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!
I have been experimenting with bread recipes and this is the one! I cooked mine till the internal thermometer hit 190 and I thought it was perfect. The only thing that was challenging was this recipe was quite large for my Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer and the dough got caught up where the attachment is.
I’ve been baking bread with my granny since I was a kid. I haven’t done it in a long time so I needed to find myself a recipe. I love this recipe! My only problem has been on my end. I was impatient with the rising times. It caused my bread to be dense and not cook evenly in the oven. I let my dough rise and everything turned out better.
I want to add to anyone reading; the amount of flour you use always varies. Today I only needed 7 cups of flour. Most days I use around 8-9 cups. I’ve used 10 cups only once.
The best part of this recipe is it is EGGLESS!! I am subscribing to your blog rightaway.
AMAZING AMAZING AMAZING!!!!!!! I’ve been making bread all summer, some great, some more eh experimental, but this is the easiest and most delicious one I’ve made so far. And I made it all by hand cuz I’m back in my dorms! took a while to knead though but it was worth it!! I also added some sunflower seeds, was a little worried about them tearing the dough but it was perfect! Had a little left over dough so I made some mozzarella stuffed dinner rolls!
I cannot see all the ingredients. Adverts keep coming up and blocking the top of the list. Please help as I woul love to use your recipe
Best white bread recipe I have seen. Two beautiful loaves 4 and 1/2 inches high in the middle. But I have a question – – – I am in Canada and our flour is different from yours and I used only eight cups of flour and had a beautiful dough that I did not feel I should add any more to it. Would this be normal?
We have spent 25 Winters in Florida and I always had to take my Canadian flour with me in order to make any bread from my recipes. My mother-in-law taught me this.
Amazing! My wife had surgery this week. Our youngest Son has autism and loves to create things. He wanted to make something for His Momma, and I needed something to be productive and keep us busy together. So we looked and found this bread recipe! I’ve never made bread before but we were both excited when it all came together and out of the oven!!!
Easy, fun delicious and something proud to be proud of and help is Momma feel better!!!
Can I use shortening instead of butter ?
Hi. I want to purchase your favorite bread pans from Williams Sonoma. Do you use the 1 lb. or 1 1/2 lb. pans? Can’t wait to make the bread! Thanks, Jennifer
Easy. Thumps right. Lightweight. Really easy.
Love it. Smells songood and bread is fluffy. I just made half of the recipe. Thank you.
Isn’t this an awful lot of flour for two loaves?
this recipe was great and my whole family loved this you should definetly try it out 👌👍❤😍
Love this bread! I’m a regular baker and occasional bread maker, and love the fluffy crumb and thin crust of this recipe. Maybe I can get my kids to actually eat sandwiches!
A couple issues: it is definitely too much dough for my KitchenAid mixer; I ended up finishing the flour-adding and kneading by hand (which isn’t ideal for neck/back issues). Also, my bottoms were burnt after 30 minutes- maybe due to my use of glass loaf pans, maybe because of the rack being at the lowest setting, or a combo of the two. I’ll use the middle of the oven next time and watch more closely.
I love this recipe, but take note – if you make the full recipe in a regular-sized stand mixer (mine is a Kitchen Aid w/ 5 quart bowl), it is slightly too big for the bowl. The dough got caught in my mixer’s moving parts, making it a crazy clean-up. Lesson learned!
This came out perfectly. The recipe also makes wonderful hamburger buns. I can’t believe I’ve never made this before. Thank you Brown Eyed Baker!
This is a great, easy recipe for homemade white bread! I’m not a pro at bread making but my bread still turned out super delicious. I might have added too much flour but I balanced it out with more oil. The bread was soft and rose well. I even used half of the batch to make bread rolls and topped them with honey butter. Will definitely try this recipe again and make it perfect :)
I’ve baked bread for many years and this really is a humdinger!Just one problem and that’s working out the quantities we like grams and mls or ounces and fluid ounces!Have you got a recipe for baguette that’s as good jf you have I’ll love you for ever!
First time bread baker here. Turned out perfect and super easy
I have made this twice and the bread is amazing! I have one one and a half pound loaf pan, and then I just have a regular loaf pan. I prefer the look of the larger loaf. But I just wanted to clarify what size you use. Your link shows two size choices. Just wanted to clarify which you use. And please forgive me if it’s in the text and I missed it. Thanks so much.
Taught my g-daughter this recipe to teach her how to read a recipe and cook it. Came out delicious.
Made 4 loaves with a friend, easy to follow recipe with delicious results.
Xoxo
I have made this bread at least four times over the past couple of months. It has become one of my family’s favorite breads. So why the 3-star review? The dough is always soft and very sticky, making it very difficult to work with until I finally get it in the pans. Your recipe says the dough should be “soft and tacky but not sticky.” I’ve made this bread on warm days and on cool days, and I follow the recipe measurements exactly (by the way, there are no measurements in grams for this bread). Cleaning up my stand mixer’s bowl and dough hook is a chore because of the dough’s stickiness. What could be going on here?
