So NOT Betty Crocker!: Sandwich Bread

Here's a recipe I found on Allrecipes.com for a highly-rated

sandwich bread. Here's what you'll need...

Ingredients:
1C Warm Water (110F/45C)
2T Sugar
2 1/4t Yeast (1pkt)
1/4C Vegetable Oil
3C Flour
1t Salt

Run some warm water from the tap and measure 1 cup.
(assuming you have drinkable water from the tap, that is)

I don't usually take the temp, but if you're worried about

getting it just so, you can use your candy thermometer.
Aim for around 110 to 120 at the most.

Add in your yeast and sugar and give it a good stir.

It will look like cafe au lait, but will smell like a cross between

your brother's gym socks and a dirty dish rag. Yummy!

Let it sit for about 10 minutes and it will bloom. I walked

away and came back probably 15+ minutes later and this is

what I found. Gotta watch that little devil! It won't hurt
anything, but you could lose some of your yeast if you
go away for too long and it spills over.

Give it a good stir, being sure to get all the yeast off the sides

and dump it into the pan of your bread machine.

Next, add your oil.

Then dump in your flour and salt.

Note: I made my salt a (scant) heaping teaspoon

because I read the reviews of the recipe and it said some people were

having trouble with this bread collapsing. Supposedly, more salt helps.

Select your basic light loaf option on your bread machine. In my

case, it's called Regular Light. Hit start and it does all the work for you!

Here's a picture of my beautiful bread.

This makes a really nice toast!

Notes and things I learned:

This bread is nice and soft and I found I had to cut a really wide (3/4") piece in order for it to hold together to make a sandwich or even just some bread to butter. The taste is decent, with a tiny bit of a bitter aftertaste that is fairly common in store-bought white bread. So, if you're looking to recreate store-bought taste, this is a good recipe.

I don't know how to describe the next part except to say that the air holes are larger and farther apart than store-bought bread. This makes it have a tendency to tear and fall apart easily. Almost like it's too soft. Not sure if that makes sense, but that's the only way I can describe it.

This bread has a nice, soft, crispy outside. I know that sounds like an oxymoron, but it's somehow soft, yet crisp at first. Once you cool it and put it in a zip top bag, it stays soft from that point. I did notice that it seemed to smell a little more inviting than most of the loaves I've been making lately.

It puffs up quite nicely! I got what normally would be considered a large loaf out of 'small loaf' ingredients!
My top did cave in a tiny bit, but no biggie.

The lady that suggested to used extra salt for avoiding collapse used 1 1/2t salt. Not being a huge salt fan, I probably put less than 1 1/8t total. I may up that next time to see if it helps with structure.

Some say the trick to making your bread-machine bread more light and fluffy is to use the proofing of the yeast (step two) rather than to throw it in the pan as suggested by the manual. Seems logical. That's how you'd do it if you were doing it in a bowl. Next time, I may try it like normal, by throwing it all in, then comparing the end product.

This bread is really economical, coming in at 82 cents! The yeast is the most expensive thing. I'm going to try to find a different way to get it than the grocery store. Ooooh, black market yeast! :) Just kidding...don't bust me, food police!

An exciting find...I got a five pound bag of flour at Aldi's for $1.38 today! That's only 7 cents a cup! Can you believe it!? Amazing! If you don't know about Aldi, look it up today! It's worth the trip and I honestly have to say that their brands are just as good as the name brands 99% of the time!

If you try this recipe, let me know what you think.

If you end up with a heel that is hard or just doesn't get eaten like this one....