White Sandwich Bread

Method

1. mix5 min
   milk at 105°F, no hotter
   warm milk + sugar + instant yeast + flour + salt, stirred to a shaggy mass with no dry flour left. Keep the salt away from the undissolved yeast for the first few seconds only — dumped directly onto a warm slurry it draws water out of the cells and slows the rise. Above about 120°F the milk kills the yeast outright, which is the one failure this recipe cannot recover from.
2. knead12 min
   mixer on low, or by hand on an unfloured counter
   + softened butter a cube at a time, only after the dough already holds together. Fat added at the start coats the flour proteins and blocks them from linking, so an all-at-once dough never develops. Knead until a stretched piece goes translucent without tearing — that windowpane is the gluten net that traps gas and gives a sandwich slice enough strength to hold mayonnaise without collapsing.
3. proof90 min
   covered, 75–78°F, until doubled
   dough in a lightly oiled bowl. Judge by volume and by feel, never by the clock — a poked finger should leave a dent that fills back slowly. Cold kitchens take half again as long; a dough left until it smells sharp and sour has overproofed, and its gluten will tear rather than stretch in the oven.
4. fold5 min
   room temperature
   press the dough flat to expel the large bubbles, roll it into a tight cylinder the length of the pan, and pinch the seam shut. Slack rolling leaves an air pocket that bakes into the tunnel just under the top crust — the classic hole that makes a slice useless for sandwiches.
5. proof55 min
   in a greased 9×5 loaf pan, covered, until crowned 1 inch above the rim
   seam-side down. Stop while the dome still springs back a little; a loaf proofed to its absolute limit has nothing left for oven spring and falls into a flat, dense brick as the crust sets.
6. bake35 min
   375°F, until internal temperature reaches 195°F
   loaf on the center rack, brushed with egg wash if you want gloss. Temperature, not color, is the doneness test: starch only finishes gelatinizing near 195°F, and a loaf pulled at 180°F looks perfect and slices gummy. Brush the hot crust with melted butter to keep it soft.
7. rest60 min
   turned out onto a rack, uncovered
   cool completely before cutting. The crumb is still full of steam that has to escape and redistribute; cutting hot compresses those wet cells into paste along the knife and dries out the rest of the loaf overnight. Leaving it in the pan steams the crust limp.