Homemade Buttermilk Bread made easy at home with 6 ingredients! This buttermilk bread recipe creates a soft loaf that has incredible flavor & can even be made in your bread machine.
Making this quick bread recipe is so simple, made with just a handful of ingredients that are most likely already in your kitchen and pantry. Buttermilk bread has such a delicate texture and tastes incredible too, give it a try today and see how amazing it is!
If you love Bread as much as we do, find all of our Best Bread Recipes Here!
Tips to create the BEST bread every time
If you have never baked homemade bread before, here are a few tips that will help you make the most delicious and soft bread ever.
- Remember to fully knead. The recipe below kneads for 10 minutes and it is worth every minute. Kneading dough helps to develop the flavor and texture of the bread, so don’t skimp on kneading time.
- Weather can affect your ingredients. If you live in a moist climate, chances are you will 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 are kneading, the dough should come together and pull away from the sides of the bowl, leaving the bowl mostly clean. (I 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!
- Kitchen too cool 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 is the perfect atmosphere for rising dough.
- After the first rise, don’t overwork the dough. I usually knead and shape my dough in about 1 minute, then it is 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. I just turn the oven on and set the timer to bake!
Can I made this Homemade Buttermilk Bread in a Bread Machine?
YES! I have had wonderful results making this Buttermilk Bread in my bread machine. You don’t have to make any ingredient changes either- simple add them to your bread machine pan in the order listed below. I used the “Basic White Bread” setting with a light crust and it turned out beautifully.
Homemade Buttermilk Bread Ingredients
Buttermilk: You will need 1 ½ cups of buttermilk* to create the most amazing homemade bread.
Butter: Adding in 2 tablespoons of melted butter will make this bread rich in taste.
Sugar: Use 2 tablespoons of sugar to help sweeten this bread up perfectly.
Salt: You will want to add in 1 teaspoon of salt to help balance the flavors in this bread well.
Flour: The base of this recipe is 3 ½ cups of all-purpose or bread flour.
Yeast: To make the bread rise properly, you will need 1 tablespoon of yeast.
How to make Homemade Buttermilk Bread from scratch
Dough prep
Start by combining the buttermilk, melted butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl. *You can substitute regular milk + lemon juice for buttermilk, but you won’t quite get the full texture and flavor of this bread. So add buttermilk to the grocery list; you’ll love it!
Then, in a separate bowl, combine the salt, flour and yeast. Whisk the dry ingredients together to combine, then add them to the wet buttermilk mixture in the mixing bowl. Mix all ingredients together until well combined (I use a KitchenAid Mixer.)
I like about a quarter sized amount of dough to be sticking on the very bottom. If your dough looks a bit dry, add in another splash of buttermilk. Once you have achieved a good consistency, mix the dough on low for about 6-7 minutes (or knead by hand about 10 minutes). Proper kneading is critical to great textured homemade bread!
First rise
Once the dough is done kneading, proceed to cover the bowl with a towel and let it rise in a warm place for about 1 hour; until the dough has doubled in size.
Second rise
After the first rise, punch the dough down and knead several times, then shape the dough (I like to roll mine, then tuck the ends under) and place in a greased bread loaf pan. Place the dough back in the warm spot and let it rise for another 30-45 minutes.
Bake
Get the oven preheating to 350 degrees F. Once the second rise is complete, bake the dough for about 30-35 minutes, until the top is golden brown.
Let the bread cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes after baking is complete, then overturn the pan and turn the loaf out onto a cooling rack or folded towel to finish cooling.
When ready to enjoy, slice, serve and enjoy!
HOMEMADE BUTTERMILK BREAD
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups buttermilk*
- 2 TBSP melted butter
- 2 TBSP sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 ½ cups all-purpose or bread flour
- 1 TBSP yeast
Instructions
- Dough prep: Start by combining the buttermilk, melted butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl.*
- Then, in a separate bowl, combine the salt, flour and yeast. Whisk the dry ingredients together to combine, then add them to the wet buttermilk mixture in the mixing bowl. Mix all ingredients together until well combined (I use a KitchenAid Mixer.) I like about a quarter sized amount of dough to be sticking on the very bottom.
- If your dough looks a bit dry, add in another splash of buttermilk. Once you have achieved a good consistency, mix the dough on low for about 6-7 minutes (or knead by hand about 10 minutes). Proper kneading is critical to great textured homemade bread!
- First rise: Once the dough is done kneading, proceed to cover the bowl with a towel and let it rise in a warm place for about 1 hour; until the dough has doubled in size.
- Second rise: After the first rise, punch the dough down and knead several times, then shape the dough (I like to roll mine, then tuck the ends under) and place in a greased bread loaf pan. Place the dough back in the warm spot and let it rise for another 30-45 minutes.
- Bake: Get the oven preheating to 350 degrees F. Once the second rise is complete, bake the dough for about 30-35 minutes, until the top is golden brown. Let the bread cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes after baking is complete, then overturn the pan and turn the loaf out onto a cooling rack or folded towel to finish cooling. When ready to enjoy, slice, serve and enjoy!
Video
Notes
Nutrition
HOW TO 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!
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!
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. Since this bread contains a lot of milk, I don’t take it out of the oven until it reaches 200 degrees F. The top will be golden brown.
