No-Knead Sandwich Bread

This is the simplest and best tasting recipe for “everyday” bread that I’ve tried. The recipe was developed by Paige Grandjean for Real Simple Magazine. I’m not normally a fan of RS, but I trust Paige’s recipes from Food & Wine (where she’s the associate editor), so I gave it a try. And, to be honest, she had me at, “Think brioche meets your everyday sandwich bread.” I’ve made it many times and have played with the flours - substituting some of the bread flour with rye flour, whole wheat, einkorn, and spelt, to change up the flavor and texture of the bread. (If you’re keen to experiment, I recommend no more than 1 cup of a substitute flour for this recipe.)

ingredients

• 3 ⅓ cups bread flour, plus more for work surface

• 1 ½ cups whole milk, at room temperature

• 2 ½ tablespoons granulated sugar

• 1 ½ teaspoons active dry yeast (from 1 ¼-oz. envelope)

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, divided

• 1 ¾ teaspoon kosher salt

• Cooking spray or oil

• Flaky sea salt like Maldon, optional

directions

1. Stir together flour, milk, sugar, yeast, and 5 tablespoons of melted butter in a large bowl. Stir with a wooden spoon until no dry spots remain. Cover the bowl with a clean dish towel and let stand for 20 minutes. Add salt and stir until dough is sticky and elastic about 2 minutes. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and transfer to the refrigerator; chill for 8 hours or overnight.

2. Lightly coat an 8½-by-4½-inch loaf pan with cooking spray. Turn chilled dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Using lightly floured hands, shape dough into a rough oval. (Dough may be difficult to shape.) Fold short ends of the oval in toward the center, pressing gently to seal. Working in the same direction as the previous fold, fold the dough in half over itself, pressing gently to seal and form an 8-inch-long log.

   Transfer dough, seam side down, to the prepared loaf pan, gently encouraging it into the pan. Cover loosely with plastic wrap that has been lightly coated with cooking spray. Let rest in a warm place (like the top of the refrigerator) until the dough has risen just over the lip of the pan, about 2 hours. During the final 30 minutes of resting, preheat the oven to 375°F with an oven rack in the lower third.

3. Bake until bread is golden brown and a thermometer inserted in center of loaf registers 200°F, 40 to 45 minutes, tenting with aluminum foil after 30 minutes if bread is browning too quickly. Invert loaf onto a wire rack; turn right-side up and brush top with remaining 1 tablespoon melted butter. Sprinkle with flaky sea salt if so desired. Let cool completely before slicing.

yield

One loaf.