Easy 5 Star Homemade Bread recipe made with simple ingredients & detailed instructions showing how to make basic bread! Thousands of comments & reviewers agree this is the BEST homemade loaf for both beginners and expert bakers.
Homemade Bread is one of my favorite foods of all time. Can you tell by the name of this site?! There really is nothing quite like a warm slice of fresh bread served with a thick pat of butter on top. Mmmmm! This recipe is perfect. It’s simple to follow, takes about 2 hours to make and yields 2 loaves of wonderful bread. It’s quite versatile too, so feel free to use part whole wheat flour if you’d like. Brush butter on top when it’s out of the oven and partially cooled and everyone will thank you.
Yes, you can make this recipe in a bread machine! Scroll down to see full Homemade Bread recipe and ingredients, with printable instructions for your bread machine.
A decade ago when I was just beginning to bake confidently, I still struggled with making bread. I tried countless recipes and none of them were quite right. I found this one and never looked back. It uses basic ingredients, comes together fast and I love the bread it makes. It’s soft, chewy with fantastic flavor. Feel free to reduce the sugar if you prefer. Enjoy the process and enjoy that bread!
Where to start on your bread making journey
This is a very comprehensive post with tons of information I’ve gleaned over the years making bread. Where would you like to start first?
JUMP TO–> LEARN THE BASIC STEPS TO MAKING BREAD
JUMP TO–> HELPFUL TIPS FOR MAKING YOUR FIRST LOAF OF BREAD
JUMP TO–> GET THE OVEN BAKED BREAD RECIPE
JUMP TO–> GET THE BREAD MACHINE BREAD RECIPE
Basic Steps for Making Basic Yeast Bread Recipes
If you’ve never made bread before, here is the basic formula for making your own at home. My recipe below follows this perfectly. It’s so much easier and trust me, the scent of fresh bread baking will make everyone really, really excited for dinner!
Step 1: Assemble Bread Ingredients
You’ll need warm water, granulated sugar, instant OR active dry yeast, salt, vegetable or canola oil and flour. That’s it!
Step 2: Dissolve the yeast and activate it by Proofing
This is a simple process that takes about 5 minutes. You can see a picture below what yeast looks like when it’s proofed. It’s possible to kill yeast if you use too hot of water, so aim for slightly warmer than luke-warm, or about 105°F. Combine warm water, yeast and 1 TBSP of the granulated sugar in your mixing bowl. Give it a quick stir and then let it sit for 5 minutes. You’ll begin to see the yeast puff up until it covers the entire surface of the water.
Step 3: Add remaining ingredients and mix
Add the rest of the sugar, the oil, salt and flour (You can use all-purpose flour OR bread flour!), then mix using an electric mixer until it’s well combined, about 2 minutes. You can mix by hand but it will take longer.
Step 4: Knead the Bread
You might be thinking, “Wait! It’s already mixed!” Ha! Not so fast! Going through the process of kneading bread dough is crucial for bread with great texture. Kneading dough allows gluten to form which enables dough to rise better, be lighter and fluffier. you can knead by hand or with a mixer. I use the dough hook on my mixer and knead for 7 minutes. If you knead by hand, you’ll want to knead for 10-11 minutes, depending on how consistent you are.
Step 5: First Rise
Place your lovely smooth, elastic bread dough in an oiled bowl and cover it with plastic wrap or a clean towel. I think plastic wrap works better because it traps hot air inside and thus, my dough requires a shorter first rise. Be sure to spray the side of the plastic wrap that will touch the dough with oil!
If your house is cool, your bread will take longer to rise. In the wintertime when my house is cooler than normal, I like to turn the oven on for 2-3 minutes, then turn it off and let the bowl of dough rise in there. The oven traps the heat for a longtime and it’s the perfect atmosphere for rising dough.
Step 6: Punch Dough and Shape it
Punching the dough down quickly releases any air pockets that have developed and helps your bread have a more consistent rise and texture. Shape your dough by rolling it gently into a ball and rolling it 2 or 3 times on the countertop so that the ball is more oblong. I usually punch down and shape the dough quickly, then place in a greased bread pan.
