Sour Cream Sandwich Loaf

Our answer

Nigella's Old-Fashioned Sandwich Loaf (from COOK, EAT, REPEAT) is a soft, white bread that is made with spoiled milk or sour cream. The recipe also uses a 7g/¼-ounce sachet of fast-action (instant) dried yeast, and this is usually enough for the 500g of flour used. The loaf has been very popular and most people have had very good results. The recipe includes 2 teaspoons of salt, which is already at the top end of the amount you would use for this size of loaf and any more salt will start to retard the action of the yeast.

There are several reasons why the bread may not have risen. Firstly it does need to be the fast-action type of yeast, sometimes known as rapid rise or breadmaker yeast. The yeast has very fine granules and doesn't need to be dissolved beore using, it can be stirred directly into the flour. If regular dried yeast is used then you need to increase the quantities and dissolve the yeast in some of the warm milk first and leave the mixture until it starts to foam. Also check that the yeast is still in date, as it becomes less active over time. The temperature of the room will also affect how quicky the bread rises, so if it is cool then the bread will take longer to rise. Finally, if you use sour cream then the butter should be omitted. If you have used both butter and sour cream then the bread will feel more heavy and the extra fat could slow down the action of the yeast a little.