One thing I’ve learned in all my bread baking years is that bread is best made by how the dough looks, not necessarily by measurements. Because you might live in a more humid climate, or dry, your particular measurements might differ slightly than others. Have you tried adding a touch more flour so that the dough does come away from the bowl?
Yes, i do add more flour. The ten cups isn’t enough. I’ve probably added as much as another cup more, but I’ve hesitated to add more than that for fear of ruining the bread. Once I get the dough on the floured surface to make the two loaves, I’ve added even more flour to make it manageable.
My dough was very wet as well even after the 10 full cups of flour. I made a similar white bread recipe and the consistency was the same. Not having a stand mixer makes it particularly challenging as the dough spreads like and amoeba on my board. One thing to remember, however, is this is a white loaf bread, meant to replace the store bought loaf. Gluten development is not as important as it would be in a pizza dough or artisan bread. If you added flour until you were able to knead and get a window pane (dough could stretch enough to see light through) then you would have a completely different bread than intended. You mentioned in your review that it is one of your family’s favorite bread. I’d suggest adjusting your expectations of how this dough works and roll with it. That’s what I am learning anyway;) Best baking! David
Hi! I love making soft fluffy bread and sticky dough and large water to flour ratio is key. Do not add more flour- try increasing the kneading time, this allows more gluten to form which will make dough less sticky but still moist. Some recipes I will double kneading time. My rule of thumb- it is sticky but doesn’t stick to bowl when you pull it out, it sticks to self, pulling away from bowl. If the dough refuses to leave the bowl, it needs more kneading.
I love love the white bread recipe. I just wish I had tried before I purchased a bread maker, cause I always use your receipt. My friends will ask me to pay them in bread white
Bread recipe. He said I will install your overhead light I said how much he reply’s just make me the bread.
I love the results, but PLEASE give us a button to halve the recipe without going back to school to re-learn fractions. I wasn’t good at it in grade school, and I’m no better now. I tried that conversion site, and it gave me 2/5 th’s cup in place of 3/4 ths cup. My cup doesn’t measure in 5ths.
Try going by weight rather than cup measurements. You can google conversions of cup measurements to grams and halve from there. Working with weight rather than cups is also a good way to keep things consistent. Try this website, I use it all the time. It has conversions for most common baking ingredients.
https://www.errenskitchen.com/cooking-conversions/cups-to-grams-and-oz/
It’s not that hard and I’m terrible at math. 3/4 cup is 1/2 cup and 1/4 cup, halve those. 1/4 cup and 1/8 cup. There’s 16 tablespoons in a cup, so 1/8 cup is 2 Tbs. Not that hard. If you just remember the 16 Tbs per cup, you can go anywhere with it.
I’ve made this bread several times now and it really is so delicious and easy! Definitely my go-to recipe. Ive even made it using bread flour for a chewier texture and it turned out great.
As I was waiting for my daughter to get to the cottage late this evening, I was looking at bread recipes and thought I would make some fresh bread for the gang in the am. We were out and the store is a 15 minute drive. Soooo…
Found this recipe and saw the raving reviews and thought oh wow this is the one!
A picture is worth a thousand words but can find a place to insert one but take my word for it these are monster bread and the most delicious things I have tasted in a long time. Thank you thank you. Can’t wait to see the faces of the gang in the AM. Unbelievable that the incredible smell hasn’t woken them up!!!
I used this recipe for my first time ever making homemade bread. It turned out great! I used all 10 cups of flour, but I had to knead the dough MUCH longer to get the right consistency and I did not use loaf pans. Really delicious—I shared the other loaf with my in-laws and they also loved it.
I use this recipe to make bread every other week! I’ve been baking homemade bread for about a year now (using this recipe), and my family LOVES it! It makes for a great grilled cheese and French toast! I usually split the recipe into three loaf pans to make smaller loaves, otherwise the slices end up being quite large.
I’m new for cooking. I hardly do the kneading because l can’t. (I’m in Thailand) .This is the first time on kneading bread. In fact, I just bought a bread making pan and want to try it, so looking in internet and found yours…
How long do you bake them for when splitting into 3 pans? I want to try that myself as the 2 loaves give me bread too big for my toaster.
I used only one packet of yeast as I don’t like too much of a yeasty flavor. It turned out perfectly. It rose fully and was delicious home made bread. Fluffy inside and chewy crust. !! YUM.
Wow! I love this recipe. Halved it and made it yesterday. Fantastic. Just the bread recipe I was looking for. Pillowly soff inside and chewy thin crust on the top. Thank you for sharing this.