Here are even more recipes for homemade bread to try:
- Honey Wheat Bread
- How to Make Bread
- 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
- White Bread Recipe
Homemade Buttermilk Bread can now be baked easily and fresh from the comfort of your own kitchen! This buttermilk bread recipe creates a lovely delicate loaf that has wonderful flavor and can be made in your bread machine.
Dee says
So I read the ingredients and I quickly realized that it has nothing warm to activate the yeast. I warmed the buttermilk but it wasn’t hot and I used rapid rise yeast. This turned out beautiful. I brushed melted butter on top of the bread when I had 15min left of baking time and it turned out golden brown on top. If you don’t warm the milk at least leave it out to room temp before using the buttermilk.
Nicole says
Sounds good
Chris says
It was noted in the preface to the recipe that a bread machine could be used so I used my Cuisinart I have been using a bread machine for over twenty-five years. This was a disaster. I wish I could add a picture here because words cannot describe it. It ballooned up to the top of the machine, overflowed the bucket and was undercooked. (And yes my machine can handle up to a two pound loaf.) I would advise everyone to forego a bread machine this recipe.
Jessica says
Well it certainly seems like something didn’t go quite right there! I make this often in my bread machine and it comes out perfectly!
J Harris says
I made this bread tonight for supper, and it was amazing!!! We loved it and will be making it many times in the future- Thank you for posting this recipe!!
Jessica says
So glad you enjoyed it J!
Bill Franklin says
I don’t know where I went wrong, but I followed the recipe, and the loaf came out very airy , and crumbled when I sliced it, after cooking. I kneaded it in kitchen aid mixer for about 6 minutes as you recommended, but I see here in the manual, that kneading for 2 minutes is equivalent to kneading 10 – 12 minutes by hand. “KitchenAid® does not recommend kneading bread dough for more than 2 minutes at Speed 2, and that the total mixing and kneading time does not exceed 4 – 6 minutes”.
So , the bread tasted fine, but it really fell apart easily, so I’ll try it again with 2 minutes of kneading. I did use standard yeast, and let it rise twice.
Jessica says
Is your house pretty warm? Sounds to me like the rise times were too much. Maybe try reducing both the 1st and 2nd rise by 20 mins or so? Most people don’t knead for enough time, so I’m hesitant to suggest less kneading. But you can try it!
Kathy says
Today is Christmas Eve, 2022. I wanted dinner rolls with our turkey supper and happily stumbled across your recipe. Your bread looked so good, I had to try it for my dinner rolls. WOW! What a fabulous recipe! I just took them out of the oven and they looked and smelled so good, we didn’t even wait for supper…we tried them immediately. The rolls are light, fluffy and absolutely the best buttermilk rolls I’ve ever had. They’re so delicious, I don’t think they’ll last until supper so I’ll probably have to make another batch before the day is through. Your recipe is PERFECT! I’ve been baking my own bread for 50+ years and this is a simple, beautiful recipe that I’ll be using many times over.
For those who might wonder what I did to make this recipe into rolls: First, I heeded the instructions. Secondly, I don’t have a mixer, so I hand knead my bread — 10 minutes for this bread is needed (hahaha). After the first rise was done, I punched down the dough, kneaded it a little and flattened it with my hands into a circle, then cut it in quarters, then thirds on each quarter. I rolled each triangle into balls and spaced the 12 balls in a 13″ x 9″ Pyrex dish. I let them rise about a 1/2 hour and put in my preheated 375 oven for 20 minutes.
I know baking in different areas of the world with various altitudes can make a difference. I live in the southwest area in Trout Lake, Washington with an altitude of about 2000 feet and have a propane oven/stove. Adjust (or not) according to your home zone and you’ll have much success. This recipe is THE best Buttermilk Bread recipe ever in my opinion. Thanks so much for posting it!
Jessica says
Love that you made this into rolls- and SO glad to hear you enjoyed it!!
Jane Petroski says
Can you use powdered buttermilk?
Jessica says
i’ve not tried it with powdered buttermilk, but it’s worth a shot! You’ll have to reconstitute it of course.
Kathy says
I have made this recipe several times over last several weeks successfully with powdered buttermilk. The exact ratio I use is 1 1/3 c. water and 2 Tbsp. powdered buttermilk. I have to constantly make this bread because it disappears so fast in our house. It’s REALLY delicious!
Shelley says
What size loaf does this make? Want to try in a bread machine that can be set for 1, 1.5, or 2 lb loaves.
Jessica says
I’d use the 1.5 lb size.
Shelley says
Have tried twice… but neither time has it risen well (although good flavor). Does the buttermilk need to be warmed to activate the yeast?
Debra Leist says
I made this recipe exactly as written except I did heat the buttermilk to melt the butter. I didn’t use a big enough bread pan because I’m used to using the 8 inch ones. The proper bread pan is important because when I put it into the oven to bake it expanded so much it blew out on one side. Finished baking it and used a thermometer to check for doneness. Let it cool and just had a slice, being shaped funny didn’t take anything away from the taste. Absolutely wonderful. I will be baking this bread again soon. The recipe is so easy and it came together so good. I didn’t have any sticky spots in my mixer just really smooth dough. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Jessica says
Glad you liked it Debra! It’s one of my favorites!