I’ve been baking bread for over 25 years. During that time I’ve experimented with different flour, yeast, oil, butter, and sweeteners. I’ve baked bread with whole milk, skim milk, powdered milk, and water.

I’ve kneaded the dough by hand, in a Kitchenaid stand mixer, and even with a breadmaker. I started by following “the rules” of breadmaking. Now I just do my own thing. And guess what? By combining a few different tricks and old recipes I managed to come up with my own favorite bread recipe. So here it is – Sarita’s frugal homemade sandwich bread recipe.

Frugal Homemade Sandwich Bread Recipe

Frugal Homemade Sandwich Bread Recipe

Yield: 2 loaves

Prep Time: 2 hours

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 2 hours 30 minutes

This frugal homemade sandwich bread recipe makes two loaves of sliceable, freezable, tasty sandwich bread

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Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups of hot tap water
• 4 1/2 teaspoons traditional yeast
• 2 1/2 tablespoons of honey
• 1/4 cup room-temperature butter
• 5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 rounded teaspoon salt

Instructions

1. Pour water into a large bowl (or bowl of Kitchenaid Stand Mixer)
2. Add yeast
3. Add honey
4. Mix yeast and honey gently with water
5. Let yeast-honey-water mixture sit for 10 minutes
6. Add butter
7. Add 2 cups of white flour
8. Add salt
9. Use a large wooden spoon OR set mixer on low and gradually mix in flour
10. Gradually add one to two cups of flour until the dough is too hard to mix with the spoon OR starts forming a ball in the bowl of your stand mixer
11. Turn dough out onto a floured surface
12. Using your hands, gradually work in additional flour until the dough isn't sticky
13. Knead the dough by hand until smooth - approximately four to five minutes
14. Form into one large dough ball
15. Place the large dough ball into a large, greased bowl (I use butter to grease it) and turn the ball so it's coated on all sides
16. Cover bowl with a clean tea towel and set in a cold oven to rise for one hour or until the dough has almost doubled in size
17. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and punch down gently to remove all the air. Shape the dough into two loaves and place into two greased loaf pans
18. Cover loaf pans with a tea towel and return to cold oven to rise for about 40 minutes
19. Remove the loaf pans to counter
20. Heat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit, then place loaf pans in the oven
21. Immediately increase heat to 425
22. Bake for 23 minutes or until loaves sound hollow when you tap them
23. Cool in loaf pans on rack for 5 minutes
24. Remove from loaf pans and cool on wire rack

Enjoy!

Nutrition Information

Yield 30 Serving Size 1
Amount Per Serving Calories 118Total Fat 2gSaturated Fat 1gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 1gCholesterol 4mgSodium 84mgCarbohydrates 22gFiber 1gSugar 2gProtein 3g

Tips for Sarita’s Frugal Homemade Sandwich Bread Recipe

I like using a combination of whole-wheat and white all-purpose flour in this recipe for a couple of reasons. One, my family likes the flavor the whole wheat flour brings. Two, because whole wheat flour is a little heavier than the white all-purpose flour, the bread doesn’t rise quite as high as a totally white flour loaf would. So it’s easier for slicing for sandwiches, making the loaf a little more dense and better for keeping cold cuts and veggies in place.

When it comes to sweeteners and fats in bread, this homemade frugal sandwich bread recipe is pretty forgiving regarding substitutions. I’ve made this bread with three tablespoons of white sugar, and also with three tablespoons of brown sugar instead of honey. If you like the dark, rich flavor of molasses I think you could probably substitute 2 1/2 tablespoons instead of the honey with good results.

If you prefer to avoid using butter, try a lightly flavored vegetable oil like canola oil. For a flakier crust and a more Italian-style flavor, use olive oil.

Finally, to make this recipe your own, experiment with adding dried herbs to the dough – especially if you plan on serving this homemade bread with soup or stew. Try rosemary, oregano, parsley or basil.

Happy baking!

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