White Bread recipe is made with basic ingredients & detailed instructions showing how to make bread! Done in just over an hour this recipe is one of the best soft white sandwich bread recipes.
If you love Bread as much as we do, find all of our Best Bread Recipes Here!
I began experimenting with bread recipes years and years ago and I get SO excited when I find a new one I love! It always amazed me how tiny shifts in ingredients come together and yield such a different result.
Soft White Bread Recipe
This white bread recipe can be used for literally anything. It makes great toast, great sandwich bread, anything! It’s tremendously soft and has the best texture. It’s even fabulous DAYS later, which is tough to achieve with homemade bread.
What makes bread soft and fluffy?
Ingredients and preparation method combine in this bread recipe to give the bread a super soft and fluffy texture. Don’t leave out or replace the egg and oil in the recipe. They are imperative to the chewy, feathery texture of this white bread. Also, be sure to knead for the full 5 minutes. Giving the dough enough time in both the first and second rise will also help the overall texture.
White Bread Recipe Ingredients
- Warm Water
- Granulated Sugar
- Instant/Active dry yeast
- Canola oil – you can also use vegetable oil or light olive oil
- 1 egg
- Salt
- Flour
How to Make White Bread
If you’ve never made bread before, here is the basic formula for making your own at home. It really is an easy process and you’ll be thrilled with the results. Plus your entire house will smell like freshly baked bread which is amazing.
Step 1: Assemble Bread Ingredients
You’ll need warm water, granulated sugar, instant OR active dry yeast, 1 egg, canola oil, salt 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 watch the video above to see 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 and the sugar, then stir to dissolve. Add in the yeast, 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 egg, the oil, salt and flour, then mix using an electric stand mixer until it’s well combined, about 2 minutes. You can mix by hand but it will take longer.
Step 4: Knead the Bread
Trust me, taking an extra 5 minutes to let your mixer knead the bread is worth it! 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 to knead bread dough. If you knead by hand, you’ll want to knead for 7-8 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, so that it doesn’t stick.
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.
This White Bread recipe only needs to rise for 15 minutes.
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 texture.
Shape dough by rolling it gently into a ball and rolling it 2 or 3 times on the counter top so that the ball is more oblong. Tuck the ends underneath so that the loaf looks smooth.
Place in the pan. It doesn’t need to be touching the sides of the pan.
I like to brush an egg wash on the top of this bread to give it that smooth, shiny crust. It’s still soft and it ends up having incredible flavor. Just whisk together 1 whole egg and 1 TBSP water, then brush all over the outside of the dough, making sure to cover the entire surface of the dough.
Step 7: Second Rise
This White Bread only has a 10 minute second rise. I just place the pan on the stove near the oven while it preheats.
Step 8: Bake the Bread
You’re nearly there! This sandwich bread bakes for about 35-40 minutes. It bakes at a higher temp than other bread recipes- 400° F. Make sure your oven rack is on a lower setting so that the top doesn’t burn! I use a digital cooking thermometer near the end of the baking time to make sure the bread is fully cooked. 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
Let the bread cool in the pan it cooked in so it can maintain it’s shape. Once it’s cooled you can transfer it to a cooling rack.
I prefer to cool it for at least 20 minutes. If you try and slice it while it’s too hot, the loaf will get smashed- it’s a soft bread!
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!
White Bread
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 1 cup warm water
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 TBSP yeast
- 1/3 cup canola oil
- 1 egg
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 3 to 3 1/2 cups flour
- 1 egg whisked with 1 TBSP water to brush on top
Instructions
Instructions
- In a large bowl, dissolve sugar in warm water. Add yeast; let stand for 5 minutes.
- Add the canola oil, egg, salt and enough flour to form a soft dough. Knead for 5 minutes.
- Form dough into a smooth ball. Keeping the dough in the bowl, spray with non-stick spray and cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place for 15 minutes.
- Punch down dough. Knead for 1 minute.
- Form loaf by rolling ball into an oblong shape then tucking and pinching the ends under the loaf.
- Place loaf in a bread pan. Brush thoroughly with egg mixture.