Step 7: Second Rise
I like to do my second rise in a warm oven that’s not turned on. I turn the oven on just before I punch my dough down, then turn it off once I place the dough in the oven for the 2nd rise. It’s really only on for a minute or two, which is fine! The second rise will help shape your loaf of bread and takes about 30 minutes.
Step 8: Bake the Bread
You’re nearly there! Bread bakes for about 30-40 minutes. You know what I do to make sure my bread is perfectly cooked? I use a digital cooking thermometer! Fully cooked bread will be 190-200 degrees F. Bread recipes that include milk will need to cook until 200 degrees, but since this one doesn’t, I take it out once it reaches 190 degrees. The top will be golden brown.
My all-time favorite cooking thermometer is the Thermapen. It’s super fast and incredibly durable. Another great thermometer is the ThermoPop which is a more basic version that works just as well!
Step 9: Cool the Bread
Cool baked bread in the pan for 10-15 minutes, then overturn pan and turn loaf out onto a cooling rack or folded towel to finish cooling. If you leave the bread in the pan for much longer than that, you’ll steam it, which may cause some parts of your loaf to go soggy. No one likes soggy bread!
BEST BREAD PAN?
I bake a lot of bread and the pans I prefer are either ceramic, glass or cast iron. These pans will bake bread more evenly and release the bread more easily after baking. I don’t like using dark or nonstick pans because the bread cooks unevenly. It darkens on the outside before the bread is cooked on the inside, so the coloring is uneven. Read more about which bread pan is the best here!
Helpful Tips when Making Your First Loaf of Homemade Bread:
If you’ve never baked homemade bread before, here are a few tips:
1. Remember to fully knead
The recipe below kneads for 7 minutes and it’s worth it! Kneading dough helps to develop the flavor and texture of the bread, so don’t skimp on kneading time.
2. Weather can affect your ingredients
If you live in a moist climate, chances are you’ll need at least the recommended amount of flour, maybe even 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup more. Bread dough should be sticky, but still manageable, especially after the first rise. While you’re kneading, the dough should come together and pull away from the sides of the bowl, leaving the bowl mostly clean. I usually aim to have the very bottom of the dough still attached to the bowl. Try not to add too much flour because your bread will be more dense. When you pick the dough up, some will stick to your fingers. After the first rise, it will be easier to handle!
3. Temperature affects how long your bread takes to rise
If your house is cool, your bread will take longer to rise. In the wintertime when my house is cooler than normal, I like to turn the oven on for 2-3 minutes, then turn it off and let the bowl of dough rise in there. The oven traps the heat for a longtime and it’s the perfect atmosphere for rising dough.
4. Don’t overwork the dough
Try not to go crazy kneading your bread after the first rise. I usually knead and shape my dough in about 1 minute, then it’s back in the pan to rest, for the 2nd rise. I like to have the pan rise in the oven for this second rise so that I don’t have to worry about moving risen dough. When it’s fully risen, I just turn the oven on and set the timer to bake!
Easy Homemade Bread Recipe
Here are the ingredients for the oven baked recipe, which yields 2 loaves of bread:
— WATER: You need 2 cups warm water. (110° F/45° C) I recommend you take the temperature using a cooking thermometer until you get the hang of how warm the water should be. If your water is too hot, it will kill the yeast and your bread will be dense and flat!
— SUGAR: We add 1/2 cup white sugar. You are welcome to reduce this even further and use just 1/4 cup.
— YEAST: We add 1 TBSP + 2 tsp active dry yeast to the dough to help it rise.
— SALT: You need 1 1/2 teaspoons salt to enhance the flavors in the bread. If you’ve never had bread with not enough salt, it does not taste good! I forgot to add it once. Don’t do that.
— OIL: We used 1/4 cup vegetable oil but you can also use coconut oil or canola oil. I’ve tried it with light olive oil and it just has a strange aftertaste that I don’t love.
