Bread is like a synonym for breakfast. There may be n number of choices to have in breakfast but bread tops the list since a long time now. I am sure you will agree with me.

There is hardly any house where you will not find bread and our house is no exception. My husband loves bread and butter toast is his favorite breakfast. Whatever is there in breakfast but it gets completed only after having at least one slice of bread.

With such a craze for bread, making homemade bread was obvious for me. I tried and after umpteen trials, I finally got success. Today, bread baking is as easy as making chapati only but the journey has not been easy at all.

Ever since I have started baking bread at home, there is no looking back. Homemade Bread is just out of the world. Nothing to beat the taste and aroma of homemade bread. Once you start making bread at home, no one in your family will like store-bought bread.

Though all varieties of bread are good having their respective taste and aroma but what about our age-old, traditional white sandwich bread. We have grown eating that bread only so how can we forget it so easily.

Once you have baked white sandwich bread then, of course, you can use it for multiple purposes. Some of the recipes I would recommend using this homemade sandwich bread are:

• Pinwheel Sandwich
• Coleslaw Sandwich
• Bread Pizza Without Cheese
• Curd Bread Toast

Using the same dough, you can make Ladi Pav or Pav Bunsas well. Everything remains the same except the shaping, A must try!

White Sandwich Bread for Beginners

And for beginners, it's good to try their hands first on this easy white bread recipe and once confident, should move slowly and gradually to whole wheat bread.

Before I move to the recipe, I want to share something with you all. Bread making is an art. An art that can be mastered only through practice and with proper understanding.

• Collect all the ingredients, refined flour, yeast, sugar/honey, salt, milk, lukewarm water, oil and butter.

B. Proof (Activate) Yeast

• First of all, take a big bowl and pour lukewarm water in it. Water should be lukewarm, in which you can dip your finger comfortably. Too hot water will kill the yeast and if not warm then the yeast will not activate.
• Add honey/brown sugar and yeast. Stir it very lightly. Cover it and let it stand for 10-15 minutes till it becomes frothy and bubbles appear. Sugar is the yeast of food, feeding on which it grows. Add any type of sugar you are comfortable with.

• While the yeast is getting ready, you also get ready with your preparations.
• Sift flour and salt. 
• Once the yeast is proofed, add milk and butter in it.

C. Knead Flour

• Start adding flour. Add flour in 3-4 batches. Add 1 cup flour, mix it with the yeast solution. Then another cup of flour, mix it, and finally the remaining flour.

• Mix it nicely. It will be very sticky at this stage. Some people use silicone/plastic scraper to manage the dough. I prefer doing it by hand only. 

• Gather the dough and toss it between your hands (like a ball) After 8-10 tosses, it will become manageable and will stop sticking to your hands.
• Now sprinkle a little flour on the kitchen counter, put the dough on it and start kneading using both your hands. Keep scraping in between. After few minutes, the dough will be smooth and shiny.

• Do the test for kneading. If poked a finger in the dough then it should bounce back.

• Grease a bowl, put the dough in it. Flip it so that both sides of the dough are properly greased. 

• Cover the bowl with a plastic sheet/damp cloth/lid.
• Keep the covered bowl in some warm place for an hour or so, till it gets doubled. Keep an eye on the dough and not on the clock as time may vary. I winters it may take up to 2 hours also.
• In winter, it is better to keep it inside your Otg or microwave oven, just switch on the light of these appliances also. 

• Once the dough is double, do the ripe test. Insert two fingers in the dough to see that the indentations remain and rebound slowly.

•  Now, deflate or knockdown or punch down the dough using your fist. Knead it lightly for a minute or so.

•  Sprinkle some dry flour on the kitchen counter, put the dough and spread it roughly into a rectangle using a rolling pin. Keep the width more or less equal to your loaf's length. Start rolling it from one end and shape it like a log. Seam the edges either using the side of your palm or doing the pinching motion. This is a very important step, so do it very carefully. If not satisfied then again spread it and repeat the process.

• Take the loaf tin of size 9" by 4" by 4". Grease it, not just the bottom but sides too up to the top, as the bread will rise above the rim.
• Keep the shaped dough into this loaf tin, taking care that the seam side goes into the bottom.

•  Cover the loaf tin with a damp cloth and again leave it for 20 to 25 minutes or till the dough rises up to the rim of the loaf tin.

• After 40 minutes or about 10 minutes prior to baking, preheat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius for 15 minutes.
• Slash the dough with a serrated knife and milk wash it. Slashing is done so that hot air is escaped through it and the bread does not tear while baking.

• For Milk wash: Take 1 tsp milk in a bowl, using a brush wipe the loaf with this milk.
• Bake for 40 to 45 minutes. Normally by now, the top gets golden and your house is filled with the aroma of freshly baked bread.

• Sorry, no skewer test for bread. To check whether it is done or not, tap on the top if it sounds hollow then done otherwise bake for some more time.
• Take it out of the oven, leave it for 4-5 minutes. Loosen the sides using a butter knife and invert it onto a wire rack.
• Brush butter on the top.

• Cover with a damp cloth and let it cool down. This is important as it makes the bread crust soft.
• Once cooled completely, cut slices and enjoy.

• Since no preservatives are used, it remains good for a day or two only at room temperature.
•  So, pack it in ziplock bags and keep it in the refrigerator.