Another day, another BLT: Martin’s potato bread, Duke’s, Wegmans’ thick-sliced bacon, iceberg, local yellow 'maters.
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That may well be the perfect sandwich. You nailed every detail.
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I wish we’d had more bacon left. We only had 2 slices each, and I find 2.5-3 slices to be the perfect amount.
Must remedy that lack with the next one!
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Today’s haul featured this 15.5 oz monster Cherokee Purple:
Home bakers - what are your favorite bread recipes for BLTs? I prefer something a little sturdier than your standard white sandwich bread to soak up all the juices, but not tooooooo crusty.
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I like a sweetish homemade white. I am that idiot who bakes imprecisely, but my loaf is a spoon of yeast in 12 ounces of warm tap water with a little sugar, about 3 1/2 cups of AP flour, a tbsp. or two of honey, knead, rise, knead, rise in a greased pan, and bake. Adjust the flour as needed to make a very workable dough, not a wet one. Bake until you like the crust. Slice thick and toast.
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Lol. I’m on my third bottle of … something… 
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You do you!
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I’m not the biggest fan of sweet with a BLT, I think that’s why I have had a hard time finding a commercial bread that suits me perfectly for this particular application. I make lean, high hydration breads regularly and I love their texture for a BLT, but their crusts tend to be a bit too thick/hard for true sandwich perfection. Maybe I should just cut off the crusts and repurpose…
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Have you tried Woks of Life Milk Bread? I think it’s easy (your mixer does the kneading) and it’s great toasted. Sturdier that store bought bread but not firm like sourdough. No holes.
I’ve made it many times and it’s been perfect from first try.
You can either use all All-purpose flour or Bread Flour and a little Cake Flour … I’ve always done the latter combo since I had both flours in stock.
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I like BLTs and bacon tomato sandwiches on all sorts of breads.
Toasted sourdough
Toasted brown/ whole-wheat
Seeded bread
Sesame bread/ sesame bun
Toasted poppyseed bagel
White bread
Focaccia
I guess I prefer non sweet breads with bacon and tomato, too.
I rarely bake my own bread, so I don’t have any recipes for any of these breads.
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I’m with you on the lean-ish dough for a BLT. My current bread-of-choice for same is a French bread recipe which came with my Zojirushi bread machine - just a bit of milk and sugar for enrichments. I’ve baked it both in the machine as well as in the oven - works both ways.
194 g. water
293 g. bread flour
6 g. granulated sugar (1 t.)
6 g. powdered milk (2 t.)
8 g. granulated salt (1 t.)
1 t. instant yeast
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I haven’t, though I have made other milk bread recipes. I love this type of bread, but the texture isn’t what I want for a BLT. Still, I’m bookmarking the WOL for next time I want milk bread!
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This one looks like it might be what I’m after - not as much enrichment as typical sandwich bread, but not completely lean, either. I’ll give it a go and report back - thanks!
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I’ll be interested to hear of your results! I recently baked this one in a can-shaped pan to better fit the tomatoes (deets here) - worked well.
Sourdough and a BLT sounds terrific.
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I also makes it either as a plain white, omitting the honey, or as a buttermilk, using buttermilk in place of most of the water. They all toast well and have tender crusts. Also Beard’s white free form life is another good one.
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A nice bakery in Toronto makes a bacon butty on thick pieces of sourdough with HP sauce. It’s delicious. The same bread would be good for a BLT.
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I love sourdough for a BLT - I just need to find a recipe (or maybe a baking technique) that gives me a less hard, thinner crust than my usual. Perhaps more steam and a shorter bake? Or wrapping in plastic after baking to soften the crust?
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Where applicable, I like to spike my sandwich breads (and some other yeast doughs) with sourdough discard. Add by weight and reduce the flour and water called for accordingly (depending on the hydration of your starter). You can pick up some of the old-dough flavor without the leavening action. If you can do this and work in a long retard of the dough, you will get even more noticeable results with the additional time.
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