My Favorite White Bread Recipe
This is a classic white bread recipe, and so easy! The loaves bake up incredibly tall, soft and fluffy… the perfect white bread!
Are you a bread fanatic? Isn’t there something fantastic about a great piece of bread? Whether you’re making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, grilled cheese, a big sandwich piled high with fixings, or simply slathering a piece with butter… I’ve always found it to be great comfort food.
While I’ve made quite a bit of homemade bread in the past, we’ve really cut back on carbs significantly, and have pretty much nixed sandwiches from our diet, so I haven’t been buying or making any for the last six months or so. However, Joseph would eat grilled cheese and some other things with bread (depending on the day – we’ve hit the picky toddler stage!), but once we found out about his allergies, anything store-bought was pretty much out of the question (why does bread need soybean oil?!). Luckily, he was cleared of his wheat allergy, but we’re avoiding soy, so homemade it was! I had a previous favorite white bread recipe, but had this recipe bookmarked for AGES, so I decided to finally try it. I’m so glad that I did because…
Best. Bread. Ever.
There are so many reasons you need to hurry up and make this bread immediately:
- It comes together incredibly quickly for a yeast recipe requiring two rises. In about 2 hours you’ll be smelling fresh bread wafting from your oven.
- These are the largest loaves of a simple white bread I’ve ever seen! I’ve made too many disappointing loaves of bread that have turned out short and squat, especially those made in a 9-inch pan (p.s. these are my very favorite loaf pans!). However, these are incredibly tall, full loaves – beauties!
- I was surprised at how incredibly light, fluffy and soft this bread was given that there isn’t any milk in the recipe, just water (thanks butter!). It’s honestly the perfect texture.
I was honestly blown away when I made it, my husband was as equally thrilled, and much to my delight, Joseph was a huge fan too! This makes phenomenal peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, awesome grilled cheese, and I have eaten way more than I should just slathered with butter.
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I should have known how good this would be since it came from someone’s grandma… those are always the BEST recipes!
I’ve made this three times now, and I love that it makes two loaves… I immediately slice and freeze one and leave the other one out for us to eat throughout the week.
The frozen slices reheat exceptionally well – just 20 seconds in the microwave is all they need.
You only need one great white bread recipe and this is it!
Grab that yeast and get baking!
Three years ago: Kentucky Derby Pie Cupcakes
Four years ago: Chile con Queso
Watch How to Make My Favorite White Bread Recipe!
My Favorite White Bread Recipe
Ingredients
- 4½ teaspoons instant yeast, two 0.25-ounce packets
- ¾ cup + 2⅔ cups warm water, divided
- ¼ cup (52 g) granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 3 tablespoons (43 g) unsalted butter, cubed, at room temperature
- 9 to 10 cups (1200 g) all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons (43 g) unsalted butter, melted, for brushing
Instructions
- In the bowl of a mixer, stir to dissolve the yeast in ¾ cup (180ml) of the warm water, and let sit for 5 minutes. Add the remaining 2⅔ cups (640ml) water, sugar, salt, room temperature butter, and 5 cups of the flour and stir to combine.
- Using a dough hook, mix on low speed and gradually add the remaining flour until the dough is soft and tacky, but not sticky (you may not need to use all of the flour). Continue to knead until a soft ball of dough forms and clears the sides of the bowl, about 7 to 10 minutes.
- Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl and turn it over so it is completely coated. Cover with plastic wrap and set in a draft-free place to rise until doubled in size, about 45 minutes to 1 hour.
- Turn the dough out onto a clean, lightly floured surface. Gently press it all over to remove any air pockets. Divide the dough in two and, working with one piece at a time, gently pat it into a 9x12-inch rectangle. Roll up the rectangle, starting on the short end, into a very tight cylinder. Pinch to seal the seams and the ends, tuck the ends of the roll until the bread, and place into greased 9-inch loaf pans. Cover the loaves loosely and place in a draft-free area until doubled in size, 30 to 45 minutes.
- Position an oven rack on the lowest setting and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- Brush the loaves with some of the melted butter. Bake the loaves for 30 to 35 minutes, rotating halfway through, until golden brown (an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read 195 degrees F).
- Remove from the oven and immediately brush with more of the melted butter. Allow to cool for 10 minutes, then remove from the pans and cool completely before slicing. The bread can be stored in an airtight bread bag or wrapped tightly in plastic wrap at room temperature for up to 4 days. It can also be frozen for up to 1 month.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
Leave a review below, then snap a picture and tag @thebrowneyedbaker on Instagram so I can see it!
would u please convert the rest of the ingredients to metric?
