Lisa, I was just going to mention those perfect slices too, mine are never that even, plus the end piece is always gone, that I cut off and eat it while it's still hot. I grew up on Farmhouse White, it was our "every day" bread, although in the summer we had a much richer bread full of eggs and milk to use up all the excess eggs. I like bread far more than is good for me, but I just keep baking it. I don't have kids at home to eat it up, so I give it to Amanda, to Elery, to my boss, LOL, and then I bake some more. Yours looks delicious. Annie

When making salad type fillings, use only enough mayo to bind the ingredients together so it doesn't soak into the bread and make it soggy. For two or three layer sandwiches, stack the bread slices and remove the crusts first. Apply the filling and then cut into triangles, squares or fingers. For a large quantity, you can also make taco-style sandwiches. Cut the bread slices into the largest circles you can without including any crust. Spoon the filling into the center only. Pull up opposite sides of the bread, put a dab of cream cheese where they meet and squeeze to secure. You don't need to make a different shape for each type of filling but don't use the same filling for two different shapes. I put the finished sandwiches in plastic containers with a piece of waxed paper or plastic wrap between the layers. Before the lid is tightly secured and they're refrigerated, I place a damp dish towel on a top layer of plastic wrap to keep them from drying out. You can also use filled tiny party buns to give variety to the presentation. The bakery at our Walmart will make 3" mini-croissants if ordered in advance. I fill them with sliced rare roast beef, one or two baby spinach leaves, thinly sliced halved and deseeded plum tomatoes and a creamy horseradish spread. If men are attending, I have to make an extra quantity of these. An open faced sandwich with caper cream cheese topped with an X of smoked salmon strips is good on those thin pumpernickel party bread squares. Don't forget the vegetarians. My personal favorite tea sandwich is: slice of wheat bread, cream cheese mixed with finely chopped green olives, slice of white bread, egg salad, slice of wheat bread. The pinwheels as Linda recommended making them are good with watercress butter and a steamed and chilled asparagus stalk. Cream cheese mixed with grated carrots, chopped toasted pecans and a little honey and cinnamon on dark bread is another meatless one. If you want to get fancier, you can spread the long edge of triangles with mayo and dip in chopped parsley or nuts. Chicken salad with chopped almonds on the edge is a tasty combination. Pop your crusts into a freezer bag and save to dry out and make bread crumbs after the party is over. I hope you have fun with this project and wish you success with your ribbon loaves.

Hi Sally, Grainlady has generously shared her knowledge with us, and often mentioned loaf pan sizes. On page 3, there's a thread about Homemade vs Storebought bread. This is an exerpt on one of Grainlady's responses: "A mistake often made, and why the dough doesn't seem to raise as high as you'd like, is from using the wrong amount of dough for the pan size. This is also the cause of over- or under-proofing. As an example: if you make a recipe that makes 1-1/2-pounds of dough (about 3-cups of flour in the recipe) and place it in a 9x5" pan (which are generally designed to be used for loaves of quick breads), that's the wrong pan for that amount of dough - a standard-size loaf pan is a better choice - 8-1/2x4-1/2". Jumbo pan - 10x4-1/2" - approx. 4-5 c. flour - 2+ pounds of dough Quick Bread Pan - 9x5" - 4 c. flour - 2# dough Standard Loaf - 8-1/2x4-1/2" - 3 c. flour - 1-1/2# dough Medium Loaf - 7-1/2x3-1/2" - 2-1/2 c. flour - 1# dough Small Loaf - 5-3/4x3-3/4" - 1-1/2 c. flour - 8 oz. dough"

I need some help with a recipe.. I've lost a notebook of my bread machine for some really good white sandwich bread that is made as dough in the breadmaker, then tucked and proofed a second time before baking off. As well as a muffaletta bread and and a few pickling recipes.. And after a few years of buying bread due to folks that were living in the house and have moved out.. I can start making homemade breads again. Anywho. I need a good old regular white and a not-dense wheat sandwich bread recipe that I can make in my bread machine as dough and turn out into a baking loaf pan for final proofing and baking off.