— FLOUR: You’ll need 5-6 cups flour. You can use all-purpose flour OR bread flour!
How to Make 5 Star Homemade Bread
In a large bowl, or a stand mixer, dissolve the sugar in the warm water. I just combine the two and whisk it slightly to dissolve the sugar. Stir in yeast. Allow to proof until yeast resembles a creamy foam, about 5 minutes.
Add in the salt and oil. Begin to mix, using a rubber scraper or the dough hook on your stand mixer. Add the flour one cup at a time, reserving the last cup of flour to see if you need it. You might not use all of the flour. The dough should pull away and clean the bowl, sticking on the bottom in a small circle about the size of a quarter. If your dough does this with just 5 cups of flour, do not add more. However, if your dough still sticks to the bowl, add more a couple tablespoons at a time until it cleans the bowl, sticking in just a small circle on the bottom.
Now knead dough for 7 minutes. Set a timer as a full knead is important! Place in a well oiled bowl, and turn dough to coat. Cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rise in a warm area until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
Punch dough down. Knead for 1 minute and divide dough in half. Shape into loaves and place into two greased 9×5 inch loaf pans. Allow to rise for 30 minutes, or until dough has risen 1 inch above pans.
Bake at 350° F (175° C) for 30-40 minutes. Cool, brush with butter and enjoy!
How can you tell if bread is fully baked?
I like to use a food thermometer. Mine is digital, so it’s very easy to use. Fully cooked bread will be 190-200 degrees F. Bread recipes that include milk will need to cook until 200 degrees, but since this one doesn’t, I take it out once it reaches 190 degrees. The top will be golden brown.
AVOID SUNKEN BREAD
The easiest and best way to avoid sunken bread is to use a cooking thermometer to check the inside of the loaf. Fully cooked bread will register 200°F on a thermometer. My all-time favorite thermometer is the Thermapen. It’s super fast and incredibly durable. Another great cooking thermometer is the ThermoPop which is a more basic version that works just as well!
EASY HOMEMADE BREAD RECIPE
Ingredients
- 2 cups warm water 110° F/45° C
- ½ cup white sugar
- 1 ½ TBSP active dry yeast
- 1 ½ tsp salt
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- 5-6 cups flour all-purpose flour OR bread flour
Instructions
- In a large bowl, or a stand mixer, dissolve 2 TBSP of the sugar in the warm water. I just combine the two and whisk slightly to dissolve the sugar. Stir in yeast. Allow to proof until yeast resembles a creamy foam, about 5 minutes.
- Add in remaining sugar, salt and oil. Begin to mix, using a rubber scraper or the dough hook on your stand mixer. Add the flour one cup at a time, reserving the last cup of flour to see if you need it. You might not use all of the flour. The dough should pull away and clean the bowl, sticking on the bottom in a small circle about the size of a quarter. If your dough does this with just 5 cups of flour, do not add more. However, if your dough still sticks to the bowl, add more a couple tablespoons at a time until it cleans the bowl, sticking in just a small circle on the bottom.
- Now knead dough for 7 minutes. Set a timer as a full knead is important! Place in a well oiled bowl, and turn dough to coat. Cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rise in a warm area until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
- Punch dough down. Knead for 1 minute and divide dough in half. Shape into loaves and place into two greased 9×5 inch loaf pans. Allow to rise for 30 minutes, or until dough has risen 1 inch above pans.
- Bake at 350° F (175° C) for 30-40 minutes. Cool, brush with butter and enjoy!
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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Instant or Active Dry Yeast for Making Bread
If you use instant yeast, you can add it directly to your other dry ingredients when making bread. If you use active dry yeast, you’ll need to first dissolve it in warm water before using it in a recipe. For the sake of ease, I just always buy instant yeast. BUT, this recipe works for both!
Can you Make this bread in a Bread Machine? YES! Here’s how:
I’ve found this recipe works really well in a bread machine! I just had the halve the ingredients so it would fit. You can see and print out the recipe below.
Bread Machine Ingredients
You’ll use the same ingredients, only HALF of them, so you can fit them in a 1-lb bread machine.
