White Bread Recipe
This homemade White Bread is soft, fluffy, and full of that fresh baked aroma that makes your whole kitchen feel cozy. It’s simple, reliable, and perfect for everything from morning toast to your favorite sandwiches. Once you try it, you’ll never go back to store bought again.
Servings: 10
Calories: 247kcal
Equipment
Ingredients
Yeast
- ¼ ounce instant yeast 2 ¼ tsp
- ½ cup water lukewarm
- 2 tablespoons sugar
Dough
- 1 ⅓ cups water lukewarm
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 tablespoons butter unsalted, at room temperature, cut into cubes
- 4 ½ cups all-purpose flour up to 5 cups
- 1 tablespoon butter unsalted, melted
Instructions
- Add the instant yeast, sugar, and ½ cup of lukewarm water to the bowl of your stand mixer. Stir it briefly to combine. If you are using active dry yeast instead, let it sit for about 5 minutes until it becomes foamy before continuing.
- Add the remaining 1⅓ cups of water to the bowl, salt, 2 tablespoons butter at room temperature, and 4 cups of flour. Use the dough hook to mix on low speed, until the dough basically comes clean from the side of the bowl. Add the remaining flour as needed. The dough is soft, but not sticky and it's ready when it comes clean from the side of the bowl. Make sure to mix for about 7 to 10 minutes.
- Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl and cover it with plastic wrap. Place it in a warm place and let it rise until it doubles in size. It should take about an hour.
- Gently punch the dough down with your fist to get rid of some of the air. Turn the dough onto a clean, lightly floured surface and press it down with your fingers to remove some of the air pockets.
- Grease a 9-inch loaf pan with butter or cooking spray.
- Using your hands pat down the dough into a 9x12-inch rectangle, then roll it up jelly roll style. Place it into the prepared loaf pan. Place it in a warm draft-free environment and let it rest again until it doubles in size, should take another 30 to 45 minutes.
- Preheat your oven to 400℉ and position the oven rack on the lowest setting.
- Brush the loaf with melted butter and transfer the loaf to the oven. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, rotating halfway through, until golden brown.
- Remove the loaf from the oven and immediately brush with more melted butter.
- Allow the bread to cool in the loaf pan for 10 minutes then transfer it to a cooling rack to finish cooling completely before slicing.
Video
Notes
- The loaf is done baking when an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of the bread reads 195℉.
- Note: I only added 4 cups of flour to my bread, but many factors come into play when making bread such as environment, altitude, yeast, how you store your flour, etc. It's best to use your judgement. The dough for this bread needs to be soft, but not sticky, so if after you mix it well for at least 4 minutes, the dough is still sticking to the bowl, add more flour, start with a couple tbsps at a time and add as needed. Depending on where you are and your environment, some may find that they need to add up to 5 cups of flour.
- Store the bread at room temperature wrapped in tightly in plastic wrap for up to 4 days.
Nutrition
Serving: 1slice | Calories: 247kcal | Carbohydrates: 46g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 9mg | Sodium: 469mg | Potassium: 67mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 106IU | Calcium: 8mg | Iron: 3mg