- Let loaf sit while oven is preheating to 400 degrees F, or about 10 minutes. It bakes at a higher temp than other bread recipes. Make sure your oven rack is on a lower setting so that the top doesn't burn!
- Bake for 30-40 minutes, until outside is golden brown and internal temperature of loaf registers 195-200 degrees.
- Let cool. Slice & enjoy with butter!
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. I buy my yeast in bulk from Costco and it’s active dry yeast.
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 to Store Homemade White Sandwich Bread
Homemade bread needs to be stored in an airtight container. We like to use these bread bags because they’re the perfect size and shape.
White Sandwich Bread Recipe FAQ
There are so many different types of sandwich bread! The two most basic varieties are white and wheat. This is a white loaf, which is a soft, feathery classic bread.
Store-bought white bread can contain trace amounts of benzoyl peroxide which is used to “bleach” the flour white. That’s why we make homemade bread, so that we can have control over the ingredients! So be sure to use “unbleached” white flour.
The egg and oil in this bread heavily contribute to the soft, spongy texture. You can replace canola oil with a light olive oil if you’d like. I find that using any other type of olive oil gives the bread a rather unique, unpleasant flavor.
Many bread recipes use both milk and water. Both are good! Using milk adds additional vitamins and protein. It’s also important to remember that breads that contain milk must be cooked to a full 200°F. That’s one of the reasons I use a cooking thermometer to test my bread for doneness before taking it out of the oven.
More incredible homemade 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
- Easy Homemade Cheesy Breadsticks
- Tomato Parmesan Flatbread
- Potato Bread Recipe
- Soft Cornmeal Dinner Rolls
This white bread recipe is the best homemade bread. It’s great for sandwiches, toast, sides, anything! With only six ingredients it’s one of the easiest yeast bread recipes I’ve made!
Lauren says
So if you are using instant yeast, do you eliminate the cup of warm water? Or just put that in the bowl and all the dry ingredients to it? Looking forward to making it this week!
Barb says
Could I use this recipe in a bread maker? It looks and sounds delicious !
Jessica says
You can Barb!
Kelli says
I can’t wait to try this, it looks amazing! What size loaf pan do you use?
Jessica says
I use a glass or ceramic 9″ bread pan.
Paula says
I’ve been making lots of bread since the stay at home order and this was the BEST! It is super soft and has the BEST texture. I used my dough hook instead of kneading by hand and I may have added a little more than the called for amount of flour so that it was not too sticky to form in a ball to rise. I also allowed it about a 30 minute rise after I formed it in the bread pans. This will be my go-to bread recipe!
Jessica says
I’m SO glad to hear you like the recipe Paula! We love it too!!
Sarah C says
How far up is the bread supposed to rise in the loaf pan before you put it in the oven? My loaves came out very small and didn’t even fill up the bottom of the loaf pan. Also they were very brown and had a crunchy crust and I only cooked them at 400 degrees for 27 minutes. Very soft in the middle but definitely not a soft crust. Do you know what might have caused that by chance? I had it on the 2nd to lowest shelf in the oven. Thank you!
Jessica 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.
4) Ratio/ measurements of yeast to flour was off.
I’m guessing you added too much flour. Make sure you dough is tacky- stop adding flour right when you achieve this consistency.
Bobby says
Also don’t add the salt to yeast, it will kill yeast. Add salt after you add some flour, or just add to flour.
Katie m says
I had the same issue as some others, they didnt really rise the second go around and didnt fill out the pa . Got a bit crustier than I’d like on the outside. I made sure to take the temp of the water (104), however I may have added too much flour, because it was too tacky for me to knead, not sure.
Alison says
Hey Katie, some possible explanations for your bread not rising as well as needed are:
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. (This sounds like it may have been the problem you faced)
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.
Susan says
I’ve been making bread for several years and was disappointed with this recipe, the texture & taste was NOT disappointing but my dough did not even rise to the top of my pan. I know there wasn’t anything wrong with my yeast because I was making another batch of bread at the same time (using a different recipe) so I was using the same yeast & flour. The other dough raised twice the size than this recipe did. Again the taste of this recipe was very good, just not happy with the finished product.
