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Classic White Bread Recipe

A simple and classic white bread recipe, perfect for slicing and topping with butter and jam!

Course Side Dish
Cuisine American
Keyword white bread
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
rise 50 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 40 minutes
Servings 8

Ingredients

  • 1 1/3 cups warm water
  • 2 teaspoons yeast I use SAF yeast, an instant yeast
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 2 3/4 cups bread flour plus 2-4 tablespoons if needed
  • 1 teaspoon sea or kosher salt
  • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
  • additional 1 tablespoon butter for top of loaf after baking

Instructions

  1. Place warm water in the bowl of a stand mixer. 

  2. Sprinkle yeast and sugar over water in bowl. Let sit until yeast begins to bubble and foam in bowl. 

  3. Add 2 cups bread flour, 1 teaspoon salt and 3 tablespoons melted unsalted butter to the mixing bowl. Turn the mixer on low speed with the paddle attachment and let mix for 2 minutes. 

  4. Scrape down sides of bowl and paddle and mix for an additional 1-2 minutes on low. Add remaining 3/4 cup of bread flour, a little at a time, just until dough is no longer shiny and wet. 

  5. Scrape down sides of bowl again. Spray sides of the bowl with cooking spray and cover the bowl with Saran wrap. Place in a warm draft free place* to rise about 20 minutes. 

  6. Turn oven on to 375 degrees and place rack in center of oven. Grease a 8.5x4.5 inch loaf pan and set aside. 

  7. When the dough has risen for about 20-30 mins,  sprinkle a little flour on top and turn the dough a couple of times in the bowl so it is not sticky. Form into a loaf shape and place in the pan. 

  8. Let rise again for about 20-30 minutes or until the dough is level with the top of the pan. 

  9. Carefully place in preheated oven for about 40 minutes or until top is golden. 

  10. Remove from oven let cool in pan for a few minutes then transfer loaf to a cooling rack. Brush with butter while still warm. 

Recipe Notes

  • To help the dough rise quickly, I rinse the bowl before placing ingredients inside with warm water. This warms up the bowl so the ingredients are never in contact with a cool surface. 
  • *I love to use the microwave as a place for bread to rise without draft. Heat one cup of water for about 1 minute in microwave. Remove cup of water and discard. The microwave will now be warmed up and ready to be used as a place for the bread to rise. Place the bowl with the bread dough into the microwave. Make sure to cover the bowl of bread with plastic wrap for best results. This will trap all of the heat inside of the bowl and help the bread to raise quicker. remember, do not use the water you heated up in the microwave, it was only used to warm up the microwave!
  • The amount of flour you use will vary according to the temperature of the flour, the brand, your altitude, the amount of humidity on the day you are baking. I use about 2 3/4 cups of flour  most of the time when baking this bread. Occasionally, a little more. Also, the bake time will vary depending on your oven, altitude, etc. Please watch your loaf carefully to determine how much time you need to bake. If the loaf seems to be getting a little too dark, loosely cover with a sheet of foil. The loaf may take 30 minutes to 45 to bake.  
  • If you don't have bread flour handy and want to make this bread, use all purpose flour instead. In this case, reduce the liquid in the recipe from 1 1/3 cups to 1 cup of warm water and then start out with 2 cups of all purpose flour and add additional flour after mixing for the first 2 minutes. All fo the other instructions stay the same!