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!
This bread came out excellent – just has described!
I wonder if you have experience in baking with White Spelt flour and if this recipe can be adapted to use spelt?
5 cups of flour ? It was not enough as it looks like batter
You may have missed the instruction to add the remaining flour later on in the recipe….
You need to read the recipe again. There is additional flour in the recipe
Do both quantities of water have to be warm ?
4 stars for the recipe. I made a few tweaks. 0 stars for the inability to look at it on mobile without intrusive ads redirecting you everywhere. Will likely make again, but not hitting this page ever again until the ads are navigable. I’m not against bloggers making money, but this is unusable as is
I have been baking bread for years now and this is by far the best recipe out there! The rise is amazing and the taste is CHEF’S KISS!
“Note #1: This recipe can be halved to make only one loaf.”
Dont ever follow note 1 because you will want to kick yourself for not having a second loaf to eat. Haha :)
This is the best bread recipe… i make 1 a regular loaf and the other I add pepperoni and cheese to make a pepperoni bread. Yum!
I make this all the time for my family, it never disappoints!
Easy to make, tastes delicious
The link to the Bread Pans just lead us to the WS website – not to the bread pans. Would you consider measuring them so we can use the correct size pan or perhaps a link to Amazon. I’m looking for length and width and height please. Can’t wait to try it.
Thanks so much
I have been baking bread for a long time. Tried your recipe today and the height of this bread is amazing. It’s almost done baking. Can’t wait to eat it!
I roll it out thin and put some lumps of butter on it, smush around and add brown sugar and cinnamon, roll up and slice
Just had a piece of this wonderful bread. It was fresh and hot out of the oven. Yes I know your supposed to let it cool, but that first hot piece takes me back to when I was a kid and mom made bread.
I don’t have any instant yeast so I used regular bread yeast. It worked perfectly. Both loaves are tall fluffy and soft inside with a crunchy crust. I’ve been looking for my white bread recipe, but no longer. This is it.
By far the best bread recipe I have used yet. Question- mine did not rise as high when baking- what did I do wrong? It was still really good but a bit more dense….
Sometimes you can do everything perfectly and your bread doesn’t turn out right. It can be due to your house being too cold or your water not being warm enough.
I’ve made bread loads of times and these are the tricks that I use everytime.
• make sure my water is actually warm. If you have a thermometer the ideal temp is around 115F°
• The amount of flour you need vary based on factors like humidity. You really want to put just enough flour so that your dough is soft, but there’s no visible flour on it. If you can poke it with no flour sticking to your finger than you’re good.
• if you stir your dough too much it develops gluten and makes your dough too tough, if you use a mixer turn it off at least once to scrape the bowl and fold the dough, makes the process faster so less stirring.
• lastly, after it rises you really want to be gentle. Dividing it and shaping the dough will take care of most of the air bubbles. Leave the rest.
* My house is usually cold so I turn my oven on to 170° for 30 ish seconds and then put my dough in. Your grill should still be cold to the touch.
I’m going to try this soon. Has anyone made it in a Pullman pan to make square sandwich loaves?
Couldn’t find bread in the stores for Hurricane Ian prep supplies, grabbed some yeast and flour & my go to site for baking. The whole family loved it❣️So glad I couldn’t find store bread and that my power didn’t cut out before I could bake it! 😉 We even changed our dinner menu in order to have a slice of buttered bread with dinner!
I have made this probably at least 5 times now and it’s a really incredible white bread recipe. I am always surprised by how fluffy and light it turns out. Probably the best white balloon bread recipe I have tried to use with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and grilled cheese. Highly recommended.
To anyone using the automatic tool to change the quantities- it does not change the larger amount of water that is added to the dough.
If I add the right spices can I turn this into like a spice/cinnamon bread?
I roll it out thin and put some lumps of butter on it, smush around and add brown sugar and cinnamon, roll up and slice
I’ve been making homemade bread for years, this is by far the best eave. Thank you
My new favorite bread recipe. Great crumb, fabulous rise. It’s replaced my old fave bread recipe. Thank you so much!
Spam spam spam no thank you
I make this bread every Friday. My husband and I absolutely love it. My husband said it’s the best bread he’s ever had. 10/10
I make this all the time. It is my goto white bread recipe. I am curious if there is a way I could add in 10 grain cereal to make whole grain bread with this? I have a whole grain recipe that I have tried several times and it never seems to turn out good. Would love to know a way to convert this one.
This simple recipe produces soft, delicious bread with a nice chewy crust. Be gentle, just barely pressing out the air and top it w/ butter when it comes out of the oven. . It’s super versatile, just modify baking times for smaller sizes.
I just made it for the 4th time. 1 recipe produced a large loaf, 1 mini loaf, a medium size braided wreath, a small butter top pull apart loaf and 6 rolled garlic-parmesan buns.
This recipe is a keeper! Thanks!
This is my absolute favourite sandwich bread recipe. It is requested and made often for my family. It is soft, flavourful, a tender crumb that holds together with a thin and slightly chewy crust that browns so nicely. I replace the lesser amount of water with scalded milk and use honey instead of sugar. I have used up to 65% whole wheat flour and it still turns out soft and fluffy. This recipe makes closer to 3 loaves. It keeps very well also.
Thanks for a fabulous recipe!
I am so thankful I stumbled across this recipe.
My husband and I love this bread so much! I make it every few weeks, and portion slices in freezer bags for fresh bread all month long.
We use it for sandwiches, toast, garlic bread, french toast, you name it!
I LOVE having an easy, delicious, and foolproof bread recipe I can count on(especially without all the preservatives you find in store bought bread)!
Theeeeeeeeeeeeeee most perfect flop proof bread recipe! a winner!
Love this recipe for white bread, have made it four times now and it always turns out great. I get so happy when I see how it rises.
Wow this is the best homemade bread ever! I kneaded for longer added bread improver. It was still fresh enough for sandwiches three days later.
Froze and defrosted beautifully too. Won’t be buying bread anymore! Thanks very much.
My go to white bread recipe. KitchenAid mixer makes the job easy. I usually use a little leveling boaster.