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This BEST bread recipe makes the most deliciously fluffy loaf of white bread. It tastes so much better than store-bought!
Nothing beats delicious homemade bread! If you love a good bread recipe, you’ll also love our French Bread, White Bread Recipe, and Banana Bread recipes.
a Family Favorite!
I have to confess, I’m kind of a bread addict. I love any kind of bread, from tender and flaky Buttermilk Biscuits to pillowy soft Homemade Dinner Rolls.
My very favorite kind of bread, though, is a fluffy white loaf of this bread recipe. We love it because the flavor is PERFECTION, but also because:
- Made with pantry staples. Ingredients are simple and ones most everyone has on hand.
- Used for SO many recipes. It’s perfect for sandwiches, Grilled Cheese, or a batch of French toast.
- Cost effective and healthier. Making this homemade bread recipe will cost about $1.25 worth of ingredients per loaf and I get to control exactly what ingredients I use!
- Great to freeze. Like most bread recipes, this is great to make ahead and store.
Bread Ingredients
As mentioned above, most of these items can be found in your pantry, which means you should be able to make this any time!
- Active Dry Yeast (1 packet) – If your yeast is old or dead, your easy bread recipe is going nowhere fast. I store my yeast in the fridge at all times.
- Warm Water
- Sugar
- Salt
- Vegetable Oil
- Bread Flour – Comes in both whole wheat and white versions and has a higher percentage of protein than all-purpose flour. If you don’t have bread flour, you can replace it with an equal amount of all-purpose flour. It does change the texture a bit, but still works well.
- Butter
How to Make Bread
- YEAST. In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, dissolve the yeast in warm water with a pinch of sugar.
- COMBINE + KNEAD. When the yeast mixture is bubbly and foamy, add the sugar, salt, oil, and 4 cups flour, and mix with a dough hook until smooth. Add the remaining flour, ½ cup at a time, to form a soft, smooth dough. The dough should stick just slightly to your finger when touched, but not be overly sticky. Knead for 5-7 minutes, until smooth, then roll into a ball.
- RISE. Place the dough in an oiled bowl, turn over once to coat the top with oil, and cover with plastic wrap. (Use olive oil or cooking spray to coat the bowl.) Let rise for one hour, or until doubled.
- SHAPE. When the dough has risen, punch it down gently and divide it in half. On a non-stick baking mat or lightly floured surface, roll each half of the dough into a long rectangle about 8 inches wide.
- ROLL. Roll the dough up, starting at the short edge, to form a cylinder that is approximately 8 inches wide. Repeat with the remaining dough.
- 2ND RISE. Place the dough, seam side down, into lightly greased loaf pans, and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise for one hour, or until the dough is ½-1 inch higher than the top of the pan.
Proofing tips
- Oil the bowl before adding the dough to rise. This will keep it from sticking when it is dumped out and shaped.
- Air temperature can affect the proof time. A warmer environment will allow the dough to rise faster. A cooler area will slow down the process.
- A quicker proof time.
- Preheat your oven to 200°F then turn it OFF. Place the dough in an oven-safe bowl and cover it with a warm damp tea towel. Stick it in the oven until the dough has doubled in size.
- Place the bowl of dough near a warmer area in your home such as a fireplace or warm slow cooker.
- Doneness. Visually observe when the dough has doubled in size and use that as an indicator of doneness. To tell if it has been proofed just right, poke your finger in the top of the dough…
- Bounces back immediately – continue proofing.
- Doesn’t bounce back at all – it is over-proofed.
- Bounces back halfway – it’s perfect!
How to BAKE Homemade Bread
- PREP. Preheat the oven to 375°F.
- BAKE. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until the loaves are golden brown and sound hollow when tapped.
- BRUSH + COOL. I like to brush my loaves with a little melted butter after baking. Remove to a cooling rack and cool before slicing. Makes 2 loaves of bread.
Why is my bread heavy and dense?
- Adding too much flour. Scoop the flour into the measuring cup with a spoon and level it off. The amount of flour can be too much if measured incorrectly, which can make it dense.
- Under or over proofing. It is really important that the dough rises well. If you don’t allow it to rise long enough it will be dense. If you proof it for too long, it will fall and also become dense.
- Over kneading. This is really hard to do when you knead by hand, as your hands will tire before it can happen. However, it can happen if you let a stand mixer knead for too long or at too high of a setting.
Repurpose Your Homemade Bread
Use this bread in some of our favorite recipes:
Make croutons. Check out our Homemade Croutons recipe!
Storing info
- STORE. Cool completely and place in a Ziploc bag or wrap in foil. This best bread recipe should last 2 to 3 days stored at room temperature.
- FREEZE. Slice the loaf all the way through, place it in a plastic bread bag, and freeze it as soon as it has cooled completely.
- Freeze the bread dough. Add twice as much yeast to compensate for any yeast that will die in the freezer.
- Allow the dough to rise the first time, then shape it into loaves and place them directly on a greased baking sheet.
- Place them in the freezer and freeze until solid.
- Wrap each loaf with plastic and again with aluminum foil. Label and freeze for up to 6 months.
- Freeze the bread dough. Add twice as much yeast to compensate for any yeast that will die in the freezer.
- To bake – unwrap and place in a greased bread pan. Cover with an oiled piece of plastic wrap. Allow it to thaw for several hours and then rise until it is about doubled in size. Bake according to recipe directions.
