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!
There were so many adds on this webpage it’s practically impossible to make it. Dodging pop up after pop up and refreshing. The bread probably tastes great but I’ll never know.
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Do you have the recipe in grams?
My husband LOVED LOVED LOVED this bread. Best tasting bread I have ever made and it was very easy to make. My new fav recipe and I will be making it weekly.
I just made this and I love it. It’s better than I was even hoping for. My Mom said it’s the best bread she ever tasted. It made two HUGE loaves. I may try to make 3 loaves out of it next time. Thank you for sharing this. This is the bread recipe I will use from now on. Thank you!
Just made this and it is AMAZING! Other than cutting the recipe in half, I made no changes and I am so impressed. This is definitely our new white bread recipe. Too easy! Thanks for sharing!
Does this mean I put the loaf in. While the oven is preheating?
Very nice bread – made the 1/2 batch for a single loaf to try it out. Everyone including the kids loved it. next time plan to make the full recipe for the double. Considering the time commitment it makes more sense to make 2 at a time. We used it to celebrate Maundy Thursday during quarantine. Thanks for the yummy recipe.
Thank you for sharing. Doubled this and made four large beautiful loaves. Kids and husband loved it. Will use this recipe from now on. Couldn’t be any easier. Thank you again.
This is the best bread that l have ever made. This is now my go to bread from now on. It was high, fluffy and tasted wonderful. My husband couldn’t believe how good it was. And l have to say that my house smelled so good it was as if you walked into a bakery. Many , many thanks for posting this recipe this is a keeper.
I made this bread last week and got 3 absolutely amazing loaves of bread. I only had to use about 7 1/2ish cups of flour. Today it took over 10 cups. I realized that today is horrifically humid with thunderstorms heading our way…I guess that is the difference? Anyway, it’s on the first rising, so we shall see.
I used bread flour and followed the half measurements in the comments to a t. I used 4.5 cups of flour and had to add 3 tbsp of water to get to the right consistency. This bread is gorgeous!! Super tall and fluffy.
I tried your favorite white bread recipe, it’s OK, but nothing to rite home about, was looking for a SOFT white bread recipe but this wasn’t it, I’ll just need to keep looking, I think it calls for way too much flour
Hey Larry, I’m having the same problem as you can see further down the thread. I’ve tried twice now and I must be doing something wrong but can’t figure out what it is. Mine is nowhere near soft and fluffy but is dense and airy. I must be doing something wrong because other people are reporting success and the pictured bread looks almost exactly like store bought white bread. I would like to try a third time but am unsure as what to do that would make a difference without deviating from the recipe as written.
What brand of flour are you using? I’ve noticed a difference between store brand and generic when it comes to softness of loaves. Also how old is your flour? It can lose gluten over time.
Do you have an equally great recipe for whole wheat bread? The white bread is rising beautifully right now! But we’d love to try a whole wheat version too if you have it.
I would love to have this recipe for whole wheat flour too please!
really easy and beautiful rise
Why does my bread not fluffy ?how long do you knead bread? What happens if you over knead dough?
Hi Aileen, same problem here. If you figure it out, please let me (us) know what worked. I used our KitchenAid mixer and the recipe states to knead for 7 to 10 minutes. I’m unsure as to what happens if you UNDER KNEAD or OVER KNEAD the dough. My baking skills are suspect. Lol. If you see my thread further down you will see that a slice of my bread with approximately the same thickness was WAY heavier than a slice of store bought white bread. I’m flummoxed.
This is a very forgiving recipe! I used 50/50 bread and so flour and it came out great! I didn’t need the full amount of flour as suggested, so be sure to pay attention to the consistency as you add. One suggestion I see a lot is to add the initial amount in step 1, but then add 1/2 cup at a time until it hits the desired consistency. This will be my go to recipe during this crisis!
This was the best recipe ever!! This is going to be the ‘it’ recipe from now on. Thank u so much. Have been looking for a recipe for years. Well done !
Family loved it! Will definitely make this again.
Easy, delicious. My kids love it 2 loaves gone in one day.
Made it loved it.
Tried it today, came out good and tasted very nice. One question – the outer layer turned out a bit hard. Any idea why ?
So we made this recipe for the first time a few days ago. My daughters and I have now made 4 batches (8 loaves) just this week. The first batch turned out with a crispy crust. The inside was soft and fluffy but was not good sandwich bread at all because the crust was too hard and too thick. We experimented with the cooking techniques (not the recipe) and this is what we found out. We are very happy with this recipe with the few techniques I will mention below. Our neighbors have raved about it as well and are now asking for the recipe (even the ones that got the trial batches).
