Soft but hearty with a delicious flavor (thanks to the cornmeal), this white sandwich bread is so good. It holds together well, making it great for sandwiches or toast. And with a single rise time, it is quicker than your average bread recipe.
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Hello, my friends!
I’m super excited to share this delicious cornmeal white sandwich bread with you. This recipe is one of our very favorites.
So before I get going, let me just tell you. We really don’t eat a lot of white bread.
I’ve already shared with you my go-to whole-wheat bread recipe. It’s the best and get’s made MOST of the time around here. Tied for second place would be this honey-oat bread and this spelt bread. Both amazing breads that are whole-grain and so delicious.
But every once and while, it’s nice to have a white bread recipe in your back pocket. Around here with two hungry boys and a little lady who can almost keep up with them, homemade white bread is a special treat and gets gobbled up quicker than dessert (no joke – especially since one of my biggest eaters doesn’t eat sugar).
And even though homemade white bread is amazing I just can’t seem to completely turn my back on nutrition. So I really wanted to see if I could come up with a white sandwich bread recipe that incorporates cornmeal (a whole grain) similar to these cornmeal crescent rolls (which are THE best by the way). Not 100% but just enough to give it a little flavor plus nutrition.
And guess what?
It’s here and it’s awesome.
I love this bread so much, my friends and I know you will too.
Quick Tutorial for Homemade Bread
For a full picture tutorial for bread making, see the whole-wheat bread recipe post. It contains details about what I use and LOTS of tips and tricks. But today I’ll give you a overview of some of the most important points from that post.
Bread Making Equipment:
Stand Mixer: Never underestimate the power of a good stand mixer in bread making. Seriously, it will make all the difference. I use my Bosch Mixer (aff. link) for this (and all breads). It is THE best. I would never want to be without it.
Bread Pans: I’ve used pyrex glass bread pans (aff. link) for the last bazillion years. I love how easy they are to clean (throw them in the dishwasher). But I expect you can make this bread with many types of pans. Keep an eye on the browning and take them out when the bread looks golden brown (regardless if the recipe doesn’t say the time is up). Metallic bread pans may cook a bit faster than the pyrex.
Bench Scraper: I use my bench scraper (aff. link) for more than just scraping the dough off the counter (although it is handy for that). It works really well to quickly divide the dough (plus a million other handy things).
Vital Wheat Gluten or Gluten Flour: Gluten flour (a.k.a. vital wheat gluten) is one of the secrets to amazing-textured homemade bread. You can find gluten flour on amazon (aff. link) or most grocery stores carry the Bob’s red mill brand. The gluten flour is especially important in whole-grain bread recipes like this one. Because cornmeal has no gluten naturally, the gluten flour gives the bread the little extra boost to help stick it together well.
SAF Instant Yeast: I only use SAF instant yeast (aff. link) in my bread making. And this is not an ad for SAF, I just really like it. It’s reliable and works great.
Flour Sack Towels: I love flour sack towels (aff. link) for bread making. I have some REALLY old ones from my grandma that I use. Basically you are looking for something very light and breathable to let air in but keep the bread from drying out too much.
Bread Knife: This is the bread knife (aff. link) that I’ve had for several years and use regularly. It’s pretty much just awesome.
Grain Mill: Just like these cornmeal crescent rolls AND this amazing cornbread, I use freshly ground popcorn for the cornmeal. Yes you read that right: popcorn. When it’s ground fresh it makes the most delicious and moist cornmeal ever. You can of course use regular cornmeal, but I love the ground popcorn and I use my wonder mill grain mill (aff. link) to grind it. It really works great.
A few more tips for success
This recipe starts out with making a cornmeal porridge (cornmeal + water heated until it looks like porridge). For best results, stop heating the porridge as soon as it starts to thicken or it will get too thick. If it happens, don’t worry too much. The bread will still be good, but just slightly denser.
The order you put the ingredients in the mixer matters so make sure you follow that. The yeast needs to not touch the sugar, salt, or hot cornmeal porridge directly or it may reduce its effectiveness in rising the bread.
