Easy White Bread - Perfect for Beginners

This easy white bread is made from scratch with just a few basic ingredients. The recipe makes two loaves and is perfect for new bread bakers. Soft and buttery on the inside with a crisp, golden crust - this has been pleasing families just like yours for centuries!

If you've never worked with yeast dough before I suggest reading my complete guide to working with yeast doughs before you start this recipe. It has a ton of information that will make you an experienced baker in no time!

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This is a traditional recipe, one that is probably very similar to what your grandmother or great-grandmother made. You don't need to use bread flour, all purpose flour is fine. That means that you can knead it by hand without too much trouble.

• All purpose flour - gives the bread structure and holds the air bubbles that the yeast gives off during rising.
• Active dry yeast easts the sugars in the dough and gives off a gas. This is what causes the bread to rise.
• Ginger gets the yeast going. Think of it as the bread's first cup of coffee in the morning. It's called an activator.
• Sugar feeds the yeast and helps it to grow.
• Milk gives the texture of this bread a delicate softness. You can actually use all water if you like.
• Butter helps the crumb stay soft and gives it more flavor.
• Salt enhances the flavor and keeps the bread from rising too much.
• Water adds moisture and helps the other ingredients to blend. If you've had trouble getting yeast to grow it may be too much chlorine in your water. Try using bottled water and see if that works better.

Variations

One of the reasons I love making homemade bread so much is there are so many little things you can do to change it up! Here are a few of my favorites -

• Add 1 1/2 cups of raisins during kneading for raisin bread.
• Use honey for the sugar.
• Use brown sugar.
• You can substitute almond, soy, oat, or other non-dairy product for the milk. You can even leave the milk out and use plain water.
• You can use any light flavored oil instead of butter.
• Pinch off balls of dough and use as dinner rolls.
• Add an envelope of dry onion soup mix during mixing for onion bread or rolls.

Instructions

1. Sprinkle yeast, ginger and a pinch of sugar on the water. Stir to dissolve and let it stand until bubbly.
2. Stir the sugar and butter into the warm milk and set aside until it has cooled to 110F degrees.
3. Add the milk mixture.
4. Add to the mixer bowl.
5. Add 3 cups of the flour.
6. Beat at medium speed about 2 minutes or stir by hand until batter is smooth.
7. Switch to the dough hook and add enough remaining flour to form a dough that leaves the sides of the bowl.
8. Let rest for 10 minutes then knead until smooth and elastic.
9. Form into a ball, cover, and let rise 1-1/2 hours.

Form loaves

1. Punch the dough down.
2. Form into two oblong loaves.
3. Fit into bread bans and let rise until double.
4. Bake until golden. Remove from oven and brush with butter.
5. Let cool and slice.
6. Store tightly wrapped for up to 2 days at room temperature or freeze for up to 3 months.

How to tell if the dough has doubled

When dough has doubled you can make a dent in it with your finger and it won't fill back in. It will be very soft and puffy as shown here.

Need to adjust for high altitude? Check out the instructions from Utah State University.

Equipment

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What’s new? Check out my Restless Chipotle & Co. Store on Amazon where you'll find all kinds of nostalgic goodness!  Thanks so much for being a part of Restless Chipotle!

I like to buy a large quantity of  yeast at one time. It’s much cheaper that way and it will last in a tightly sealed jar in the refrigerator for a long time. You may not think you’ll go through that much but trust me… you will!

Some of you have asked about the bread pans I use. Mine are the Pyrex 9x5x4 inch loaf pans. You can find them on Amazon –

Pyrex 1.5-Quart Clear Basics Glass Loaf Pan (Set of 2)

Related recipes

Once you've made bread it's hard to stop! Here are some more great recipes to try.

• Honey Oatmeal Bread is a soft, slightly sweet sandwich bread with the old fashioned goodness of oatmeal and honey. Makes great sandwiches and toast! You can also shape this dough into sandwich rolls or dinner rolls.
• Buttermilk Honey Bread is so easy that even a beginner can do it! It’s the best bread ever for sandwiches – soft with a slightly sweet flavor that comes from honey. 
• No Knead English Muffin Bread is nn easy, no knead loaf with the texture and flavor of an English muffin. Perfect toasted and served warm with butter and honey.

 Kaffeeklatsch

Nothing smells as good as homemade bread baking in the oven!

When my dad was alive it was almost like he had an internal radar. I am not necessarily a scheduled kind of person but just about the time I put a loaf to cool on the counter he would knock at my door...The heels were his favorite and I rarely had intact loaf by the time he left. The heels were all gone.

Thank God we get to keep our memories even after our loved ones are gone. The are priceless aren't they??

If you click on the number of servings in the recipe card you can adjust the measurements up or down for the exact number of servings you need. Don't forget that you can click on "add to collection" to save it to your own, private recipe box!

If you love this recipe please give it 5 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Originally published June 2007 - this post has been updated for easier to understand instructions and better reader experience. Last updated March 6, 2020.