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 am a novice bread maker and have ran into the same problem when I get to the “brush with butter” part of instructions. Every time I brush it with butter, the loaf deflates. I don’t know why this is happening to me. I am going to try this recipe but I am afraid of that step. Any thoughts on why this happens or how I can prevent it from happening?
I found I actually got a softer and more structurally-sound crumb when I let it rise for 45 min instead of 1 hour. It’s a little counter-intuitive — you think more air = fluffier bread, but it is possible to OVER-proof the dough.
You also don’t need to be that delicate with the dough when you’re punching it down to the rectangles — you really want to get rid of any big bubbles since they can cause big pockets of hot air that deflate when you take it out of the oven. Hope this helps!
Can you use salted butter and have it turn out just as good? This looks like a great recipe but I have a lot of salted butter to use.
Hey Karen. I made this to with salted butter and it was just fine. :)
I was looking for a recipe without sugar. This is not it.
The sugar feeds the yeast. It won’t be sweet.
Word of warning – if you have a Kitchen aid tilt head mixer, the volume is too much for the machine. Either knead in two batches, or halve recipe. The 9-10 cups of four is obviously a clue (!), but for some reason, I decided to go for it anyway and ended up having reclaim dough that crawled up the dough hook. Yuck!
I also am a homemade bread lover, the recipe looks great and I would make it but, I can’t print it out and it is too long to write it out by hand.
Just snap a picture of this recipe with a cell phone.
I really really love this recipe. IT’s so easy and produces such great results. Has anyone tried adding any grains or seeds?
I don’t usually leave reviews but I have to this time! I have made probably close to 50 loaves of bread with this recipe and IT’S AMAZING. Easily my “go-to” recipe. It’s also great as a starting point to play around with! I usually add a bit of honey to this recipe and it really ups the flavour (even better if you brush with honey butter too!)
I’ve tried this recipe twice. First attempt is not worth mentioning. The second was flawed but still turned out pretty good. The short of it is, not enough white flour (only 4 cups) so had to use whole wheat (4.5 cups) and rye (.5 cup). Didn’t care for the spiral. When I tried to tare a bite off a slice it came apart at the spiral but I chalk that up to the dough being to dry due to the whole wheat and rye. Overall my wife and I love it. Can’t wait to try it with all white flour. We fully expect to give it five stars the next time. I would like to share pictures but don’t see an attachment link.
You may want to re read the recipe, it calls for 9-10 cups.
This bread is amazing!!!! I make two loaves, we eat one and freeze one. Slice prior to freezing so you can take it out as you need it!!! We will only eat fresh bread now! So delicious!
I made your white bread today. I enjoyed making it and am now having a piece. It is delicious. Thanks for the recipe.
I would love to make this recipe but when I pull it up on my phone there’s a stupid ad by ad choices there that will not go away even if you press the X so I cannot see the amounts of ingredients needed.
Lovely bread the best recipe thank you!
I am a seasoned baker. This is one of the best bread recipes out there! Wow! If you’re debating, try it!
O. M. G. BEST sandwich and toast bread recipe I’ve ever tried! I can’t stop eating it! Would make amazing garlic toast. Has the perfect soft crumb! I sprayed my pans with Baker’s Joy and coated the inside with sesame seeds and sprinkled them on the top before final rise also. This is a very easy recipe and a winner in every way!
Could you possibly give me the amounts in weight & mls ,rather than cups , as I’m not sure what size cup
Can I substitute measure for measure gluten free flour without adding a host of other ingredients?
If you are using a gluten-free flour blend, I would say yes. However, I do want to caution you to not do the double rise method with gluten-free flour. Gluten is what allows bread dough to stretch without breaking, and works with the yeast to create a good rise and sturdy structure.
I have found when I am replacing a regular bread-dough recipe with a gluten-free flour blend it is best to only let it rise once, then bake it. This may cause the bread to have a different amount of tenderness, but shouldn’t affect the overall flavor. If you want to let your bread do the classic double-rise method, you will need to add xanthan gum to your gluten-free flour as that acts as a substitute for the missing gluten.
I forgot to mention that if you don’t use the double-rise method, when you finish kneading your dough, you will skip straight to the shaping the loaves section, then continue on as you normally would to bake.
I never liked homemade bread much. I liked it right out of the oven but after that first day I really didn’t care for it. I liked it from bakeries. But when I found this one WOW I love it. It stays soft for days. So easy to make. It’s just like if you got it from a bakery. Thank you for sharing you recipe. You also made my husband happy because he loves homemade bread and now I make it all the time and will make extra put it in freezer and its just as good as the day I made it when I take it out.
I made this bread on Saturday. Instead of making 2 loaves, I made 5 smaller loaves. It came out great. I delivered them to my neighbors along with home made soup and apple crisp. They all loved your bread.
Really fancy making this recipe. Struggling with the conversions though, what’s this in Metric?
There is a small button at the bottom of the ingredients list that allows you to choose metric..
I made this, but used half wheat flour and half all-purpose and it made two perfect loaves! This recipe is great! Thanks,!
