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Simple soft white sandwich bread is perfect for homemade toast with butter and jam or sandwiches. How to make the perfect white sandwich bread with all-natural ingredients and no fillers!
All of my kids are back in school and so we are back to packing lunches.
I grew up with a Mom, who is a master bread maker, and would make bread several times a week for us.
So I love making my kids homemade bread for their sandwiches with all-natural ingredients and no crazy fillers. This is a soft sandwich bread but can still hold up to any type of spread you put on it.
Think of this as Wonder Bread — a fluffy, white loaf of bread made with simple ingredients. The addition of butter and milk gives it a touch of richness and creates such a soft texture.
In France, this may be referred to as Pain de Mie, which means bread of crumb.
My kids started school three weeks ago so I have been baking sandwich bread for them for breakfast and lunches, even in this Arizona summer heat.
I find that even though I don’t like firing up my oven in the summer and heating up the kitchen, the dough rises so fast. Last week, I experimented and let my bread dough rise outside, completely covered, to keep in the moisture. The bread dough rose in record time — 35-45 minutes! This is one of the perks of Arizona summers!
I love to use this white sandwich bread to make almond butter and homemade berry jam sandwiches, turkey and cheese, or simple butter and honey.
Even if you are a novice bread maker or a bread extraordinaire, I think you are going to fall in love with this easy homemade bread recipe. I am going to share all of my tips and tricks for making the best homemade bread!
This homemade bread can be cut into thick slices for butter and jam or thinner for sandwiches. You can eat it warm fresh out of the oven or let it rest. This homemade white bread keeps for days and stays moist.
What Ingredients are in the Best White Sandwich Bread Recipe:
- Bread Flour + All-Purpose Flour
- Sugar
- Whole Milk
- Active Dry Yeast
- Hot Water
- Salt
- Butter
Frequently Asked Bread Making Questions:
How to know if the yeast is working?
The key to making any type of bread recipe using yeast is to ensure the yeast is working and activated. I suggest mixing the yeast, warm water or milk (about 105-110 degrees), and a touch of sugar into a bowl. The sugar will help to “feed” the yeast and help it to activate quicker. Yeast loves sugar! The warm water or milk also helps to activate the yeast. If the water or milk is too hot, it can kill the yeast, but if it is too cool, it won’t incorporate with the other ingredients.
The yeast should start to become foamy or bubbles will begin to surface. This is a great sign that the yeast is working. Let it work for at least 5 minutes to see if it begins to proof.
If nothing happens, start again with a new batch of yeast, warm water, and sugar.
One other tip when trying to get the yeast to begin to foam and bubble, make sure to keep it away from salt as the salt can kill the yeast.
How will I know when my bread dough has risen enough?
As a general rule of thumb, most bread will have risen enough when the bread dough doubles in size. You can check to see if it has risen enough, by poking the top of the dough with your finger. Fully risen and fermented dough will retain the finger indentation as it doesn’t bounce back because the gluten has been adequately stretched.
If you love to bake bread, check out these other popular bread recipes that are so easy to make!
My Favorite Bread Baking Tools:
The photo below shows the white bread after it has had its second rise time. It should be light and fluffy.
After it is removed from the oven, get the butter ready! You want to brush on sweet cream butter all over the top of the bread.
Allow the butter to run down the sides of the bread as it keeps the bread moist and gives it flavor. I prefer to use salted butter.
POPULAR HOMEMADE BREAD RECIPES:
One Hour Whole Wheat Bread Recipe
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White Sandwich Bread
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cups Bread Flour
- 1/3 cup All-Purpose Flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoon Salt
- 2 1/4 teaspoon Active Dry Yeast
- 3 Tablespoons Warm Water
- 1 Tablespoon Sugar
- 1 cup Whole Milk
- 3 Tablespoons Butter (plus more for the top)
Instructions
- In a bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a dough attachment, combine bread flour, all-purpose flour, and salt.
- In a small saucepan, heat the milk until lukewarm (105-100 degrees). This can also be done in the microwave.
- In a small bowl, add warm water (105-110 degrees), yeast and sprinkle in the sugar, and stir it together. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes, watching to see if the yeast mixture foams up and bubbles. If it is foamy, the yeast has activated. If not, start again with a new batch of yeast and lukewarm water.
