Homemade White Bread Recipe (2024)

This White Bread recipe is easy to make and produces soft, fluffy and light white bread. This simple bread recipe makes two tall loaves of the best sandwich bread!

Tender with a golden buttery top, this basic bread recipe is delicious slathered with a little butter or jam however, White Bread is so versatile that it can be used in so many different ways. A loaf of white bread sliced makes crispy breakfast toasts and the best sandwiches (grilled cheese and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches come to mind).

There is nothing like the aroma of freshly baked bread right out of the oven and this homemade white bread recipe is so much better than anything you can buy at the store and so incredibly easy to make.

White Bread Recipe Ingredients

• Bread Flour
• Warm Water
• Instant Yeast or Active Dry Yeast
• Unsalted Butter
• Granulated Sugar
• Salt

How To Make White Bread

If you haven’t made homemade bread before or feel like bread making is a daunting task, this is the perfect beginner bread recipe to bake. The whole process is very simple, quick and easy. Almost too easy for a yeast bread recipe!

• Proof the yeast:
  Mix the warm water, instant yeast and sugar in the bowl of a standing mixer. Allow this mixture to sit for 4 to 5 minutes. This is called proofing the yeast. You want to make sure the yeast is alive and activated before you add the rest of the ingredients. If your yeast is alive, the mixture will start to foam and little bubbles will rise to the surface.
• Add the rest of the Ingredients:
  Continue by adding the butter, salt and some of the flour. Mix on low speed adding additional flour gradually. If your dough seems too dry, you can add additional water (about 1/4 cup).
• Knead:
  Continue to knead the dough for about 5 minutes or until the dough pulls together away from the sides of the mixing bowl.
• First Rise:
  Place the dough in a greased bowl and allow it to rise covered for about 1 hour or until doubled in size. My dough always gets huge!
• Punch It Down:
  Deflate the dough by simply “punching” the dough – yes! just punch it down and turn it onto a lightly floured surface.
• Cut and Shape:
  Divide the dough into two equal pieces (mine are never that perfectly equal) and shape them into loaves (oblong shape is fine).
• Second Rise:
  Place the dough into 2 greased loaf pans and let them rise for about 40 minutes. The dough will look beautifully tall.
• Baking:
  Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven.
• Butter Up and Cool:
  For extra flavor and a beautiful sheen, brush each loaf of bread with melted butter right after baking and while the bread is still hot. Allow the bread to cool before slicing (good luck waiting!).

Proofing The Yeast

What does Proofing The Yeast Mean?
Proofing the yeast means to prove that your yeast is alive and active. This task simply means to combine warm water, yeast and sometimes sugar and to wait about 5 minutes to see if the yeast is active (not old or dead).

Although in this recipe water is used, some recipes call for other liquids such as milk. The water temperature should be between 110 and 115 degrees F. This is very important as cold or hot water will kill the yeast.
After 5 minutes, the mixture should be foamy. If your mixture doesn’t show any bubbles, toss it and start again.

Other Homemade Bread Recipes To Make

• Parker House Rolls
• Buttermilk Biscuits
• Easy Banana Bread
• Irish Soda Bread
• Bauernbrot (German Bread)
• Brioche
• Homemade Croissants