Always go by texture of the dough when baking bread, not the exact amount of flour the recipe calls for. Stop adding flour when the dough starts to pull away from the center of the bowl even if you haven’t used all the flour called for in the recipe. The dough should still be quite sticky at this point (you should still be able to work with it easily but it will stick to your fingers).
Let the dough mix for the full 6 minutes that the recipe calls for. This will help develop the soft texture of the bread that is well risen and tastes so good.
Okay, my friends you are ready to get baking. There’s not much more to make you feel like a kitchen star than making a batch of good homemade bread.
Are you a pro? Or is this your first time ever? Either way, I’d love to hear how it goes.
Update (5/21/2020): If you are new to breadmaking (or just looking to up your breadmaking game), I wrote up a super detailed guide to baking with yeast. It will walk you through a lot of common breadmaking pitfalls and help you become a breadmaking expert.
Cornmeal White Sandwich Bread
Soft but hearty with a delicious flavor (thanks to the cornmeal), this white sandwich bread is so good. It holds together well, making it great for sandwiches or toast. And with a single rise time, it is quicker than your average bread recipe.
Ingredients
- 3 cups water
- 1 cup (5.25 ounces) cornmeal see note
- ⅓ cup canola or other neutral flavored oil
- ⅓ cup (2.5 ounces) granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon salt
- ⅓ cup (1.7 ounces) vital wheat gluten or gluten flour see note
- 4 to 5 cups all-purpose white flour
- 2 tablespoons instant yeast see note
Instructions
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Grease 2 standard sized bread loaves well or spray with cooking spray and set aside.
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In a medium saucepan heat water and cornmeal on medium high, whisking mixture continuously just until is starts to thicken into a porridge-like consistency. Remove from heat.
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In the bowl of a stand mixer with dough hook attachment add the oil, sugar and salt. Add the hot cornmeal porridge to the stand mixer. Then add the gluten flour, and 2 cups of white flour. Put the yeast on top of the flour, making sure that it does not directly touch the salt or the hot porridge mixture.
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Turn on mixer and mix, adding additional flour, stopping mixer occasionally to feel the dough. Stop adding flour when the dough feels tacky. It will still stick a little bit to your fingers but should not be super sticky. Flour should not be added after this point even if you have not added the full amount listed in the recipe. Then let the mixer mix for an additional six minutes.
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Divide dough into 2 loaves (I use a bench scraper for this). Put dough in prepared pans and cover with a thin, lightweight dish towel.
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Let the bread dough rise in the pans until the bread is doubled and fills the pans. This should take about 30 minutes, but it may take a little longer if your kitchen isn’t warm enough.
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While bread is rising, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. When the bread has risen, bake it at 400 degrees F for 5 minutes. Then turn down the heat to 350 degrees F (leaving the loaves in the oven the entire time) and continue baking for 20-25 min or until loaves are golden brown. Remove bread from the pans immediately and let loaves cool on a cooling rack.
Recipe Notes
1. For the cornmeal I use freshly popcorn that I grind in my grain mill (this is the grain mill I have) at home. If you do not have a grain mill you can also use cornmeal from the store.
2. For best results, stop heating the cornmeal porridge as soon as it starts to thicken or it will get too thick, making for a denser bread.
3. I use Bob’s Red Mill Vital Wheat Gluten Flour in this recipe. I buy mine in a 25 pound bag at WinCo, but they also sell it in their bulk bins. If you don’t have a WinCo you may be able to find it in smaller quantities at Walmart or another local grocery store or buy it online (Amazon carries gluten flour).
4. I use the SAF brand of instant yeast that I buy in a large block and keep in the freezer in a sealed container.
5. For step-by-step basic bread making instructions with pictures see this whole-wheat bread post: https://thecookstreat.com/whole-wheat-bread/
Heather @ The Cook’s Treat
All images and text ©The Cook’s Treat
Disclaimer: post contains affiliate links for items on Amazon.