- Add the yeast mixture to the flour mixture. Mix on low speed. Add lukewarm milk. Scrape the sides of the bowl often to incorporate all of the ingredients.
- Add the slightly softened butter, one small cube at a time. You don't want to add the butter all at once but only a small amount at a time. The dough should start pulling away from the sides of the bowl and look like a round ball.
- Remove the dough from the mixing bowl and place in a greased glass bowl (I suggest spreading butter all over the bowl using a pasty brush or paper towel or spraying it with non-stick cooking spray.
- Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and let the dough rise until it doubles in size, about 2 hours, depending on the warmth of the kitchen.
- While the dough is rising, prepare the 9 x 5 loaf pan. Lightly spray non-stick cooking spray or brush with oil or butter to prevent sticking.
- Place the dough on a lightly oiled or floured workspace and shape into a 8 to 8 1/2 inch loaf. Place the log in a lightly greased 8 1/2" x 4 1/2" or 9" x 5" loaf pan, cover the pan loosely with lightly greased plastic wrap. Allow the bread to rise for about 30-60 minutes or until it's domed about 1" above the edge of the pan. Towards the end of the rise, preheat your oven to 350°F.
- Bake the bread for 25 to 33 minutes, until it is a light golden brown color. Test it for doneness by measuring its interior temperature with a digital thermometer (it should register 190°F at the center of the loaf).
- Remove the bread from the oven, and brush butter all over the warm loaf. Cool it on a rack before slicing. Store the bread in a plastic bag at room temperature for several days or freeze for longer storage. This bread freezes beautifully!
Notes
How to know if the yeast is working?
The key to making any type of bread recipe using yeast is to ensure the yeast is working and activated. I suggest mixing the yeast, warm water or milk (about 105-110 degrees), and a touch of sugar into a bowl. The sugar will help to "feed" the yeast and help it to activate quicker. Yeast loves sugar! The warm water or milk also helps to activate the yeast. If the water or milk is too hot, it can kill the yeast, but if it is too cool, it won't incorporate with the other ingredients. The yeast should start to become foamy or bubbles will begin to surface. This is a great sign that the yeast is working. Let it work for at least 5 minutes to see if it begins to proof. If nothing happens, start again with a new batch of yeast, warm water, and sugar. One other tip when trying to get the yeast to begin to foam and bubble, make sure to keep it away from salt as the salt can kill the yeast.ÂHow will I know when my bread dough has risen enough?
As a general rule of thumb, most bread will have risen enough when the bread dough doubles in size. You can check to see if it has risen enough, by poking the top of the dough with your finger. Fully risen and fermented dough will retain the finger indentation as it doesn't bounce back because the gluten has been adequately stretched. If you love to bake bread, check out these other popular bread recipes that are so easy to make!Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Just made this and it’s safe to say I’m never buying bread again. It was so simple and fool proof!
What if I only have instant yeast. How would the directions change?
Thanks in advance!
I can’t seem to get this recipe to work. Ive tried this recipe twice. I’ve bought new yeast the second go around, the yeast foams and bubbles so I know it’s not the yeast. I’m thinking my dough is too wet? It never comes to a ball, after I slowly add my slightly softened butter it just turns into goop. The second time, I tried hand kneading it for the last half and adding a little more bread flour to make it less wet. Unfortunately, two hours later my dough has not risen. I’ve made so many bread recipes and never had an issue with rise so I can’t seem to figure out the issue here. Any tips?
Should I double this recipe to fit a 13×5 loaf pan? Love this recipe
This bread is absolutely perfect! I used all-purpose flour only, as bread flour in my country (Poland, Europe) doesn’t seem to work in American recipes. The bread is worderfully fluffy and soft, and stays this way for at least three days (probably longer, but it didn’t last this long in my household). Thank you so much for this recipe!
The recipe doesn’t say how much water to add. I figured it was the same as the milk. I ended up with soup. Thanks.
Hi Jerry! The water amount (3 Tablespoons) is listed on the recipe card with the rest of the ingredients.
The easiest and fluffiest bread recipe! Thank you!