This soft and fluffy poppy seed sandwich bread is a variation of my popular recipe for high altitude white sandwich bread. It’s quick and easy to make, and is perfect for sandwiches or toast.
You might also love these recipes for honey whole wheat sandwich bread, no knead rye sandwich bread, and easy peasant bread.
This site contains affiliate links. As an Amazon associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This means that I may make a small commission if you purchase a product using those links. This in no way affects my opinion of those products and services. All opinions expressed on this site are my own.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Easy to Make. Even if you’ve never worked with yeast before, you can easily make this bread. Just be sure to read all of my tips and FAQs, and scroll through the whole post for the step-by-step process.
Rises Beautifully. Just look at the dramatic rise of this fluffy loaf of bread. It looks so tall and perfectly shaped, even when baked at high altitude.
Use it for Anything. My kids love this bread toasted and slathered with butter and jam, and my husband likes to make it into French toast. For breakfast (or a simple dinner), I love making “egg in bread”. Whether you want to use this poppy seed sandwich bread for sandwiches or toast, or even dry it out for homemade croutons or Thanksgiving stuffing, this versatile recipe is perfect for anything.
High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Ingredients
- Milk + Water.
- Granulated Sugar.
- Butter.
- Yeast. I highly recommend Platinum Superior Baking Yeast, which is an instant/rapid rise yeast with dough enhancers.
- Flour. Preferably, use bread flour for this recipe, which will give your bread a chewier texture, due to its higher protein content.
- Salt.
- Poppy Seeds.
Instructions
Activate the yeast.
- In a saucepan, combine the milk, water, sugar and 1 tablespoon of butter. Heat the mixture over medium heat to between 110-115 degrees Fahrenheit.If the temperature is hotter or colder, the yeast won’t be properly activated.
- Remove the saucepan from the heat. Sprinkle the yeast over the milk mixture and stir it in. Let it stand for about 5 minutes, until it becomes foamy and bubbly.
Mix and knead the dough.
- Meanwhile, combine 3 cups of the flour with the salt and 2 tbsp of poppy seeds in the bowl of your stand mixer. Add the milk/yeast mixture and stir together with a spoon to form a soft, sticky dough.
- Attach the bowl to your stand mixer fitted with the dough hook. Knead the dough for 10-15 minutes, gradually adding in the remaining 1 – 1 1/4 cups flour. As the dough kneads and absorbs the flour, it will form sort of a “torpedo” of dough around the dough hook, and the dough will pull away from the sides of the bowl. The dough should be soft, supple and spring back when gently touched. Don’t add more flour than stated in the recipe, or your bread will end up too dense.
Shown in next photos without the poppy seeds.
Let the dough rise.
- Lightly grease a large bowl and place the dough in the bowl. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap. Set in a warm place to rise until doubled in size, being careful not to let the dough over-proof and get too big. It should take about 30-45 minutes.If your oven has a “bread proof” setting, use this. Otherwise, preheat the oven on to the lowest setting, then turn it off before you set the dough inside to proof.
- Meanwhile, melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter in a small saucepan, and keep it on the back of the stove.
- Prepare a bread loaf pan by brushing the bottom and sides lightly with some of the melted butter, then dusting with flour.
Shape and rest the dough.
- When the dough has doubled in size, lightly flour a clean work surface. Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough into a rectangle about 1/2 inch thick, with a width that’s equivalent to the length of your loaf pan. Roll up the dough into a log, and place it in the prepared loaf pan, with the seam of the dough facing down against the bottom of the pan, and the ends tucked down.
- Brush the top of the dough with some of the melted butter, then set the pan in a warm place to rest for about 20 minutes while the oven preheats. The dough should be just starting to puff up above the top of the pan.
- Optional: Lightly brush the top of the dough with butter and sprinkle generously with poppy seeds. While this looks pretty, note that the seeds do not stick very well to the baked bread, and will fall off and scatter everywhere when you slice the bread.
Bake the bread.
- While the dough is resting, preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Bake the bread for about 40-45 minutes, until the top is a deep golden brown, and an instant read digital thermometer inserted into the center reaches 195 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Remove the bread from the pan (it should lift right out if you prepped the pan with butter and flour), and set on a wire cooling rack.
- Cool for about 1-2 hours before slicing with a sharp serrated knife.
Recipe Variations
Poppy Seed Swirl Bread
Add a swirl of poppy seeds inside the bread (like my cinnamon swirl bread). When shaping the bread, brush the rectangle of dough with softened butter and sprinkle it with poppy seeds. Then roll the dough up into a log to place into the pan.
Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common baking questions, so that you can be successful in your own baking!
Frequently Asked Questions
Store the bread in an airtight container or bag at room temperature for up to 3-5 days, or freeze the bread for up to 3-6 months.
You can use either. With active dry yeast, you should follow the recipe exactly as written. With instant or rapid-rise yeast, you can skip the step of blooming the yeast in the warm milk first, and just move right on to mixing everything together. I highly recommend Platinum Superior Baking Yeast. I’ve never had such a spectacular rise from my bread as I did with this yeast, compared to the grocery store brand I usually buy.
I used the 1-lb USA bread loaf pan.
Yes, instead of a bread loaf pan, you can use the small (9×4) pullman pan, which will give you tall, straight sides on your bread.
You Might Also Like
Please check out my Amazon Shop for a curated collection of some of my favorite cake pans from trusted brands, baking tools, ingredients, pretty things and fashion finds. I recommend products that I buy and use every day!
Did you love today’s recipe? Please rate the recipe and let me know in the comments what you thought! Also, be sure to follow Curly Girl Kitchen on Instagram, and tag me when you try one of my recipes so I can see all your delicious creations!
High Altitude Poppy Seed Sandwich Bread
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Stand Mixer with Dough Hook
- Bread Loaf Pan (or a small pullman pan)
Ingredients
- 1 cup whole milk
- ¾ cup water
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 3 tbsp unsalted butter, softened, divided
- 1 packet (1/4 oz) instant or rapid rise dry yeast, preferably Platinum Superior Baking Yeast
- 4 – 4 ¼ cups (about 20 oz) bread flour (fluffed, spooned and leveled), plus 1/4 cup for rolling
- 1 ½ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 2-4 tbsp poppy seeds
Instructions
Activate the yeast.
- In a saucepan, combine the milk, water, sugar and 1 tablespoon of butter. Heat the mixture over medium heat to between 110-115 degrees Fahrenheit.If the temperature is hotter or colder, the yeast won't be properly activated.
- Remove the saucepan from the heat. Sprinkle the yeast over the milk mixture and stir it in. Let it stand for about 5 minutes, until it becomes foamy and bubbly.
Mix and knead the dough.
- Meanwhile, combine 3 cups of the flour with the salt and 2 tbsp of poppy seeds in the bowl of your stand mixer. Add the milk/yeast mixture and stir together with a spoon to form a soft, sticky dough.
- Attach the bowl to your stand mixer fitted with the dough hook. Knead the dough for 10-15 minutes, gradually adding in the remaining 1 – 1 1/4 cups flour. As the dough kneads and absorbs the flour, it will form sort of a "torpedo" of dough around the dough hook, and the dough will pull away from the sides of the bowl. The dough should be soft, supple and spring back when gently touched.Don't add more flour than stated in the recipe, or your bread will end up too dense.
Let the dough rise.
- Lightly grease a large bowl and place the dough in the bowl. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap. Set in a warm place to rise until doubled in size, being careful not to let the dough over-proof and get too big. It should take about 30-45 minutes.If your oven has a "bread proof" setting, use this. Otherwise, preheat the oven on to the lowest setting, then turn it off before you set the dough inside to proof.
- Meanwhile, melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter in a small saucepan, and keep it on the back of the stove.
- Prepare a bread loaf pan by brushing the bottom and sides lightly with some of the melted butter, then dusting with flour.
Shape and rest the dough.
- When the dough has doubled in size, lightly flour a clean work surface. Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough into a rectangle about 1/2 inch thick, with a width that's equivalent to the length of your loaf pan. Roll up the dough into a log, and place it in the prepared loaf pan, with the seam of the dough facing down against the bottom of the pan, and the ends tucked down.
- Brush the top of the dough with some of the melted butter, then set the pan in a warm place to rest for about 20 minutes while the oven preheats. The dough should be just starting to puff up above the top of the pan.
- Optional: Lightly brush the top of the dough with butter and sprinkle generously with poppy seeds. While this looks pretty, note that the seeds do not stick very well to the baked bread, and will fall off and scatter everywhere when you slice the bread.
Bake the bread.
- While the dough is resting, preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Bake the bread for about 40-45 minutes, until the top is a deep golden brown, and an instant read digital thermometer inserted into the center reaches 195 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Remove the bread from the pan (it should lift right out if you prepped the pan with butter and flour), and set on a wire cooling rack.
- Cool for about 1-2 hours before slicing with a sharp serrated knife.
Notes
https://curlygirlkitchen.com/
Leave a Reply