Here it is: the recipe for our awesome sandwich bread. Are you tired of homemade bread that tastes great but crumbles? Or, how about the loaf that comes out too small to make a sandwich? You know, the one that leaves you hungry at 3:30? Well, we've solved the problem.

We were making two batches of dough in adjacent bowls. Because I was preoccupied talking to P.J., I added barley malt to this bread recipe, instead of to the pretzel recipe where it was supposed to go. This mistake produced an ethereal result. The bread loaves looked beautiful at each stage; we baked them when they had risen to 2 inches over the top of the pan. As this bread baked, we watched as the loaves continued to rise, finally reaching a height of about 4 inches over the top of the pans.

The next day, this bread passed the ultimate test. We were able to gently spread cold peanut butter on the bread without tearing it. We were quite pleased with the ensuing result -- a robustly sized sandwich adequate for the heartiest of appetites.

2 cups room-temperature water*
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons (2 packets) active dry yeast or 3 teaspoons instant yeast
6 cups (approximately) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
2 teaspoons barley malt extract or powder
3 tablespoons softened unsalted butter
1 tablespoon salt

*For added nutrition, substitute milk for all or part of the water. But, beware; the milk will prevent the bread from rising quite as high as it does when made with water.

Dissolve the sugar in the water and add the yeast. Stir in 1/2 cup of the all-purpose flour. Let this sit for about 10 minutes to give the yeast a chance to get going.

Add the barley malt, the butter, the salt and about 3 cups of the flour to the yeast mixture. Stir this well. Add another cup or two of the flour, gradually, until you have formed a shaggy mass of dough.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured counter and begin to knead it. As the dough gets sticky, add a little more flour. Depending on how humid it is outside, and therefore how much moisture your flour has already absorbed, you may need to use a bit more or less flour than we suggest in the ingredient list. This should be a smooth and supple dough.

Put the dough into a bowl and drizzle a little vegetable oil over it. Coat the dough with it. This step will prevent the formation of dry patches on the dough from air exposure. Cover the bowl with a damp towel and let dough rise until it has doubled in size. This will take about 1 1/2 hours.

Grease two 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch bread pans. Punch the dough down in the bowl to expel all the air bubbles. Put the dough on the counter and divide it evenly into two pieces. Form each piece of dough into a loaf and place in the prepared loaf pans. Let the loaves rise in a draft-free place until they have crowned to 2 inches above the top of the pans. This will take about 30 to 45 minutes. While the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 325°F.

Bake the loaves for 35 to 45 minutes, until they are well-browned and sound hollow when thumped on the bottoms, or until their internal temperature reaches 190°F. Place the loaves on a rack and brush with melted butter while still warm. Yield: 2 loaves.

Nutrition information per serving (1/2-inch slice, 41 g): 90 cal, 1 g fat, 2 g protein, 16 g complex carbohydrates, 1 g sugar, 1 g dietary fiber, 3 mg cholesterol, 214 mg sodium, 34 mg potassium, 1 mg iron, 40 mg calcium, 23 mg phosphorus.

This recipe reprinted from The Baking Sheet Newsletter, Vol. III, No. 8, September-October 1992 issue.