375 was the best temperature for us. It cooked too fast at 400. I had 3 thermometers confirm the true oven temp. Best Cook time was 25 minutes.
Bottom rack on oven was great place. Keep it there.
Don’t use foil to cover the top of the loaf — not even for a partial bake time.
Don’t baste the top of the bread right before you bake it.
The trick for soft crust for us was: Immediately when the bread is done (25 min at 375), then remove it from the pan and place the bread upright on a cooling rack. Then spread a damp tea towel on the top and sides of each of the cooked loaves of bread. For some reason this softened the crust. After 3-5 ish minutes remove the damp towel and immediately brush with lots of butter that will soak into the crust and keep the crust soft. Once we left the towel on for 10 minutes and that was too long. The crust was too soft then.
Hope this helps! Happy experimenting.
FYI’s
*We used the Calphalon Nonstick Bakeware, Loaf Pan, 5-inch by 10-inch baking pans.
* We averaged 9.25 cups of flour per batch
* We took the butter wrapper and lightly coated the bottom of the pans with what was left of the wrapper
When rolling out the dough (Before shaping it)
*We did not use a flouring surface. We sprayed the countertop with Pam cooking spray and rolled it out with that.
*Our inside humidity was hovering between 45-50% while we were baking and our altitude is 5,500 ft
Excellent! I’m going to try these steps next time. It addresses the same issues I’m having.
I am a terrible baker! I made bread two days ago, using a different recipe. It took hours, was dense, and had a hard crust. Horrible! I just tried this recipe with all of these changes from Joyblu and it turned out perfect! It is soft, with a nice soft crust, has small airy bubbles, and tastes delicious! I don’t usually make modifications to a recipe the first time I’m glad I did. Thank you for doing the trial and error work to perfect this recipe!
I really want to make this loaf, but I don’t have a mixer can I use my hands instead?
Yes, I made this yesterday with no mixer and it turned out great. I used a spatula first in the bowl to mix while slowly adding some of the flour. When it started to take form, I turned it over onto a floured cutting board and hand kneaded for about 10 minutes, while slowly incorporating the remaining flour. Once the dough took shape, I let it sit for about 5 minutes and then I moved it back to the (now cleaned) bowl.
I also let it rise at the max amounts with extra, but that’s because I used active dry yeast and not instant.
I’m going to be using active dry yeast too. The packaging says it doesn’t need to be activated in water that it can be added directly to the Flour mixture. Do you know anything about this?
Have you ever made this without the sugar? Do you have to sub with something else?
What my bread has in common with Jimmy Hoffa…
They are both mysteries as to what exactly happened. Lol. I have made two loaves of bread on two different occasions with pretty much the same results. Dense bread (similar to what I would expect from my bread machine) and not as tall as the pictured, more squat than tall, if you will. Like any great mystery, I’m trying to solve where I’m going off track. I know I HAVE to be doing something wrong as the original recipe photos probably do not lie and so many people are reporting outstanding results following the recipe.
I did, on both occasions, use the “half recipe” and followed the instructions to the best of my abilities. I used Jess’s calculations in the thread below and tried to follow step by step. For some reasons, it drives me insane when I see people leave a comment on a FREE online recipe website and then substitute or deviate from the instructions. When I see things like “I hate this meatloaf recipe, I was out of ketchup so I used clam juice, instead of bread crumbs I threw in some crushed pretzels and without any ground beef in the house, I used sardines……this recipe SUCKS.”
I am going to continue to wrack my little brain to try and figure out what’s going wrong here. It would be great to have it like it is pictured……little tiny holes and opposed to larger or more “airy” holes. Bread that it taller than it is wide. I am wondering if the fact that I am using “active dry yeast” from a brand new Red Star bulk bag has anything to due with my problem. On my first attempt, I added the yeast to 110 degree water and let it sit for 5 minutes…..on the second attempt, I used 110 degree water to the yeast and let it sit for 15 minutes before adding the additional ingredients that were measured precisely.
I broke out my digital scale and weighed a slice of normal sunbeam bread and it was 1 1/8 ounce….my slice which is almost the exact same thickness was 1 7/8 ounce. The bread TASTES wonderful….it’s just short, airy and dense. If I were to use it to make a turkey sandwich, it would probably be too much bread for the wife.
I forgot to mention that I let the bread sit a little longer in the bowl and in the loaf pan on the second attempt. It did appear to perhaps double in size in the bowl and it did rise higher in the loaf pan but not super high. It appeared that when it was BAKING, it didn’t rise much higher if any at all. I guess what is strangest of all to me is that, regardless of the height, the holes to so much bigger and not tiny and tight like the picture.
