Homemade Crustless Sandwich Bread

Published: Jul 25, 2023 · Updated: Jul 25, 2023 by kateschat · This post may contain affiliate links · 61 Comments

After 15 years of making bread, I'm happy to tell you I've found the holy grail of sandwich bread I have been looking for. My kids go nuts for this fluffy white crustless bread!

Sliced open loaf of crustless sandwich bread.

Growing up, Marius spent a lot of time at a friends house, whose mom, Elaine, made all sorts of things. Fast forward to us having kids in the house and Elaine has become a weekly fixture for us as well. We enjoy trading different homemade or homegrown food (she makes the BEST wine with homegrown fruit...) and swapping recipes. This recipe is one she gave me after my kids couldn't get enough of the loaf of "fluffy white CRUSTLESS" bread she brought us one day. I tweaked it a bit because I cant help myself, but its inspired by Elaines recipe.

Why You Need This Recipe

It's super similar to "dead white bread" you get at the grocery. And we all know how kids just LOVE that sort of bread - but of course we are using straightforward, nutritious ingredients!
This easily doubles (to make 4 loaves) so you can always have fresh bread on hand. It would be perfect to share with new moms, neighbors trading work, anyone!
It's not much work at all. Use a mixer, let it raise, shape and bake. Nothing is easier.

A small child adding a cup of flour to a stand mixer.

Key Ingredients

Flour - regular all-purpose here. Even unbleached white flour will still make a "white" loaf. The whole point is we aren't using whole-wheat, which would be too dense.

Milk - not picky here! Milk straight from your cow, from the store. Go for it!

Yeast - always make sure you have fresh yeast. If you haven't used it in a while, it might be a good idea to test it out first so you don't waste ingredients. I keep mine fresh in the freezer.

Sugar and butter - keys to making yeast bread be soft sandwich bread!

How to Make Crustless Sandwich Bread

Step 1: Melt the butter into your milk until juuuuust warm, no killing the yeast here!

Step 2: Use a stand mixer with a dough hook to mix the dry ingredients (only half the flour).

Step 3: Add butter mix to flour mix and beat on medium speed for 2 minutes.

Step 4: Add in remaining flour, and knead until well combined. It should come together away from the sides the bowl. Now knead until windowpane is reached.

Step 5: Cover mixer bowl and let rise until doubled.

Step 6: Line the loaf pans with parchment.

Step 7: Once doubled, divide in two on a floured surface and shape into loaves. Place in the pan and let rise until doubled.

Bread dough shaped in a loaf on a floured counter.

Bread dough in a loaf pan ready to proof.

Step 8: Preheat the oven and once the loaves have doubled, get them in!

Sandwich bread in a loaf pan, having doubled in size.

Step 9: Bake until they reach an internal temperature of 190F to ensure they are baked through.

Step 10: Let rest 10 minutes before turning out of the pans to a rack. Rub the tops with butter for a truly soft crust.

Tips and Tricks

A note about the milk: we save some buttermilk when we make butter to make this bread. This buttermilk is different that the thick cultured buttermilk you buy in the store. If you happen to make your own butter, you're in luck. If you make cheese or strain yogurt, as long as the whey isnt salted, save some back for this bread! Otherwise, swap for milk or water. Water will give you a little different outcome but it's still great bread.

Rubbing a stick of butter over the top of a still-warm loaf is what keeps the crust super soft! Because while we call this bread "crustless" of course all bread has a crust. This one is just thing and not at all crunchy.

Baked soft crust sandwich bread in a loaf pan.

Substitutions

You could also take a few tablespoons of sour cream or yogurt and water them down to make your two cups of liquid. This recipe is very forgiving in this way! Adding the touch of dairy makes it much better than using water alone.

Two hands showing windowpane of bread dough.

FAQs

Can I make this dairy-free?

Definitely. Water works in place of milk or you can use an unsweetened almond milk. There are "vegan buttery sticks" you can use in place of the butter within the dough, or simply use olive oil. Then either skip the butter on the top of the loaf or use vegan "butter."

What is windowpane for bread dough?

If you pull out a golf ball sized piece of dough and gently flatten it/stretch it like youre making a tiny pizza, and hold it up to the light, you should be able to see through it. If it starts to bust holes before you can get it that thin, knead it another minute or two.

How do I shape a bread loaf?

To shape loaves, use your hands to push the dough into a rectangle about as big as your two hands with fingers spread out. Then roll it up "like a hot dog," tuck in the ends and pop into your bread pans. When you tuck in the ends you are stretching the top, creating tension, which gives you a nicely domed top as it proofs.

How do I know my bread is done?

There is nothing worse than slicing into a fresh loaf of bread and finding an underdone center. You can't put it back in the oven at this point, nothing will happen. I like to use an instant-read thermometer and aim for around 190F in the center of the loaf. This tells you the bread is done! It should also sound hollow when knocked on.

More Bread to Bake

Hey friends, don't forget to follow me over on Instagram, cause if you like me here, I post there a LOT! I'm also on YouTube with tutorials and Facebook for all sorts of things.

If you like this recipe, I’d love if you reviewed it so others can find it easier. Sharing this recipe on Facebook or Pinterest is another way you can help us out at no cost to you. Thanks, xo Kate