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!
Gary says
I would not reccomend this recipe. I followed the steps exactly and it did not turn out. I see the common issue some others are having is the yeast. I let my yeast activate in sugar and water for 10 mins..
I’ve made much bread in the past and unfortunately this did not turn out.
Please re the comments before you put the money and time into recipes.
Jessica says
Gary, it sounds like you killed your yeast unfortunately. : (
Cindy Briseno says
I had to triple the rise times as I used active dry yeast and not quick rise yeast. I also baked the bread at 375° and not 400° for 30 minutes. This was my second try of this recipe after reading other white bread recipes. My first try failed as yours did.
Stacy says
Easy and delicious! I am NOT a seasoned bread maker and this recipe worked really well for me. I had to let the dough rise for about an hour, but I wasn’t in a hurry so that’s okay. The bread came out delightfully chewy and full of flavor. My only qualms with the recipe is that it was very unclear whether it makes one or two loaves. I’d also like to see a suggested pan size and if the pan should be greased or not. I made one loaf with this recipe in a standard 8” glass bread pan. The bread came out VERY tall, and I had to run a knife around the pan to get it out. All in all, I consider it a big success and I’ll definitely be returning to this recipe.
Jessica says
So glad you liked it Stacy!
Tina says
So is this for one loaf or two? I’m making it right now and have no idea if I need to split it because it says to in one part but not the other 😣
Jessica says
It makes 1 large loaf. You can divide it, or you can leave it as one.
Tamara Green says
I’ve been struggling to find a good bread recipe that doesn’t take a day and a half. Yours knocked it out of the park. I did do 1/2 whole wheat and 1/2 all-purpose – so a bit different…but absolutely delicious!! Thank you.
Ben says
This is the first time I’ve ever tried baking bread. I had to let it rise for close to an hour. Not sure if this was intended for two loaves or one. It made two small loaves. Not sure but it tasted great.
Jessica says
I usually just bake 1 loaf from this recipe. It likes warm air to rise in- that’s likely why it took longer for you! Did you see my tip about rising in a warm oven?
Alex says
This is a good simple recipe to bring together. The first rise takes the longest but i keep my house at 72 degrees, so I have to stick the bread in the oven with the light on to prove. Takes about 1-1.5 hours to rise. Bakes well and tastes delicious. I love how light the bread is. I’ve made this recipe several times.
Carinz says
Hello,
Currently in my town, I can only find bread machine yeast. Can I use that in this recipe?
Jessica says
Yes, you can!
Kathy says
The bread was easy to make and looked beautiful. However. It didn’t cut easily and seemed dry and crumbly. Any advice?
Jessica says
Did you use a bread knife, something long with a serrated edge? This is a soft bread recipe so a serrated knife is helpful for cutting pretty slices!
Sharonda Walls says
My kid’s love this recipe.
Nellie says
My kids love homemade bread too!
Kathy says
Hi, made the bread tonight. It was soft, easy and delicious. Although it only baked for 20 minutes at 400 and was burning on the bottom and top was getting kinda dark. So I took it out and it was perfect inside. It stuck to the pan and I had to cut the bottom burnt part off. I will definitely make it again. Maybe my oven is not calibrated. Recipe said to put on lowest possible rack. Should the pan be oiled or buttered? Next time I’ll try it at 375 for 20-25 minutes or however long it will take. I love that it was so easy and fast. Thank you.
Jessica says
Some bread pans do need to be greased- it really depends on what kind you use. In my photos I used a non-stick, so you don’t spray a non-stick pan. : ) Glad it all worked out though!
Rosa says
Ok, just made this bread and it was outrageously tall, too tall.
I questioned myself when I read 4 Tblsp of yeast. I usually use 1 Tblsp for two loaves. Will be posting pics as soon as I pull it out of the oven.
Rosa says
I made a typo, meant to put 2Tbsp of yeast not
4Tbsp.
Jessica says
It calls for just 2 TBSP yeast… did you double the recipe? Or just the yeast?
Mariz says
hi, I would like to bake this bread but i have hard time converting instant yeast to fresh yeast. This bread calls for 2 tbsp of instant yeast. Can you tell me how much instant yeast i needed for this? We used almost 2 oz cube fresh yeast here in Sweden.
