Homemade Buttermilk Bread made easy at home with 6 ingredients! This buttermilk bread creates a soft loaf that has incredible texture & tastes divine!
Making this soft 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!
This buttermilk bread is a fantastic next step after you’ve figured out how to make bread from scratch.
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.
Helpful Tips when Making Your a Loaf of Soft 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!
HOMEMADE BUTTERMILK BREAD
Ingredients
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
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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
- Homemade Hawaiian Bread
- Honey Oat Bread recipe
- Cinnamon Raisin Bread
- Fabulous French Bread
- Homemade Hawaiian Bread
- Potato Bread Recipe
- White Bread Recipe
Homemade Buttermilk Bread can now be baked easily and fresh from the comfort of your own kitchen with 6 ingredients! This buttermilk bread creates a soft loaf that has incredible texture & tastes divine!
Emmanuel Lai Adetoyi says
I thank you so much for your help.
Kindly give your expertise guidance on how to make home made bread for family consumption. Let me know the recipes list and how to perfectly make it. Thanks and God bless you 🙏
Chris says
Have tried many buttermilk bread recipes in the past…This is now my go to recipe. Easiest and best recipe I’ve ever used. I’ve worn out five bread machines so I use a large stand mixer now. There are only two tweaks I made to the recipe (my personal preference). I warm the buttermilk (Mom always warmed the liquid when making bread) to 120 degrees F and added the combined dry yeast and sugar to that and let it proof for a minute or two.
Mattie Gale says
Is there a difference in the consistency of the oven baked bread and bread baked in a bread machine?
Jessica says
Hmmm…I think the crust is a different consistency and I prefer oven baked over machine baked. The inside of the bread is very similar, as is the taste. Machine baked bread has a thicker crust that’s crisper…not sure that’s the right word to describe it! Drier? Oven baked bread has a thinner crust that softens after a few hours. Hope this helps!
Mattie says
I use powdered buttermilk and add it to the flour dry. I warm the water, dissolve the sugar in the warm water, add and proof the yeast, then add the powdered buttermilk to the salt and flour. I melt the butter and add it to the wet ingredients before adding the dry ingredients. It works well, no need to reconstitute, although you can if you wish. Be sure not to add the melted butter when it is too hot or it will kill the yeast.
RSue says
How much buttermilk powder do you use?
Mattie says
I use about 4 tablespoons to the flour. I don’t reconstitute the powdered buttermilk.
Tramyna Harris says
I didn’t want to waste the buttermilk I bought to just use a couple tablespoons out of. I was looking for buttermilk recipes to make and across this buttermilk bread recipe. Made this recipe and added a tablespoon of honey. Then I split it into two loaves. My two boys ( 7 & 13) ate it all it one day and asked me to make it again today! So we will be making it again.
David says
If you use buttermilk powder how much do you use for this recipe if you don’t reconstitute it?
Peggy says
I just found this recipe via a Google search. It’s some of the best bread 🍞 I’ve ever baked. It’s perfect for sandwiches and makes a large loaf. I added Shredded cheddar cheese and jalapeños and rolled it like you would cinnamon swirl bread. This is definitely going into my recipe box. Yum .🍞
Jessica says
So glad to hear Peggy! Love your additions!!
Naomi Carder says
I love the bread recipe but the price of buttermilk in my area is stupidly high in my NC grocery store. I make a mixture of 1 cup of milk and one half cup yogurt. We prefer to use plain Greek yogurt to mimic the tartness of buttermilk but have also used regular yogurt in a pinch. I whisk the two together and it comes out as thick as buttermilk. I hope this helps people who don’t have access to buttermilk for cooking,
Nellie says
Thanks so much for the tip! I’ve made my own buttermilk with milk and lemon juice many times, but have never tried it with Greek yogurt before.
Linda Underwood says
I have made this bread several times since my first review. Just to let folks know that the great bread I made the first time was NOT an accident. This recipe has produced great bread several more times. Still my go to recipe.