— WATER: You need 1 cup warm water. (110° F/45° C)
— SUGAR: We add 1/4 cup white sugar. You are welcome to reduce this even further and use just 1-2 tablespoons.
— YEAST: We add 2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast to the dough to help it rise.
— SALT: You need 3/4 teaspoons salt to enhance the flavors in the bread. If you’ve never had bread with not enough salt, it’s… not good. I forgot to add it once. Don’t do that.
— OIL: We used 2 TBSP vegetable oil but you can also use coconut oil or canola oil. I’ve tried it with light olive oil and it just has a strange aftertaste that I don’t love.
— FLOUR: You’ll need 3 cups flour. You can use all-purpose flour OR bread flour!
Making your Loaf of Bread in a Bread Machine
Add the ingredients to the bread pan of your machine in the following order: water, oil, flour, sugar and salt. Make a small well in the dry ingredients and add yeast.
Place bread pan in machine. Close lid and set bread machine to bake a loaf of basic white bread.
Let bread cool when bread machine has completed the full cycle. (Mine takes 3.5 hours.) Remove from machine & pan. Brush with butter and enjoy!
Easy Bread Recipe for a Bread Machine
Ingredients
- 1 cup warm water 110 degrees F/45 degrees C
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
- 3/4 teaspoons salt
- 2 TBSP vegetable oil
- 3 cups flour all purpose OR bread flour!
Instructions
- Add the ingredients to the bread pan of your machine in the following order: water, oil, flour, sugar and salt. Make a small well in the dry ingredients and add yeast.
- Place bread pan in machine. Close lid and set bread machine to bake a loaf of basic white bread.
- Let bread cool when bread machine has completed the full cycle. (Mine takes 3.5 hours.) Remove from machine & pan. Brush with butter and enjoy!
Nutrition
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How to Store Basic Bread
You’ll want to store leftover bread in an airtight container. I bought bread bags off Amazon and LOVE them!
Enjoy this bread recipe? Here are even more recipes for homemade bread to try:
Yeast Bread Recipes:
- Homemade Buttermilk Bread recipe
- Homemade Hawaiian Bread
- Honey Oat Bread recipe
- Cinnamon Raisin Bread
- Parmesan Garlic Dinner Rolls
- Fabulous French Bread
- Sweet Orange Dinner Rolls
- Homemade Hawaiian Bread
- Easy Homemade Cheesy Breadsticks
- Tomato Parmesan Flatbread
- Potato Bread Recipe
- Soft Cornmeal Dinner Rolls
- Honey Wheat Bread
- Soft White Sandwich Bread
Quick Bread Recipes:
- Best Zucchini Bread
- Pineapple Bread
- Sweet Coconut Bread
- Easy Banana Bread
- Caramel Banana Nut Bread
- Best Pumpkin Bread
Easy 5 Star Homemade Bread recipe made with simple ingredients & detailed instructions showing how to make bread! Thousands of comments & reviewers agree this is the BEST homemade bread for both beginners and expert bakers.
Talie says
So easy to make and the texture is great. I don’t like bread to be sweet so I cut the sugar to 1/3 of a cup – just enough for the yeast to feed on. 2 loaves disappeared in no time!
chang says
really good!!!!!!!
Ena says
While the recipe is easy, unfortunately my bread crumble when I try to cut. I use whole wheat instead of plain flour. Pls guide me on this. Thanks
Jessica says
Using all whole wheat flour will yield a more dense, drier bread. Try doing half and half next time!
JOREE ONEAL says
It started out great and the older the bread got, the sweeter it got to where I had to throw it away. The second loaf we froze immediately and it wasn’t as sweet when thawed but we had to put spicy chili on it to kill the sweet. Can I reduce the sugar to a tablespoon? I love yeast bread, but don’t like sweet bread.
Alison says
Yes! I always recommend with the sugar to decrease the sugar if you’d like, but not to leave it out completely. I usually say to try it once and then adjust the recipe from there, based on what you think!
