white sandwich bread

This sandwich bread is much better than store-bought bread, and it has a wonderful flaky crust. It has a great flavor, and doesn't take much talent to make. I made this batch at the beginning of my bread adventure this summer, about two months ago, so I bet that if I made it now it would look even more like regular pain de mie. I'll update this if I make a new batch.

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FOR THE STARTER:

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups plus 2 1/2 Tbsp unbleached all-purpose flour (use King Arthur flour!)

1 3/4 cup water at room temperature

2 Tbsp plus 1 tsp honey

3/4 tsp active dry yeast

Directions

Combine ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon until very smooth. This will have the consistency of a thick batter.

FOR THE DOUGH

Ingredients

2 cups plus 3 Tbsp unbleached all-purpose flour (use King Arthur flour!)

1/4 cup dry milk

3/4 tsp active dry yeast

9 Tbsp melted unsalted butter

2 1/4 tsp salt

Directions

Whisk together the flour, dry milk, and yeast. Sprinkle this on top of the sponge and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Allow to ferment for 1-4 hours at room temperature.

Add the salt and butter to the bowl and mix with wooden spoon until all the flour is moistened. Knead the dough on counter without adding more flour until the dough is formed. It will be sticky.

Cover with bowl and let rest for 20 minutes.

Knead the door for another 5 minutes.

Put the dough in a bowl covered with plastic wrap and let the dough rise until doubled (1 1/2 to 2 hours).

Take the dough out, form a rectangle and fold in the business letter way. Set it back into the container to rise for another hour or two.

Take the dough out and cut in half. Shape each piece into a loaf

Place the loaves in oiled loaf pans (the dough should be 1/2 inch from the top of the pan).

Prehead the oven to 350 F (180 C) for 45 minutes.

Put the bread in the oven, toss a cup of water to create steam, and close the oven door quickly.

Let bake for 50 minutes or until medium-golden brown.

Take loaves out and let cool on a wire rack.

Optional: As soon as you take the bread out of the oven, glaze it with melted butter.

Recipe from R.L. Beranbaum's The Bread Bible