Sandwich Bread with 1-Minute of Kneading

I’ve been making homemade sandwich bread for a few years and perfected the recipe (available here). But lately, instead of 10 weekly sandwiches my two sons only need 6 weekly sandwiches. Since I used so few preservatives, the bread only stays fresh for about 5 days. So I’ve been tweaking this slightly different recipe to meet my new requirements; (1) only 6 sandwiches per week, (2) no standing mixer, (3) requiring only 1 day from start to finish. This downsized loaf uses a regular 9’x5″ loaf pan, making for fewer and larger bread slices. It only needs 1-minute of hand-kneading, but the recipe does require more patience: I mix the dough at 6:30AM, form the loaf at 4PM, bake at 6 to 7PM, and slice at 11PM (or the next morning). In total, it’s maybe 15 minutes of work.

Perfectly sized for 6 weekly sandwiches

I tried to use refrigeration to work around my schedule, but the refrigerated loaf never warmed up in time for me to make a weekday loaf.

Rating: 4-1/2 stars.
Cost: 60-cents
How much work? Low.
How big of a mess?  Low/Medium.
Start time 6:00 AM. Finish time 7:00 PM. (But don’t slice for another 3 hours)

Chris Kimball’s original recipe is here. The descriptions of how I prepared and baked the bread are given below:

Wet Ingredients:
1/2 cup water (4 ounces)
1-1/4 cup milk (10 ounces)
1/4 teaspoon instant or rapid-rise yeast
1-1/2 tablespoons sugar or honey
1 tablespoon granulated lecithin
3 tablespoons olive oil

Dry Ingredients:
4 cups bread flour (1 lb 3oz ounces)
2 teaspoons table salt
1/4 to 3/8 teaspoon ascorbic acid; fruit fresh or other powdered Vitamin C. Alternatively mix 1 tablespoon white vinegar

1. Add water and milk to a Pyrex measuring cup (at least 2 cup capacity); heat in microwave for 1m until mixture reaches 105-degrees. Mix in yeast, sugar, granulated lecithin and olive oil; allow to hydrate for 5 minutes.
2. Add flour, salt, and ascorbic acid (but not vinegar, if using) in large bowl. Add liquid mixture from step 1 and use a rubber spatula to fold until shaggy ball forms, scraping up dry flour from bottom of bowl. Cover bowl and let sit at room temperature for 8 to 18 hours. If your schedule prevents you from baking the next day, you can refrigerate the dough (still in the bowl) the next morning until ready to use.
3. Spray your loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray.
4. Gently turn the dough out onto a very lightly-floured work surface. Knead by hand for about 1 minute to form a smooth ball. Gently press the dough into a rectangle so that it corresponds to the length of your loaf pan. Move into pan and softly press so that it touches all four sides of the pan.
5. Cover loosely with plastic wrap (realizing that the loaf will grow above the top of the pan). Place it in a warm spot in your kitchen for between 1 to 2 hours; until the dough has doubled in size and does not readily spring back when you poke it with your finger.
6. About 20 minutes prior to baking, begin pre-heating your oven to 425-degrees. Adjust an oven rack to middle position; any lower and your bottom crust will be too hard.
7. Carefully remove plastic wrap, spray the loaf three times with water from a spray bottle, and carefully place loaf pan in 425-degree oven. Set kitchen timer for 30 minutes corresponding to the total cooking time. After 7 minutes, reduce oven temperature to 375-degrees and turn loaf 180-degrees. Bake uncovered for 8 additional minutes. Tent with aluminum foil to keep the loaf top soft; baking for remaining 13 to 15 minutes. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of the loaf will reads 200-degrees when the loaf is done. Carefully remove bread from pan, and let cool on a wire rack for 2 to 3 hour before slicing.

I slice my bread thicker than store-bought