Jami says
Is it really 2tablespoons of yeast?
Nellie says
2 TBSP is correct- it’s a quick loaf. You can use less, just know that you’ll have to increase rise times.
Lisa says
I was worried about the amount of rising because they looked small. I have only just started baking breads during this quarantine and this was by far the easiest recipe. The bread is gorgeous! I actually had my 14 year old do the work while I read the recipe to him. Good one too teach with. Can’t wait for it to finish cooling so we can dig in. Thank you, this is a keeper!
Nellie says
So glad you enjoyed the recipe Lisa. That’s awesome that you got your son involved- never too early (or too late!) to learn how to make bread!
Pat says
Do you use bread flour or self rising flour?
Alison says
You can use all purpose or bread flour!
Madison says
This recipe looks so easy and the bread looks so soft. Can I substitute white flour for wheat flour?
Alison says
I’d only replace 1/3 of the white flour with wheat. You might also have to increase the rise time, just FYI.
Mapula says
Perfect, thank you. I made the bread, it came out perfectly, I did not use eggs and still the results were amazing. My babies loved it and my husband couldn’t pass without taking a slice. Changed nothing in the recipe. Thank you for sharing.
God bless you
Alison says
So glad you and your family enjoyed this Mapula!
Charlotte Hudson says
So easy to make. Very satisfied with my first attempt. Didn’t lower the oven racks enough so it was more brown than I would have liked. It tasted fine and look forward to making again.
Alison says
I hope your second attempt is an even better experience than the first for you!
Lizzie says
What type of flour did you use? Thanks
Alison says
Hey Lizzie, You can use all purpose or bread flour!
Maddi says
Can I substitute all purpose flour with whole wheat flour?
Nellie says
I’d only replace 1/3 of the white flour with wheat. You might also have to increase the rise time, just FYI.
Shannon says
Do you bake both loaves at the same time? Or do they need to go into the oven on their own?
Kristen says
Hello! I can’t wait to try this! We eat a lot of sandwiches and bread in our house. Is the yield of this recipe 2 loaves?
Thank you!
Alison says
Hi Kristen! Yes it yields 2 loaves 🙂
Tanya says
Hi! I’m curious if anyone has tried making hamburger buns with this recipe?
Charlotte says
Great bread recipe. Soft, delicious. My family wants more!! I never made homemade bread before that was so good. Thanks for sharing.
Nellie says
Isn’t homemade bread the best?! So glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Autumn says
I have active yeast in a packet. How much am I supposed to use? It says 2 TBS in the recipe, the package says it is equal to 2 1/4 tsp. So I would need almost 3packets of the active yeast? Other recipes I’ve looked up only call for 1 packet. Just want to make sure I don’t use to much.
Nellie says
2 TBSP is correct- it’s a quick loaf. You can use less, just know that you’ll have to increase rise times.
Michelle says
This recipe is a success!! I followed your directions exactly and it worked great. Light and fluffy and doesn’t taste like yeast.
It’s also very fast and doesn’t take all day to make. I only cooked the bread for 25 mins and it was ready. Just a note your recipe doesn’t say to brush with butter when you done cooking but I noticed you did it in the video – so I did as well. I also put a small pan of water in the bottom of stove.
Nellie says
Butter on top is always a great idea! Not necessary, but something I like to do when I bake bread. So glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Lisa says
Do I need to grease the bread pans? Don’t see it in your recipe.
Jessica says
It depends on what kind of pans you have! I usually grease by glass or ceramic pans using the non-stick spray made specifically for baked goods.
Sheila says
Made this a couple of weeks ago it was so good. Came looking for the recipe to make again this week. Made one regular and added shredded cheese and jalapenos to the other loaf. They were both excellent. Warming the oven for a few minutes then placing the bread in it to rise worked so well! Surely a keeper! Thanks
Nellie says
What a great idea to add cheese and jalapenos! I’m going to have to try that sometime!