Easy and Soft Yogurt Sandwich Bread

Course: Bread

Cuisine: American, European

Prep Time: 20

Cook Time: 45

Proof the dough twice:: 1 45

Total Time: 2 50

Servings: slices

Calories: 158kcal

Author: Marvellina

This easy yogurt sandwich bread bakes up tall, soft, and rustic with just a few simple ingredients. Perfect for sandwiches and toast—and it freezes beautifully too!

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US Customary - Metric

Ingredients

500 g bread flour
2 ½ tsp instant dry yeast
2 tsp sugar
12 g fine sea salt
125 g whole-milk Greek yogurt or full-fat sour cream
250 g water
2 Tbsp unsalted butter

Instructions

Mix it all up

Toss everything into your stand mixer bowl—yep, just dump it all in: flour, yeast, sugar, salt, yogurt, water, and butter. I like to use the dough hook to give everything a quick manual stir first (so the flour doesn’t go poof everywhere when the mixer starts).

Knead that dough

Start on the lowest speed and let it knead for about 3 minutes, just to get everything mixed. Then bump the speed up a notch and knead another 3 minutes. Finally, go up to medium speed (speed 4 on a KitchenAid) and knead for 5–8 minutes, or until the dough is soft, smooth, and stretchy.
It’s gonna be a little sticky—that’s what we want! It should clear the sides of the bowl but still stick a bit to the bottom. You might need to scrape the sides halfway through the kneading. Totally normal. The dough is elastic
When you thinly stretch a small amount of the dough, it doesn't break easily. The gluten is well-formed and the dough is done kneading

First rise (aka nap time)

Rub a little oil on your hands and shape the dough into a rough ball. Pop it into a lightly oiled bowl, cover it up, and let it proof somewhere warm until it doubles in size—usually around an hour.

Shape the loaf

You can use a standard 9x5 loaf pan or a 2-pound Pullman pan (I use the small USA Pan Pullman). I lightly oil all sides of the pan
Once it’s puffed up, deflate it (gently punch it down—very satisfying), and turn it out onto a lightly oiled surface. Pat it into a rectangle that's about 2 inches shorter than the long side of your pan.
I like to fold the two long side over to meet at the center and then roll it down tightly from the top to build tension.
The dough may get "longer" as you roll, it's normal
If your roll ends up longer than your pan, no worries—just smush it in a bit and press the top down to level it out. It’ll rise nice and even in the oven.

Second rise

Cover the pan with oiled plastic wrap and let it proof again until it’s peeking out about 1 inch above the rim. This second rise usually takes about 45 minutes to 1 hour, depending on how warm your kitchen is.

Preheat and slash

About 15 minutes before it’s done rising, preheat your oven to 375 F (conventional). If you’re using convection, drop it down to 350 F. I like to give the top a quick slash with a bread lame—it’s totally optional but adds that rustic touch.

Bake!

Bake the bread for 45-50 minutes or until it’s a deep golden brown and sounds hollow when you tap it. If you’re a thermometer person, the inside should hit at least 190°F.

Cool completely

As soon as it’s done, take it out of the pan and place it on a wire rack to cool completely. (Yes, I know it smells amazing, but give it time to cool completely or the inside might get gummy.)

Nutrition