This is ABSOLUTELY the best bread recipe I’ve ever made! Thank you!!
This is by far the best bread i have ever made. !!!!!! Got it copied and will use it forever.
I made this recipe with instant rise yeast. The bread had the perfect consistency and flavour. It rose beautifully. The recipe and steps are super easy to follow. I highly recommend this recipe.
I’m dying to make this recipe but don’t have a machine to knead the dough. Can I knead the dough by hand? And will I obtain the same results? Thanks. BTW LOVE your recipes!
Hi Abril, Yes definitely! I have done it many times when I didn’t want to risk waking sleeping babies ;-)
Tried the bread as in half batch. Formula works great. I used a total of 4 cups flour. Noticed many had questions about it. It does make a supper tall loaf, great texture, flavor and so on. I did use though, bread flour instead of allpurpose.
Hi…I would like to tell you that I halved the recipe and its turned out amazing…I will be making 2 loaves of bread from now on…my first time making bread…thank you so much ❤
I’m from South Africa
This was the best bread recipe I have found. Came out perfect! Great texture. I do think the second round of proving time needs to be about 10 to 15 minutes longer, but otherwise, just the best.
I made this last week for sandwich bread and am so pleased! Not only is it a super easy recipe, but it is also delicious and exactly what I’ve been looking for. I’ve tried a lot of recipes, trying to make a good sandwich bread for my family and have always been disappointed. The bread always seems too dry or too crumbly or so airy that it tears the instant you try to spread anything on it. This bread seems to rise evenly and stood up well for PB&Js. Thanks for this awesome recipe! Getting ready to make another batch right now. 😋
Help! Ive added all ten cups of flour plus some and its not forming a ball?! Ive double checkes all of my other ingredients and they appear to be correct. What gives?! I dont want to throw this out😔
Hi Sarah, You may need to add a bit more flour or knead a little longer… I often need to use less or more flour depending on the time of year or the weather – air temperature and humidity definitely have an effect!
This is an amazing recipe which results in lovely soft bread!!! It’s easy quick and very very yummy!!!! Definitely a keeper in the recipe folder!!
What does it mean to “rotate the bread halfway through”? Like flip the dough in the pan?
Hi Kaitlyn, It means to rotate the pan 180 degrees – so the side of the pan that was facing you should now face the back of the oven.
can this bread be baked without a pan, just shaped and bake?
Hi Janice, Some others have left comments that they have done this, so while I can’t vouch for personal experience, I think it should work okay!
made this last week, 2 huge loafs, excellent bread!!!
This is hands down the tastiest white bread I have ever made. I have a few great recipes already. I made this because I have tried browneyedbakers recipes before and all have been delicious.. My husband and son raved about it. They said “this is exactly what bread should taste like”. I am now motivated to try even more recipes on this site. I hope you keep the recipes coming. I am sure many others feel the same way. Thank you!
Who would have thought that at the age of 76 I’d start baking bread. No way, too hard. Whenever I saw a recipe that called for yeast I’d skip it. But let me tell you, I wish I found this recipe sooner. Now I bake bread every weekend. If anyone has not tried baking bread this is the recipe to start with. And you get better with each try. I know I have. But there was one time I used baking soda instead of powder. Not my best batch but still good. I have to get new pans. The ones I have are smaller so I get 3 loaves at least… which us not a bad thing. So thank you so much for the recipe. Now I have to try some others.
Baking this recipe of yours for the third time in the last 30 days. I give you both thumbs up.
Made this today and it’s perfect. I made half the recipe and baked it in a Pullman pan. I have made many white/sandwich bread recipes and none were as good as this one. Thanks! Ok
I just bought a stand mixer and was super excited to make bread for the first time… I went looking online for a simple white bread and found this recipe, and said to myself “I can do this”. Wow! I am truly amazed I just made this wonder loaf of bread. Thank you for this recipe, it will become a staple in my household.
Thank you for this recipe. This bread is really amazing , my family love it!
My comment is quite long so
TL:DR: made this last night, weighed everything, had to use 1.6kg flour – bread came out amazing. AMAZING. Only thing is it’s quite dense, but also fluffy and delicious. Had I not added extra flour it would’ve been too sticky to knead. Did I do anything wrong?
Oh. Also used Crisco as I was out of butter.
Thanks!
This recipe blew my mind. I’ve never made bread before. I have made dozens of batches of cinnamon rolls, pizza dough, biscuits, etc. so I’m not afraid of yeast (anymore). However, my last two attempts at cinnamon rolls resulted in flat rolls that didn’t rise.