CJ says
I’ve been learning to make bread from scratch by trying various dough recipes, and this is the first one that has come out perfect on the first try. Reduced sugar to 1/3 cup based on previous comments, but followed the rest of the instructions exactly. Definitely a keeper, thank you!
Alison says
This is great to hear CJ! So glad this one has worked so well for you!
MJ says
I tried this recipe twice with similar poor results. I followed the instructions exactly and each time the bread failed to rise, resulting in small, dense loaves. I’ve been making bread for years with great success but this recipe was very disappointing. Although the taste was still amazing, the texture was not at all what I expected.
Alison says
There are several reasons why your bread could have not risen.
1) Yeast is too old
2) Yeast was killed by using water that was too hot (I aim for 95-105 degrees F)
3) It initially rose for too long, then collapsed in the oven. Bread should first rise for 30 mins- an hour, then 2nd rise for about 15-30 minutes- longer isn’t necessarily better.
4) Ratio/ measurements of yeast to flour was off. Too much flour turns bread dense and crumbly. Make sure you dough is tacky- stop adding flour right when you achieve this consistency.
5) You house was too cool. Bread dough will rise in cool temps but it will take a LONG time. I like to do the 2nd rise in my oven. I simply turn it on 350° F for 1 minute, then turn it off. Place bread pan inside and let it rise. When it’s time to bake it, just preheat the oven with the pan inside and decrease bake time by 3-5 minutes.
Bill says
I followed the recipe faithfully, but, when the dough was one inch over the bread pan I set in
the oven where it immediately dropped then did not rise through baking. Loaf is about two inches high.
It rose easily double during the first rise then after beating down and kneading for about one minute
I placed it in the pan where is took about forty minutes to rise one inch over the pan then fell.
Smells wonderfu.
Alison says
There are several reasons why your bread could have not risen.
1) Yeast is too old
2) Yeast was killed by using water that was too hot (I aim for 95-105 degrees F)
3) It initially rose for too long, then collapsed in the oven. Bread should first rise for 30 mins- an hour, then 2nd rise for about 15-30 minutes- longer isn’t necessarily better.
4) Ratio/ measurements of yeast to flour was off. Too much flour turns bread dense and crumbly. Make sure you dough is tacky- stop adding flour right when you achieve this consistency.
5) You house was too cool. Bread dough will rise in cool temps but it will take a LONG time. I like to do the 2nd rise in my oven. I simply turn it on 350° F for 1 minute, then turn it off. Place bread pan inside and let it rise. When it’s time to bake it, just preheat the oven with the pan inside and decrease bake time by 3-5 minutes.
Leen says
The tips Alison provides in this recipe are super helpful! From rising your dough in a slightly warmed oven, to placing the ready to bake loaves (in their loaf pans of course) in the oven for the 2nd rise (and hence, preheating the oven with the bread inside), these tips have helped me greatly. I never thought about how moving your risen loaves from a cooler home environment to a pre-heated, super hot oven, would make my loaves deflate so much until it happened to me twice. So disheartening. This recipe was my saving grace and got me back on track after a few failed attempts with other recipes. Thanks a bunch! Sometimes it pays to read the entire page 🙂 lesson learned!
One question: Does anyone include a hot water bath while baking bread? I tried to with this recipe for a slightly crispier crust but it didn’t make much of a difference.
Jaz says
This was my first time making bread from scratch and it turned out excellent. Thank you!
Kaylie says
Thank you, Jaz!
Basma Orgel says
Absolutely love this recipe!!! My two loads of bread came out perfectly!!! Highly recommend!!
Douglas Mac Donald says
Hi, I would like to make this bread low carb. Could I use blanched almond flour or coconut flour and a granulated sugar like erythritol instead of the regular flour and sugar?
Jessica says
Yes, you can use erythritol but I find it more difficult to replace the flour. I recommend using a gluten free blend like Bob’s Red Mill instead.
Debbie says
SUPER easy and great for a weekend breakfast or dinner as you can make it start to finish in no time!!
Jessica says
I agree Debbie! Glad you liked it!
