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!
Wonderfully easy bread to make and absolutely delish! Will be making again for sure.
Dear Browneyedbaker I will never mess with your bread recipe again. Green eyedbaker
This is an incredible bread recipe. The loaves are huge, with a beautiful texture
and flavour. They were overflowing in my two bread pans, so I divided them into fourths. Alas, it made them too small. I will try this again, but use three pans instead. I’m going to substitute the water for sour milk, because I don’t want to throw it out. I’ll post later to share my results! Aaaaaand browneyedbaker has the ultimate, best, wonderful, cinnamon bun recipe I have ever tried.
We LOVE this recipe. Lately, there has been no satisfactory white bread at the supermarket. This recipe is easy, and spectacularly successful every time. I am fortunate to be retired and have the time to make this delicious bread. There is not a lot of active time involved, just the need to be around while the dough is rising. The bread stays fresh for several days. We always freeze the second loaf. It is my husband’s favorite bread. He’d be happy with this bread toasted and nothing else for supper!
Today is the 2nd time I’ve made this bread and it is the perfect bread recripe
Hi! I came across your recipe on a google search. I’m very excited to make this but I saw you got the recipe from someone’s grandmother. We’re you given permission to post this as your own?
Were*
She stated in the article that she had this recipe bookmarked for awhile, which implies it is either published in a cookbook or posted online already (:
I made it and its absolutely perfect, and incrwdibly affordable as it is Just flour and yeast. Great! Thank you for sharing this recipe with us! Just one question. How do you calculate the nutrition elements?
Hi Eleni, The calculation is included in the software used to write the recipes on the backend of the website.
Made this recipe – with one minor change, I cut the sugar to 1 TBS. It’s turned out perfectly in Central America and 2 provinces in Canada!
This recipe has become my go to for when I bake bread, super easy for beginners and delicious. My family loves it.
may i know the cups measurement …. is it 200ml 0r 240ml…
or if u can convert the breadflour in grams
oh my gosh!!!!! Absolutely the hands-down best bread ever! just got finished eating 2 slices of this fresh bread with butter! Yumm!!! this will be my only bread recipe from now on. perfect and fluffy!! thank you for sharing this recipe.
You should know that changing the number of servings to halve the recipe on the site before printing does not change the 2 ⅔ cups of water for the recipe. I didn’t notice the difference as an inexperienced baker and ended up with pancake batter instead of bread dough. Hopefully you can fix this.
Once corrected the recipe does make a tasty loaf of bread.
I just put 2 loaves in and I’m SO EXCITED!! I think everything came out perfectly – as long as I don’t burn the bread haha. I have never made bread dough before and I would recommend looking up a video on how to knead dough just because that’s the part I was most unsure of. Also, expect your hand to be tired if mixing the dough by hand and then kneading by hand. I kneaded for about 12 minutes.
My house smells AMAZING right now!!!! I’ll be eating some bread soon!!🍞
This recipe calls for instant yeast, but it’s dissolved in water. I thought that instant yeast was supposed to be mixed in with the dry ingredients? Please help…
Yes, that threw me off, too. But I was committed at that point, so I skipped that step and just added the water I would have used for dissolving the yeast to the other liquid. Turned out great!
I used this recipe to make a Christmas bread wreath. Dividing the dough (prior to 7-10 minute knead) into 3 loaves kneading each separately adding red to one and green to another (cleaning the bowl between). I let them rise, rolled them out into even ropes and braided. Wrapping the dough around an oiled cake pan on a lined sheet pan, I pinched the ends to seal. I let it rise, brushed with a beaten egg and baked.
I’ll hang it on the front door and maybe add lights.
This recipe is phenomenal! I used it to make our Thanksgiving stuffing and it was AMAZING. My husband loves this bread so much that he wants this for sandwich bread instead of his beloved Italian store sliced bread! I make the dough in the bread machine and then make it in the oven. Simply divine! Thank you!!
Wow! My 3rd time attempting to master fluffy bread – like Nanny in Newfoundland… guess what! YES! The 2 loaves turned out beautiful… Thank you for great recipe! And all the comments really helpful too – thank you everyone else too!
This recipe makes giant loaves at least when I make it, but it’s incredible! Very soft and yummy.
I have fouled up so many bread attempts before, I don’t know why I was brave enough to try again. This was easy and everything went the way it was supposed to. I used 1/8 cup of sugar instead of 1/4 cup but otherwise followed the directions exactly and the results were beautiful and DELICIOUS. Definitely saving this one and highly recommend it. PS I used instant yeast so did not have to the do the initial step involving combining yeast and water.
Sorry, that was supposed to be a FIVE-STAR rating! I’d give it TEN if I could :-)
Can you make this in a bread machine?
My loaves came out wonderful!!! Great recipie.
I’ve been making this bread for about 3 years now and my family loves it. Two years ago I started making 6 loaves the week before Thanksgiving and freezing them, then the day before I would thaw them out and rip them up to toast them in the oven for our dressing. I’ve made myself extra work at the holidays but it’s worth it for the praises I get from my family. Thank you so much. Happy Thanksgiving.
I love the bread. Great taste and easy . I couldn’t wait to taste it.
I made this recipe yesterday, its so yummy!
Thank you,
Jane
Love this recipe! I’ve made it a couple times now and it’s turned out great every time. I tried substituting half the all purpose flour for whole wheat flour and it turned out amazing!! Will definitely be saving this recipe to make more in the future. :)
I made it and OMG it came out just like the picture so tasty. Thank you very much
I would like to make more from your recipes
This was the third recipe I tried for white bread and this is the winner by far!!! Amazing bread!!
This is my favorite of all the bread recipes I’ve tried since the coronavirus hit–and I’ve not bought a single loaf of bread since March. The flavor and texture are perfect. Though I loved making two loaves at once, as several other commenters noted, that amount of dough made a mess of my stand mixer. I’ll keep it to one loaf at a time from now on, but that just means I’ll be making it twice as often!
I’ve now made this recipe about 8-10 times. I’ve shared loaves with family, friends and neighbors and they’ve loved them too.
This is my go to and I’m so glad you shared.
Today I’m making it because my friend loves it and she’s been wanting some.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Amazing recipe! I have 1 lb loaf pans (8.5″ x 4.5″ x 2.75″), and found that they were a tad small for this recipe. I just scaled the recipe down to 2/3 of the original amounts, and reduced the baking time by a few minutes and they turned out perfect.
Scaled recipe (rounded to nearest measurements):
1 tbsp instant yeast
1/2 cup + 1 3/4 cup warm water
3 tbsp sugar
2 tsp salt
2 tbsp butter, cubed
6-7 cups all-purpose flour (start with 4 cups, and gradually add more until tacky but not sticky)
2 tbsp melted butter for brushing
Thank you so much for this, I have a Kitchenaid tilt head so knew the full recipe would be too much, 10 minutes to go before they come out the oven and they are looking wonderful.
Tq for helping with the half recipes. It’s too overwhelming to make so much bread. Will try making it today
I also LOVE this recipe- it is our favorite bread recipe. I also found that the two thirds amount is just perfect to mix in my Kitchenaid and makes an excellent size for toast too. These are the measurements I use. Thank you both!