Perhaps…..just like Jimmy Hoffa, we’ll never know the answer. My wife is saying “just give up…it’s edible”. I’m like “No way, woman….I can find the answer to this and when I solve this baby, I”m out the the door to search for Jimmy”.
Did you use all-purpose flour or bread flour? I made two attempts at this with AP flour, both rose well but sunk before they could make it into the oven. AP flour doesn’t have the same protein content as bread flour so it doesn’t form as strong of gluten strands and can become more dense/prone to sinking. I ran to the store and grabbed a bag of vital wheat gluten and followed a bread flour substitution recipe- 1/2 TBSP vital wheat gluten per 1 cup (minus 1/2 TBSP) ap flour and it worked like a charm. Also, if you are kneading by hand you may need to add another few minutes to the time, since it is less consistent and even than a machine. If your house is a bit chilly, preheat your oven to the lowest temp it can be set to (~150 F worked for me)/leave the door open for a few moments if too warm, and the dough will proof more evenly and quickly in there.
Hi Ally. I did follow the directions pretty much to the letter, so it was indeed all-purpose flour on both occasions. I would indeed try bread flour if I had any on hand, but unfortunately I do not. However, I do have 25 pounds of all-purpose so I guess I’m going to have to try and make it work somehow. Lol.
I did not have the rise and sink problem as it appeared that, at least on the second attempt, when I let the active dry yeast sit for 15 minutes initially as opposed to 5 minutes, the dough did rise higher both in the bowl and in the pan. However it was not as high as pictured especially vs width. I did indeed use a KitchenAid mixer to knead the dough for 10 minutes as opposed to by hand. The temperature in the house is always at 72 degrees.
I do want to thank you IMMENSELY for taking the time to try and help me out. I am one of those people who appreciate the effort taken to offer up free advice and suggestions. I do think I MIGHT have stumbled onto at least part of the problem. I did indeed use a 9 inch loaf pan as instructed, however upon looking closely at Michelle’s (the author) pan recommendations….it appears the 1 pound pan she uses from Williams Sonoma is actually 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 which MIGHT explain, at least in part, why the loaf is higher than mine which is 9 x 5. I know a half inch isn’t much….but it could explain at least some difference.
Like I stated before, the taste is wonderful….and hopefully I can try an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 pan to see if it makes much difference. If it does, the last problem to solve is why my loaves are still dense and airy as opposed to light with very tiny air holes.
Thank you again, Ally for your help. At least I have some leads to work on. Then I’m off to find Jimmy. I hear on good authority that he might be flipping burgers at a roadside diner in Toledo. He should be about 106 years old about now so he should be easy to spot. Cheers!
Just curious…could you be measuring your flour a little on the full side? You can actually over measure flour by approx. 30%. Every cup should be about 140 grams. Or not scooped out of the bag with the measuring cup, but placed in the measuring cup with a spoon and leveled off with the back of a knife.
This might help… https://www.reddit.com/r/Sourdough/comments/70zg5q/what_happens_if_you_overproof_or_underproof_how/
That didn’t work! I was trying to link to an article called ‘What Happens if You Overproof or Underproof?’ Might be helpful to look into that question.
I would try leaving it longer the second proof. I had to prove mine for an hour and a half to get the same height on my bread. I was using the same size pans as what you are.I have never had my bread have the same texture as store-bought bread if you look at their ingredients they have a ton more so unless you added all that I don’t think you’re ever going to get that same texture. I could be wrong LOL I thought this was a great recipe and really enjoyed the bread. Hope you found success :-)
I made the bread today. It turned out to be awesome…
Made this bread today . came out great. Thanks for a great recipe. I quartered the recipe. Made small loaf in small loaf tin.
This recipe is wonderful. The bread looks exactly like the pictures. The texture is beautiful I’ve searched for years to find a great bread recipe and now I’ve found it. Thank you!
First try in many years (and several failures), and it turned out so well, I gave one loaf to friends. Thanks for a great recipe!
Yipeeeee, first time bread bake. Came out very well.
Has anyone tried subbing gf flour? One of my loved ones is highly sensitive n misses pb&j on white bread. I’d like to surprise them but I’m not great with yeast recipes to begin with and gf flour is expensive. Anyone who knows firsthand about how to pull this off – your tips would be so appreciated❣️
Love this recipe!! The bread was amazing – two loaves gone in 3 days!! Oops.
Have you ever used this dough to make rolls (perhaps by allowing the second rise in a muffin pan)? I was going to give it a shot but I don’t want to ruin an batch of it’s not a good idea.
First attempt at bread making and it turned out perfect! Halved the recipe for 1 loaf. Thanks for a great recipe!
Just made this first time ever and it is DELICIOUS!