This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
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.
Turned out wonderful. Could use a bit more salt. But otherwise wonderful recipe. A keeper.
Thank you so much!!
Hi
Love your blog.
Let me say this you are so sweet that you answer each and every question so so sweetly.
Best of luck.
Awe, thank you so much!! I love being able to answer everyone’s questions 🙂
Hi there from south Africa… That recipe looks amazing but we only have dry instant yeast which is probably very different from the active dry yeast. Could I then just mix it straight with the Flour and ignore the oil and sugar? So I would just add the warm water to the flour/yeast?
Hello! Honestly, I would google how to convert the two. Yes, they are different & I don’t want to tell you the wrong thing. Usually, with instant yeast, you can mix it with the dry ingredients. Hope you find what you need 🙂
When making I didn’t even use the whole 4 cups it started with? Dough felt perfect without it… We’ll see how it turns out I guess!
How did it turn out? I hope you liked it!!
Ive made this several times! All 5 of my kids and husband love it! Its really hard to find some thing they all even like. It makes the perfect French toast.
Love to hear that!! This is by far our favorite bread recipe & yes, perfect for so many things! Thank you!
thank you for this easy recipe! i used 3 1/2c white flour and 2c whole wheat flour and it came out perfect! put the second loaf in the freezer after the first rise (punched it down, rolled it, covered in saran wrap, then put in freezer bag). will post to update on how that one comes out.
You are so welcome! Yes, I’d love to know! Thanks!
Just made my first batch of bread using this recipe and it was so simple and my whole family loved it. Thank you for sharing. I used my kitchen aid for the knead step….so easy!!! Goodbye store bought bread!!!
Yay!! Yes, you’ll never go back now 🙂 Thank you for letting me know!
Hi there! Is there any input that you could put in on my question? I hate to be that person, but literally every post here except mine, received an answer 🙁 I posted back in February and others received a response on the same day, so I thought I’d check back today and still no response 🙁 I love the texture of the bread in the image and how the recipe is simple. But I’d like a little input on the amount of flour. The conversion charts vary from brand to brand and just from basic usage.
I’d love to hear from you on this!
Thanks 🙂
Original post below:
45
Nicole :
February 28, 2017 at 2:35 am
This is a really good recipe! I do love the simplicity of it and so does my family! Thanks for sharing, but I do have a question! For the flour measurement do you know how much you’re using per cup of flour? I use KA flour and 1 cup is 120grams, but the dough still seems a bit wet at time. I feel as though in may not be using enough flour at times. Any input would be greatly appreciate!
Thanks again!
I’m sorry I didn’t respond. I try to answer all comments, so I might have missed this, but I am sorry. I’m not sure how to answer your question. I’m not familiar with KA flour and I don’t measure by grams, so I guess I would need to figure out how many grams are in a cup. I looked on google and it’s 120 grams per cup of all-purpose flour, which is the same as the KA flour. Did you use all 6 1/2 cups? Depending on where you live, the humidity, etc, effects cooking/baking. It took me a couple of times to get it right, so keep trying & add a little more flour next time, adding 1/2 cup at a time. I hope that helps you! I’m sorry again, for missing your comment. Good luck & let me know if you have any more questions!
Hi there and thanks for the reply! I hope my post wasn’t taken the wrong way.
Ohh yes, humidity. I didn’t realize that. My area is very humid 🙁 When making the bread, I did use all 6 1/2 cups per the 120g from King Arthur, but the dough was really sticky. Not similar to your images at all. So I ended up adding a whole other cup, so I used a total of 7 1/2 cups. The dough was still sticky, but the bread came out great! The two loaves were gone in two days.
I’ll continue to play around with it, but thanks for a great recipe and thanks so much for responding and looking into my question! It is greatly appreciated!
Not taken wrong at all!! You’ll find what works best 🙂 Thank you for not quitting on it 🙂
So good!
I didn’t realize that it could take up to 10 minutes for the yeast to activate. I threw away the first two batches because I thought I messed up. Luckily, I texted my mom, figured it out, and baked 2 fabulous loaves of bread that didn’t last 24 hours!! It was such a hit, I just baked 4 more!! Thanks for the recipe!!
Oh, sorry you threw those batches! You didn’t mess up 🙂 I am so glad you liked the bread!! We love it! Thank you!
Can’t wait to try this! Are the pans 8×4 or 9×5?
Mine are 9×5. Hope that helps!! Thank you for stopping by!
Thank you yes! (Even though I just saw someone asks already and you answered ???? Sorry!) Made them this morning–sooooo good!!!!
Do you need to add the sugar, or can it be optional or possible even substituted? Other than that, this sound like a great recipie and I can wait to try it!
I have never left it out, so I personally can’t say how it might come out. I’m sorry. It really is the best bread 🙂 If you try, let me know what happens! Thank you!
Must use the sugar. It is the catalyst for the yeast to release CO2 (raises the bread).
Okay, good thing I haven’t made this bread yet. Eventually, someday, I will. Thank you for the heads up!