It’s super easy to make your own homemade bread. Fresh white bread tastes amazing warm out of the oven and is the perfect bread for sandwiches too.
How I created this Homemade White Bread Recipe
Homemade bread is one of the most delicious things that can come out of an oven. There is nothing like fresh bread. AND it’s seriously so easy to make!
I did a live cooking show sharing not only my easy basic recipe but also sharing a bunch of changes you can make to the recipe if you don’t have all the same ingredients.
I use dry milk and potato flakes in mine – it’s a great way to rotate through my food storage ingredients, but if you don’t have either ingredient it’s okay, the recipe will still turn out just fine!
Now I like slathering my homemade bread with butter and honey, or vanilla sugar. But if you let the bread cool and sit until the next day it’s great for slicing and turning into sandwich bread (the same day its just a little on the soft side)
I also like to make french toast with thick sliced homemade bread. I’ll usually add a swirl of cinnamon in this recipe if I’m going to be making something sweet.
Just take me to the Bread Recipe already!
If you’d rather skip my tips and tricks for homemade bread, along with links to other recipes for staple foods and get straight to this delicious sandwich bread – simply scroll to the bottom of the page where you can find the printable recipe card.
Ingredients that make the Perfect Yeast Bread
Yeast
Active dry yeast – You need to activate this yeast before using it. Heat the liquid (water or milk, both work great) to 110-115 degrees. Add the liquid to the yeast with a tsp of water and let sit for 5-10 mins. During that thime the yeast will bloom; meaning it will get foamy. This will let you know that the yeast is working and now you’re ready to make bread.
Instant yeast – You just add this with the dry ingredients and once you add liquid (at any temperature) it will start to work. You use 90% less yeast, and but the rise time down. BUT the flavor will be different.
Milk
Using milk to activate the the yeast makes for a softer bread. The fat in the milk acts as a tenderizer and adds flavor to the loaf. It also results in a better browning to the crust. If you are using milk instead of water, I recommend whole milk.
Back in the day you needed to scald the milk to destroy an enzyme that prevents the yeast from working, – but now milk is pasteurized so there is no need, just heat to 112 degrees. OR you could use dry milk powder; if you have food storage this is a great way to rotate your dry milk. Remember, it’s 1/3 C milk powder for every cup of water.
Flour
Bread flour – It’s specially made for baking bread: it has a higher protein count which helps with the stability and rise of your bread, resulting in an airy loaf.
All-purpose flour – You will have light-colored, shorter, and denser bread.
Potato Flakes
This increases fluffiness and moistness of the bread loaf. It will also keep the bread fresher longer. The rule is 1-2 Tbsp of potato flakes for every 1 C flour.
To make this White Bread you’ll need
- A stand mixer – My Bosch and the dough hook attachment is reliable and strong, perfect for making bread
- active yeast
- dry milk powder
- potato flakes
- Non-stick cooking spray
- large bowl
- Tea towel
- 2 9×5 inch Bread pans
Homemade Bread
If you love baking at home as much as I do, I’d love a 5 star review. Be sure to share on social media and tag me if you make it @ashleemariecakes! If you want to stay updated on new recipes sign up for my newsletter and join my Facebook Group!
If you love this bread recipe you’ll love these other yeast-based recipes!
Cinnamon swirl bread | Monkey Bread | Donuts
Beignets | Crescent rolls | Hour Breadsticks
Connect with Ashlee Marie Online!
To watch me make this white bread in a live cooking show play the video in the recipe card.
You can find all my cooking show style recipe videos on YouTube, or my short recipe videos on Facebook Watch, or my Facebook Page, or right here on our website with their corresponding recipes.
White Bread Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast or 2 tsp instant yeast
- 1 3/4 C water – heated to 112 or milk
- 3 Tbsp sugar
- 3+ C bread flour all purpose works too
- 1 1/4 tsp salt
- 6 Tbsp butter
- 1/2 C dry milk powder optional, use with 1 1/6 C water to activate the yeast
- 1/2 C potato flakes optional, add with the flour
- 1 egg
- 1 Tbsp water
Instructions
- add the yeast, 1 tsp of the sugar and the warm water to a mixing bowl. Let the yeast bloom for 5-10 mins
- Add half the flour, the rest of the sugar, the butter, salt, dry milk and potato flakes. Mix until mostly smooth.
- Add flour 1/2 C at a time until the dough starts to thicken. Then switch to 1/4 C at a time. Make sure you give some knead time in between adding the flour.
- Add flour until the dough starts to clean the sides of the bowl. Then stop adding flour and keep kneading until the dough is soft and elastic. Test it by grabbing a small ball of dough and pulling it into a square to make sure it stretches thin but doesn’t rip.
- Place the ball of dough into a greased bowl and cover with a tea towel. Let it rise 60-90 mins until doubled in size.
- knock the dough down and divide in half. Press into a 6×8 inch rectangle and roll into a log. Place into a prepared bread pan and lest rise about 60 mins until the dough rises above the pan by about 1 inch.
- preheat the oven to 350
- mix the egg and water and brush onto the bread
- bake the bread for 15 mins then top with an aluminum foil tent to keep from over browning and bake another 25-30 mins.
- let cool slightly then slice and serve, or let cool until the next day to slice thing and use for sandwich bread.
Sallie
Just something I think I noticed… a minor error, and I think it was just a typo, but in case you missed it… at the start of your tips regarding the yeast, instruction says “Add the liquid to the yeast with a tsp of water and let sit for 5-10 mins”. I do believe you meant a tsp of sugar. I did not finish reading the whole article, so you may have clarified… but if indeed you missed it, you may want to fix it.
Ashlee Marie
Thank you so much for pointing that out!