Shellshocked much?
Anyway, going into this I was fully prepared for the dough to not rise, or if it rose, it wouldn’t bake right, and if it baked right, it wouldn’t taste right.
Well…let me just say, my bread came out looking exactly like your pictures, and tasted amazing. My boyfriend and I had to put the bread knife in the dishwasher to stop ourselves from taking down an entire loaf. (Because that’ll really do it, opening the dishwasher is such a challenge).
Anyway, onto the actual recipe. I used Crisco instead of butter, after painfully searching the internet to confirm this wasn’t going to result in terrible bread. I weighed all the ingredients – which I’ve never done for baking and LOVED – but I wound up having to put almost 1600 grams of flour in the dough. After 1400 grams the dough was so sticky I couldn’t even knead it.
The bread came out fluffy, but dense. very dense. I baked it at 375 for 15 minutes, and 400 for 17 minutes. Rotated it at 15 minutes. Also I have a gas oven – not electric.
When I went to knead the dough, it was sticking to my fingers to the point that I couldn’t actually knead it. Or maybe I could have if I’d kept going?
Thoughts?
Hi Rachel, I’m so glad you enjoyed the bread! As to your question about it being dense, that much extra flour could have definitely done it! If you were kneading by hand, it will definitely get less sticky as you go… I generally start by just sprinkling a little extra flour on the work surface and top, start kneading and go from there.
I’ve made this recipes probably 6 times. My husband and son LOVE it.
I make 1 loaf to eat for a week. I then use my muffin pan and make rolls with the other half of the dough. I freeze them, take them out when we want rolls with dinner, pop them in microwave for less than a minute. They’re delicious.
Thanks for the recipe
I tried it, with a little twist in the tale, baked it in a cake mould and WOW, I got a giant beautiful bun. Superb recipe. Great job browneyedbaker. Please keep it up. You made a place in our hearts!
I’ve made this bread twice and it’s the same thing my mother always made. My stepmother makes great tasting bread but once it’s cool it has a hard crust like French bread. I took them a loaf and they loved it. She asked me what the recipe was and she said it’s the same as hers only she doesn’t put any butter in hers. thats the difference. I didn’t have my mom’s recipe but I do know she put lard in hers and later switched to crisco instead and it was still soft and great but not as tasty but very close. I’m going to make a batch this morning and use lard instead of butter just to see what happens. I’ll still use butter for brushing before and after baking. Sorry but there’s never any left by the time I think about taking a picture. I’ll try to remember today. I also make 1 and a half times the recipe so I have some to fry while the loaves are baking. There’s nothing better than friedbbead hot ont of the cast iron skillet lathered with butter and BlackBerry preserves. As an old friend from southern Indiana would say it’ll flat make your tongue slap your brains out
I absolutely love this bread! I’ve been keeping my kitchen extremely well stocked with bread thanks to this recipe! My only problem is that my loaves are not nearly as neat as yours. After I’ve baked them whenever I go to cut them they smoosh down a bit, which makes sandwiches extremely difficult. Have you run into this problem? Do you have an advice on how to stop it?
Hi Soren, They don’t smoosh down for me, but I would make sure of two things:
#1 – Let the loaves cool completely before slicing. I know this is SO hard, but cutting warm bread will give you the smoosh effect.
#2 – Make sure you are using a sharp serrated bread knife. Using a non-serrated knife will definitely smash down the bread a bit.
I hope that helps!
Best bread recipe I have tried. I have been searching for a good one. Lovely flavor. I added about a teaspoon of baking powder and it was not too dense.
Such a great recipe and even I can’t mess it up, lol. It takes a little time but it is so worth it! So much better than store bought and kid approved ! I cut mine into 4 pieces and make 4 smaller loaves and freeze them. Stretches it a little further with 4 kids and the slices aren’t so big. Makes to die for French toast! Thanks for a great recipe!!
Thanks for the recipe. I just makes this today (by hand since my kitchenaid went on the fritz yesterday) the bread came out amazing!! I believe it needs the bigger bread pans because it came out huge over the top. This is definitely a keeper!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Melissa!
After reading the comments decided to make this recipe. It’s now officially my favourite loaf recipe. It made a beautiful dough and baked perfectly. Did take longer to rise than mentioned, but cannot fault the quality of the final product. Thank you.
I’m so happy to hear that, Missy! :)
Can I substitute oil for butter in order to makes dairy free load?
I have never tried doing that, so I can’t say definitively, but I think it should work.