Gluten-Free White Sandwich Bread

This week, my kitchen, not forgetting the whole apartment, has truly smelt like a bakery. I was obsessed with producing the perfect sandwich bread and after several attempts, I am so excited to declare victory with this most amazing gluten-free white sandwich bread!

One of the first gluten-free items I bought at the start of my gluten-free diet switch was sandwich bread. There are quite a few brands selling good bread and they are great as a back-up for those days I don’t have time or energy to bake fresh bread. The only down-side to store-bought is the small quantity sold in each packet for double the price compared to gluten sandwich bread.

In my eyes, this is an important gluten-free item to have in your kitchen as it offers more than just a satisfying sandwich, but also stacks of toasts for breakfast or a cheese toast snack or how about a BLT sandwich?

If you’ve missed eating fresh sandwich bread, I encourage you to try this recipe. You will be pleasantly surprised!

This bread is best eaten fresh on the day of baking it, after that, I recommend making toast, breadcrumbs or croutons with the remaining slices.

How to make homemade breadcrumbs: Place four bread slices or more in a preheated 180 C/350 F oven for 10 minutes until toasted and golden. Allow to cool completely on a wire mesh rack. Cut the toasted bread slices into rough pieces and process them into breadcrumbs in a food processor or Thermomix ^®. Refrigerate breadcrumbs in an airtight container for no more than 3 days, otherwise, store in the freezer. Use directly from frozen for countless recipes such as Gluten-Free Arancini di Riso Balls.

How to make homemade croutons: Remove the crusts from the sliced bread and cut the crustless bread into small squares – At this stage, you could freeze them in a zip lock bag or container for future use – Melt 1 tablespoon each of butter and olive oil in a frying pan over a medium heat and toss the bread cubes in the pan. Make sure all the sides catch some colour and fry evenly. Drain the croutons on a paper towel to remove excess oil. Use croutons in salads or soups.

This gluten-free white sandwich bread recipe is easy, but the catch is, you need to have a food stand mixer that has a whisk and a dough hook attachment. Unless, you are willing to work out your arms using a wooden spoon to mix, a stand mixer will make your life much easier.

There is very little mess making this bread as you only need to use the mixer and the Pullman loaf pan/bread tin. No kneading over the kitchen counter. The other bonus is that bread only needs a 30-minute rise.

What is a Pullman loaf pan?

Professional bakers like to use Pullman loaf pans to bake sandwich bread for its square loaf shape and minimised crust. This pan has straight sides and a lid that prevents the bread from “mushrooming” into a loaf. The bread will turn out more or less square. I bought my tin at Amazon, but I’m sure plenty of good kitchen supply shops sell them. Otherwise, using a bread tin or silicon loaf mould will do the trick. Just don’t forget to cover your tin or mould tightly with aluminium foil to prevent the bread from “mushrooming”.