Jessica says
Thank you so much for your kind words Linda!! So glad you enjoy the bread!
Daniel Wayne Riggs says
Started baking bread about a year ago, after reading a label, and have tried many recipes witch have all been good but not exactly what I was looking for. Recently tried a muffin recipe for fun and it had buttermilk in it and was better than any I had ever made, a few days later I noticed my bananas were becoming a little ripe so I googled a buttermilk banana nut bread recipe and got the same result so this morning i googled a buttermilk bread recipe and guess what? Same result this is the best home made white bread I have ever had much less tried to make myself! Simple as it sounds and Kudos to you!!!
Jessica says
THank you so much Daniel!! It has such a wonderful flavor, doesn’t it?! So glad you enjoyed it!
Linda Underwood says
I just made this bread just like the recipe. Was awesome. The bread rose very nicely, baked just fine, had a wonderful appearance, very nice texture, & best of all….tasted so good. My go to recipe from now on.
kathy says
holy cow are you sure about the yeast? I just made this and the loaf is way out of control. waiting for it to cool but not sure how this is going to taste.
Jessica says
You’re welcome to use less Kathy! Just note your rise times might be longer, depending on how warm your kitchen is. : )
Katrina G Moorefield says
Buttermilk makes ALL the difference! Love this recipe! I did substitute 1/4 cup veggie oil for the butter and added a little bit more sugar. Once of my favorite recipes
Jessica says
Right?! I agree! So glad you like it!!
Rodney says
Just made this recipe exactly as listed and am sitting and ENJOYING a huge slice!! ..I’ve been making different breads now for a couple of years and this has got to be my favorite! … the secret is all in the buttermilk ….Will keep this recipe and start checking out the other recipes on your website …Thank you for publishing this recipe!! and keep up the great work 🙂
Ron says
This bread is good with Crofters Premium Raspberry Spread and a little extra butter. The proper size bread pan should be 9×5 because I used a slightly smaller one and the dough rose way up over the edge. I was surprised at the amount of expansion, probably because I used bread flour.
Ron says
What kind of fillings do you suggest, since this bread is supposed to be good for sandwiches? Also, what is the best way to store it?
Jessica says
Any type of sandwich fillings are great! Turkey & provolone, ham and swiss, even our fall back, PB&J! As far as storage, I like bread bags. I’ve used both these types before- like them both, just depends on how long you need bread to last. (the wax lined bags store longer.) Plastic bread storage bags- https://amzn.to/434uzLM
Wax lined cloth bags- https://amzn.to/43uakGt
Larry says
What type of yeast did you use, active dry yeast, instant dry yeast, or fast-acting instant yeast?
Jessica says
I get yeast from Costco, it’s active dry.
Mattie says
I have been making this recipe for about a year now and it always comes out great.
Sandra Flint says
My I bake this bread in a bread machine
Patty says
I make it in a bread machine, but as I do with all my bread, I take the dough out of the bread machine, flatten out, roll into a log, pinch the seam and put it into a regular loaf pan to finish the bake in the oven…weve been loving it as cheese toast and sandwich bread.
Kathleen says
Getting ready to make this, but I dont have to activate the active dry yeast in warm water 1st?
Jessica says
You can, but for this one it’s made a bit differently so you don’t have to.
Julie says
Is this rapid rise yeast or active dry yeast? And what size loaf pan are you using?
Hoping for quick reply as I want to make it now.
Thanks!
Jessica says
I use active dry yeast and have baked it in a variety of 8-9″ pans. : )
Julie says
It was delicious!! We love the flavor the buttermilk brings to the party. I am baking it again today in a tad bigger dish so it doesn’t rise so high; it looked pretty but was hard to cut successfully. A longer loaf pan should fix that.
Thanks for the recipe-it’s a keeper!
Julie
Jessica says
So glad you enjoy it! I find my loaf size just varies based upon weather- humidity, how warm my house is, etc. Sometimes it’s more normal… other times it gets huge, ha!