp yeast in one cup warm water with 1 tbsp sugar.
Once proofed, pour in bread machine pan.
Add 1/4 cup olive oil
3 cups flour
1 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt.
This is very helpful. I’ll definitely be trying this modified version ASAP. I made the original recipe using all white flour = fantastic result!! Best bread yet. I have the same breadmaker (I got it for Xmas) and have been trying to find the perfect recipes for sandwich loaves-white/wholemeal.
I agree with your comments on this recipe for this particular machine -my bread was very tall.
I’d love to hear about the recipes you may have found that work really well for this machine, particularly if you know of a gluten free one too (my brother is coeliac)?
I also wasn’t aware that you could proof the yeast as you suggest, as this goes against the rules specified for the machine on ingredient placement ( as a true novice I have stuck to these rigidly so far).
Many thanks in advance!
Dani
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!! Perfection in a loaf! <3
I am very new to the Bread Machine worl, and only have bread flour right now. If I use only bread flour, do I use a total of 4 cups?
I’ve made white bread and white/wheat bread with this recipe and they both turned out great, soft, sliceable (I use my electric knife), flaky sandwich bread. I have to tall bread maker so I run it to the dough stage and take the dough out prior to the second rising. Because this makes such a big loaf, I cut my dough in half and use 2 greased loaf pans for the second rising and baking. I bake at 375 F. for 30 minutes. My SO loves it, as do I!
Sorry to say that this recipe was NOT good. Not only did it rise too big in my 2 lb bread machine and stick to the top, but it did not have a good flavor nor did it have the consistency for a sandwich bread. I absolutely love bread and am not picky, but I actually threw this loaf out because the flavor was not there.
I just wanted to thank you for this recipe – I’ve been trying dozens of recipes trying to get the right taste and consistency. I don’t like plain white bread and all of my whole wheat breads have been so dense and disgusting. This loaf was PERFECT. I have a Breville Custom Loaf machine and I used the basic bread with a light crust and 2lb setting. The only thing that was less than perfect was the fact that while mixing, bits of flour rose too high in my pan and crumbs accumulated at the bottom of the machine. Do you have the proportions for a smaller loaf?
I’m glad you liked it! I’m sorry, I don’t have the proportions for a smaller loaf. :(
This might be a dumb question but I’ve never used a bread machine before. Do I stir all of the ingredients together before turning the machine on or do I layer it like the directions say? Not sure if I should infer that I have to mix it together or do literally what the directions say and to just put ingredients on top of each other and start the machine. Thanks!
Hi! You don’t have to stir all of the ingredients. Just dump them in there according to the recipe and you’re good. The machine does all of the work for you!
[…] Original recipe can be found at: http://www.heatherdriveblog.com/2008/07/best-breadmaker-sandwich-bread.html […]
My first attempt at making bread failed. I was afraid I would have to go through this many times before finding one that works, but I stumbled upon this recipe and it is awesome! Thanks!
Just made this and wow! After two weeks of trying to find a wheat sandwich bread but only making dense and crumbly loaves, I am thrilled.
Can’t wait for breakfast tomorrow!
Hi Heather … I know this is an older post, but I just found it yesterday. I made the bread today – in my bread machine. It came out perfect and tasted yummy! Thank you for sharing it with us!
Just made this bread after trying for a very long time to find the perfect bread… IT WAS A HIT!! Everyone loves this bread! I sliced it thin for sandwiches also, but my husband says it seems a shame to just put a couple pieces of salami on that bread because it deserves so much more! and he has asked me to make another loaf tomorrow. Thank you so much for this recipe.. I am so happy. :)