Kacie says
Can I make this recipe as dinner rolls as well?
Jessica says
You can, but I prefer this recipe for dinner rolls- https://butterwithasideofbread.com/dinner-roll-recipe/
Betsy says
This is by far the tastiest white bread recipe I’ve made. I made the double loaf in the breadmaker on dough setting, separated in to two buttered loaf pans and let it do one more 30 min rise in a warm oven.
Baked for 20mins and it was perfect! Crisp outside, fluffy inside, all around tasty. This will now be my go-to recipe!
Nellie says
So glad you enjoyed the bread!
David says
I’d love to try your recipe but there seems to be a national shortage of bakers yeast through retail outlets which will delivery food supplies. Currently I cannot make any bread at all. 🙁
Any advice where active yeast can be bought on line?
Nellie says
I have had a hard time tracking down yeast lately as well! I was able to get some at Costco and it looks like it is available for delivery from some Costco locations, so that may be a possibility? There is some on Amazon, but the prices have been marked way up. Good luck!
Jim says
https://shop.kingarthurflour.com/items/saf-gold-instant-yeast-16-oz
King Arthur Flour has it (and a great deal else) online.
Phiona says
Can I use only one 12″ by 5″ tin for the recipe….that’s the only pan I have
Jessica says
I love my 12″ bread pan- use it!
Tania Modleski says
I found yeast tonight (May 14, 2020) on Amazon, and it was cheap. Was astonished. Looked again, and said it was unavailable. I guess I got the last; it’s so hard to find. Keep looking, I guess is the lesson.
I made a recipe very similar to this one which called for even MORE sugar. My neighbor loved it, but I will cut down the sugar considerably next time.
Chris says
Can I use butter in place of the oil?
Jessica says
I’ve used butter before and really think the texture of the bread is better with oil.
Chris says
This was an easy bread to make, and we liked it.. I baked the loaves in stoneware bread pans. Nexr time I think I’ll try metal, since it took about 43 mintes to get them fully baked, and still the bottoms and sides barely had any color. Wondering if it was because of the pans I used. I did cut back on the sugar, using a scant 1/3 cup.
My question: Should the crumb be more like Artesan bread or a finer crumb? Mine turned out more “airy” than I’m used to. Could it be because I didn’t really knead it the second time? I just punched, cut in half, shaped, and into the pans they went.
Like this recipe!
Joanna says
I’ve tried a few bread recipes recently and this one is by far the best. Perfectly light and delicious! I was a little worried about the amount of sugar but it’s not too sweet. I may use a little less next time. Thank you!
Nellie says
So glad you enjoyed the bread Joanna!
Irene says
I followed the recipe exactly, I’m a first time bread maker and I must say it came out fantastic! My family devoured it in minutes! I used exactly 6 cups of flour. This recipe is amazing! Will definitely be making it again. The bread tasted flaky on the inside With a nice crisp on the outside with no nasty aftertaste. It was just simply delicious. Loved it!
Nellie says
So glad you enjoyed the bread Irene!
Erika says
I bake a lot, but have always been a bit intimidated by bread making. Until I found this recipe! It’s super simple to follow, and turned out beautiful, fluffy, delicious loaves! I polished off an entire loaf by myself in two days and am in the process of whipping up more. Think it’s ruined me for store bought. 🙂
Nellie says
Once you start making homemade bread, you can never go back…😉
Katie says
I have used this recipe multiple times. Once my dough didn’t rise, and that was ok. I made flat bread out of it. The other times, my dough rose beautifully. My only issue is that my bread is super crumbly and is not that great for sandwiches unless I fry it up for grilled cheese or the like. Other than that, my family and I love the bread that comes from this recipe. Any ideas how to make the bread not so crumbly? Thanks!
Jessica says
It sounds like you added too much flour. The dough should be fairly sticky before the first rise, then more manageable afterwards. Also, remember homemade bread has no preservatives, so we try to eat it faster and be sure to store it in an airtight container.
Brittnee says
This recipe made 2 delicious loaves of bread and they were gone so fast!