Tender White Bread
This recipe for white bread dough makes excellent dinner rolls and hamburger buns or can be formed into two loaves for tender white sandwich bread. The dough can be mixed and kneaded in less than 15 minutes, but you’ll need to be able to come back to the dough in 1 1/2 to 2 hours to shape it and then again in 60 to 90 minutes to bake it, so it helps to schedule this into your day
Ingredients
Instructions
Into the bowl of a stand mixer, measure the flour, salt, sugar, and yeast. Stir together these dry ingredients.
In a 2 cup glass measuring cup, heat the butter in a microwave until almost completely melted. Stir with a fork to melt the last bits of solid butter. Add the egg and combine the butter and the egg together with a fork. Pour the egg and butter mixture into the dry ingredients.
In the same 2 cup measuring glass, heat the 1 1/2 cups of milk or buttermilk in a microwave until it’s at room temperature or just tepid. Do not make it too hot or it will kill the yeast. Add this warmed milk to the dry ingredients, butter and egg that are in bowl of the stand mixer and start to blend at medium speed with the dough hook.
Scrape down the bowl and continue to knead by mixing at low speed for 6 to 8 minutes or until the dough become glossy and smooth. If the dough is sticking to the sides of the bowl, add additional flour a couple of Tablespoons at a time. The dough should stick slightly to the bottom of the bowl under the dough hook. If you stick your finger into the dough, it will feel tacky, but will release from your finger when you remove it.
Scrape the dough into a ball at the bottom of the bowl and cover with plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel. Set a timer for 1 1/2 hours.
When the timer goes off, check that the dough has doubled in size. If it has not, set a timer for an additional 30 minutes.
When the dough has doubled in size and has completed this initial fermentation, equally divide it into the number of desired pieces:
18 for dinner rolls
12 for hamburger buns
2 for sandwich loaves
Cover the pieces of dough with a clean kitchen towel or loosely with plastic wrap. Allow to rest for 20 minutes.
Prepare the pans:
For dinner rolls and hamburger buns: Fit a silicone baking mat or parchment paper onto a baking sheet.
For sandwich loaves, butter the bottom and sides of two 8 or 9 inch loaf pans.
Set aside.
Shape the dough into the desired forms and place on/in pans:
For dinner rolls, shape into round balls by stretching the dough across the top and pinching it together at the bottom of each ball. Place on a baking sheet an inch apart and evenly spaced for browner edges, or grouped closer together working from the middle of the pan out toward the edges for pull apart rolls.
For hamburger buns, shape the pieces into round balls by stretching the dough across the top and pinching the dough together at the bottom of each roll. Arrange the balls evenly on a baking sheet and flatten them into hamburger buns by pressing down on the top of each bun.
For sandwich break, flatten the balls or boules into a rectangle whose length is just shorter than the length of your loaf pan, then roll the dough into a loaf and place seam side down into the pan.
Loosely cover the prepared pans of bread with the same kitchen towel or plastic wrap. Proof until doubled in size, 60 to 90 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
If desired, you make brush the hamburger buns with an egg wash (1 egg whisked with a dash of water) and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
Bake until the bread is evenly browned, 12 to 15 minutes for rolls and buns, or 35 to 40 minutes for sandwich loaves.
Remove from the pans and allow to cool on a cooling rack before serving.