Thanks for your support.
Jessica says
I’m not sure I understand what a 2 oz cube of fresh yeast means. I’m sorry! Maybe try it and see how it goes?
Olivia says
I feel like this recipe is still very unclear about a few things, despite saying you edited it based on comments. Just for clarification- is the recipe for one loaf or two? The pictures you give in your initial steps show the dough being cut in half (though that’s not mentioned in the actual recipe steps later on), and there seems to be a whole lot more room in the picture of your dough in its pan during the second rise. Now I’m wondering if it’s going to overflow during baking like it did for some people, or more importantly, if it’ll need more time to bake? But then some people said theirs only needed 20 minutes so I’m just a little confused haha…
Jessica says
This recipe makes 1 loaf of bread. It’s large! I double the recipe- hence the dough being cut. That’s why it’s not in the instructions. Sorry that’s unclear- I make it often and on the day I took photos, I doubled it.
Katie says
Is this for two loaves or one? The recipe doesn’t say to split in two but the directions above do! Thanks!
Jessica says
I’ll fix that- it just makes 1 loaf.
Arianna says
What size loaf pan did you use for this recipe? Thanks!
Jessica says
I use a 9″ ceramic loaf pan.
Amber says
Not sure how this recipe would turn out exactly by the recipe. I accidentally screwed up and split the dough into 2 loafs. I let rise till risen about 3/4 of the pan then baked only 20 min. Turned out perfectly! Great recipe If it turns out even when botched lol
CeeCee says
Maybe this is an odd question but I’ve recently been made aware of the impact that measuring your flour can have on recipes when you scoop flour into the measure scoop with a spoon versus directly scooping the measuring cup into the flour versus measure the flour by weight. Can you please clarify how you measured your flour? Thanks!
Jessica says
We scoop into a measuring cup. BUT- you need to be flexible when making bread. Each time you will likely add slightly different amounts of flour. Aim for the dough to clean the bowl and stick just slightly on the bottom. You want the dough to be tacky- if you add too much flour your loaf will be dry and crumbly.
Megan says
Can I freeze the dough before the second rise?
Jessica says
You can, yes!
Jennifer Speth says
I too was confused about whether the recipe made 1 loaf or 2, but the bread turned out delicious regardless. I ended up having to use a little closer to 4 cups of flour and my dough rose beautifully after 15 minutes sitting outside in the sun. For me the most important thing was making sure to not kill the yeast, so I used a thermometer to measure the water temp during proofing and 105 degrees F seemed to be perfect. I split my dough in half and baked two loaves in two 8″ nonstick bread pans and after 20 minutes at 400 degrees F they were perfectly baked. Next time I will try making 1 loaf in a 9″ bread pan and see how that does. Thanks for the great recipe!
Alison says
Thanks for your thoughts Jennifer!
Alex says
Yeast is tough to come by these covid days, and 2 tbsp of it seems excessive compared to lots of other bread recipes I make. So I halved the yeast and doubled the rising time. Also, I delayed mixing the yeast with the sugar. It worked out great. The bread is delicious!
Alison says
I’m so glad that worked out for you Alex! Thanks for sharing!
Yesenia says
I didn’t realize it was for 2. Can I store the second loaf in the refrigerator overnight until I’m ready to bake?
Jessica says
Absolutely! Just place it in a large bowl and cover it. (You’ll want to allow for a bit of expansion!)
Casey says
If I use instant yeast do I skip straight to step 2 and do one rise for this recipe? Thank you so much for any advice, new to baking bread but this recipe sounds simple and easy.
Jessica says
It doesn’t hurt instant yeast to proof it, so I just always do it!
Jo says
Hi, can i use bread flour? I dont know where else to use this. Thanks!
Jessica says
of course! Bread flour is wonderful in this recipe!
L says
This was very delicious I will make this again. Bad thing is we only have half of a loaf now and I just made it .😆
Alison says
That’s always the problem at our house too!! haha
Larry says
How do I prepare a glass loaf pan for making this bread so it won’t stick?
Jessica says
I recommend using the non-stick spray specifically for baking! It has flour in it and works so well! (You can also grease and flour your pan with shortening or oil, but dang that spray is so convenient!