For more bread recipes:
Bread Recipe
This BEST bread recipe makes the most deliciously fluffy loaf of white bread. It tastes so much better than store-bought!
Ingredients
Instructions
- In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, dissolve the yeast in warm water with a pinch of sugar. When the yeast is bubbly and foamy, add the sugar, salt, oil, and 4 cups flour, and mix until smooth.
- Add remaining flour, ½ cup at a time, to form a soft, smooth dough. The dough should stick just slightly to your finger when touched, but not be overly sticky. Knead for 5-7 minutes, until smooth, then roll into a ball.
- Place the dough in an oiled bowl, turn over once to coat the top with oil, and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise for one hour, or until doubled.
- When the dough has risen, punch it down gently and divide it in half. Roll each half of the dough into a long rectangle about 8 inches wide. Roll the dough up, starting at the short edge, to form a cylinder that is approximately 8 inches wide. Repeat with the remaining dough.
- Place the dough, seam side down, into lightly greased bread pans, and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise for one hour, or until the dough is ½ – 1 inch higher than the top of the pan.
- Preheat the oven to 375°F. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until the loaves are golden brown and sound hollow when tapped. Brush with melted butter, if desired. Remove to a cooling rack and cool before slicing. MAKES 2 LOAVES.
Video
Notes
STORE. Cool completely and place in a Ziploc bag or wrap in foil. This best bread recipe should last 2 to 3 days stored at room temperature.
FREEZE. Slice the loaf all the way through, place it in a plastic bread bag, and freeze it as soon as it has cooled completely.
Nutrition
Calories: 159kcal, Carbohydrates: 30g, Protein: 5g, Fat: 2g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Sodium: 351mg, Potassium: 42mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 3g, Calcium: 6mg, Iron: 1mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
For more delicious recipes by Alicia, head on over to The Baker Upstairs.
Oh my goodness! I love this bread. I have now made it 5 times and have great results each time. I have started experimenting with whole wheat fours and it is still really fluffy. Thank you so much
That is wonderful to hear! I’m glad you like it. Thank you so much for letting me know 🙂
I made this today (except i used the quantity to make one loaf) and i was pretty happy. Hopefully the kids like it,they arent keen on breadmix/maker breads so hopefully this recipe/baked wins them over.
I hope it does win them over! I’d love to know what they think. Thank you!
This may be an obvious question but I’m making bread for the first time! Does it need to be covered while resting??
I cover with a terry cloth or just a light kitchen towel. Hope that helps!
Would it turn out differently if I used wheat flour instead? And I only have one loaf pan. Can I set aside one half while the other bakes?
I haven’t used wheat flour with it, so I honestly don’t know how it would come out. Has anyone else used it? And, I haven’t baked them separately, so it should be ok. Not sure how the rising will be, since it is longer.
I’ve baked my seperate and have also let it rise all day as I forgot about the dough. They both turned out so good! I have another batch rising right now. I’ll be trying wheat flour and other flours and if they turn out as good as this white flour then I don’t think I’ll buy bread ever again!!
I’m so glad to hear that! Thanks so much for letting me know!
Made last week.I replaced 2 cups of flour with wheat flour(half and half) and it turned out really good. Husband raved about it.
Making bread again today using regular recipe. Can’t wait for it to get done! Also wondered if this recipe would work in a bread machine?
After I desolve my yeast do I add in the 2 & 1/4 cups of water? Sorry first time making bread
No worries! You dissolve the yeast in the 2 1/4 c warm water 🙂 Hope that helps! Let me know how it comes out & good luck!
This recipe looks great! Out of curiosity, do you think you could switch the flour out with gluten free 1-1 flour?
I personally haven’t tried. If you have used it and know if & how it might change a recipe, then I would say use it. I haven’t used gluten free flour enough to know. If you try it, let me know what you think 🙂 Thank you!
Can i possibly use milk instead of water?
I’ve have never personally tried using milk. I’m not sure how that would change the recipe. I’m sorry, I wish I knew!
It will be fine using milk instead of water. The crust will Be softer. You could use half water and half milk too.
I made this bread for the first time yesterday and it was sheer perfection. It’s a beautiful recipe and SOOO EASY! I will incorporate cinnamon, raisins and brown sugar to make a cinnamon-raisin brown sugar swirl bread. I find that brown sugar offers much more flavor and moisture to the bread. Thank you for this amazing recipe!
Yay!! I’m so glad! And, yes, there are so many different things you could add. Thanks for letting me know!
Could i use my bread machine with this recipe?Cindy
You sure could 🙂 Enjoy!!
This is a great bread recipe. I am a lazy baker and I used the dough cycle on my bread machine to get through the first rise.(following machine recommendations of water, oil, sugar salt then flour and finally yeast) It would not have worked to bake it in my machine as it is too big a loaf and almost overflowed my machine. But that isn’t a problem as I prefer to bake in the oven.
Thank you for sharing
You are so welcome!! I’m glad you like it 🙂 Thank you for letting me know!
Love tot hear so. I am defenitely gonna try it in my breadmachine. Have tried a lot of recipes.
Hi! What kinda of oil do you use. This may be a silly question but I’m not sure. Thanks!!!
It’s vegetable oil 🙂 Not a silly question! Good luck!