Lynne
This is the best homemade bread, it’s delicious and very easy to make. Thank you for sharing.
I made this initial as a 1/2 recipe and then stuffed it into my cake pan as I didn’t have a dedicated bread one. Left for a meeting and it was all over the place. I should have punched it down and let it rise again but to a moderate level but even overproofed, it was a huge mushroom fluffy loaf. My son ate several pieces and wife who is carb adverse even had 2.
I scaled back to 1/3 and then 1/4 portion which fits my cake pan nicely but still spits out a 650g loaf. It is a pretty forgiving recipe and I have haphazardly made the dough wetter or drier, baked it 5 min to long etc and it all comes out fine. This last one I just made I didn’t even mix it a lot. Just took a no knead approach and got all the dry ingredients and yeast together, poured in the combined portion of water instead of doing it separate and stirred and folded it a few times until incorporated all the flour. The only difference I noticed was the initial rise was slower so I left it for 2.5 hours, rolled and folded it, put in the pan for second proofing for another hour and it came out just the same. Might do another run where I let it proof for 12 hours and see if the flavour differs much. This approach is just fine for working at home with some minimal maintenance steps.
All yeast doughs seem pretty generic, just yeast, flour, water, some sugar, salt. I can see this being okay for homemade hotdog or hamburger buns. This dough is fluffy and not gummy like those cheaper storeboughts and doesn’t taste like a ton of sugar.
I was wondering if I can make soft bread sticks or rolls with this dough instead of the loaves of bread? Also can the dough be made and frozen and if so how do I go about it? I was thinking of making a few batches in advance as I will be starting a new job that requires me to be on the road during the day so by taking the dough out the night before and putting it in the refrigerator then taking it out in the morning I will be able to come home and finish whatever needs to be done and pop it in the oven. What do you think?
I am an experienced baker, love to cook but never really made bread.
This bread was heavenly tasting, but when I took it out of the oven, it looked great, but after about 15 minutes the top got really bumpy, which I don’t understand. I baked it again and the same thing happened. I only used 8 cups of flour with the first batch because it didn’t need anymore and the recipe said you may not need to use all the flour, which is 9-10 cups, so I’m at a loss to understand why the top is really bumpy. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
I haven’t tried this recipe yet but am going to as my kids did not like the grilled cheese made with the homemade brioche bread I made. But while searching for white bread recipes I came across this tip:
“When the bread is done, I turn off the oven and let it cool down inside, with the oven door half open. Or if I have to do more baking, I let the bread cool down in a draft free, warm place. If the bread cools down too fast, it can cause some wrinkles to form on the crust. It doesn’t affect the taste however, just the appearance. However, this may sometimes be unavoidable in the winter.”
Not sure if that helps!
I believe you should go ahead and use that extra cup of flour. That is my main suggestion here and probably the reason you get the lumps. Also gently press any larger air bubbles out before forming the dough into your loaf. You might need to prick them with a toothpick, although I left a few and it still came out with a very uniform crumb. And be sure to insert a thermometer at the end to be sure your inner bread temp is 195. It may be slightly under baked inside. But really I don’t believe 8 cups is Not enough. Dough will be soft and sticky but won’t really stick to your fingers or bowl at all.
This was delicious. You linked pans from Williams Sonoma—neither is a true 9X5. Do you use the bigger version (the 1.5 lb loaf) or the smaller (the 1lb loaf). Interested in your go to pans!
I don’t have a stand mixer. Wondering if this could be made in a bread machine?
This recipe is pretty forgiving and made 4 loaves so far by just mixing in the bowl and do a couple of minutes of folding with hands. Eyeballed all the measures, water, even did a no knead just now where I threw all the dry stuff, yeast together, water after and mixed by hand until incorporated. Proofed for a couple of hours and then did rollout and second proof.
Use your bread machine for steps 1-3 on your dough setting. I did this, and it came out amazing!
This really is one of the best tasting white bread recipes I’ve made. Very easy to make, uses AP flour and while it does make two large loaves I make three smaller loaves from the recipe. I can see why it’s the most popular post and would very much recommend this to any one, seasoned or novice. Thank you for sharing.
This is my go-to bread! It does make two LARGE loaves but everyone always raves about it. Sometimes I’ll cut off enough dough to make a few rolls. I only need 8 cups of flour when I make it. I find it best when the dough isn’t too dry so don’t be afraid to add a tiny bit of water to make it slightly sticky.
Best white bread recipe! Will be the only one I use now. Used active dry yeast and did nothing
different with it. Made 2 loaves in 9-5/8 x 5-1/2 x 2-1/4 pans. Love it!
This is, without a doubt, the best bread I have ever made. Thank you so much!
I haven’t tried this recipe yet, but I’m wondering what you mean rotate half way through. With just 2 pans in the oven, why would you have to rotate.
Ovens can cook unevenly, so rotating the pan halfway ensures that the bread cooks evenly! I rotate so that the side that was at the back of the oven goes to the front.