With step-by-step pictures, a full video tutorial, and plenty of helpful tips, learn how to make simple white sandwich bread using a few baking ingredients like flour, water, yeast, salt, and milk. Bread flour promises a super soft interior with an extra chewy crust. This recipe yields 1 loaf, so it’s perfect if you only have 1 loaf pan.
If you’re new to working with yeast, reference my Baking with Yeast Guide for answers to common yeast FAQs. This recipe is brought to you in partnership with Red Star Yeast.
Let’s make homemade sandwich bread. This is a basic staple in any bread baker’s repertoire, but it’s also a recipe that shouldn’t be overlooked. There’s nothing on earth quite like homemade bread and my recipe is loaf perfection—rising tall, tasting buttery-soft, and making the most epic sandwiches. It’s truthfully the best homemade bread I’ve ever tasted and it all comes from just 7 ingredients. And if you’re nervous to bake with yeast, I guarantee you will finally feel confident with this no-fuss recipe.
This Sandwich Bread Is:
- Soft white bread with an extra chewy exterior
- Crisp right out of the oven!
- Made from 7 easy ingredients
- Golden brown with a super impressive rise
- Extraordinary on its own or as the base of a sandwich
- Simple to make
- Easy to make ahead or freeze
Looking for a no yeast alternative? Here’s my no yeast bread.
Just 1 Loaf of Bread
Besides the simplicity of the process, you’ll appreciate that this sandwich bread recipe yields just 1 loaf. You don’t need a crazy amount of flour, multiple loaf pans, and you’re not left with 2-3 leftover loaves on your hands. (Which wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing.) Just 1 loaf to prepare, rise, shape, and bake—convenient, approachable, and straightforward. My recipes for multigrain bread, homemade cinnamon swirl bread, and honey oat bread both produce just 1 loaf as well.
Overview: How to Make Sandwich Bread
- Make the dough. Continue below to learn more about this dough recipe.
- Knead the dough. Reference my How to Knead Dough video tutorial for extra help with this step.
- Cover the dough and let it rise. The dough rises in about 1-2 hours in a relatively warm environment.
- Punch down the dough to release the air.
- Shape the dough into a large rectangle, then roll it into loaf.
- Let the loaf rise for about 1 hour.
- Bake for 30-34 minutes until golden brown.
As shown in the video tutorial below, the dough comes together with a mixer. You can use a paddle attachment or a dough hook. You can also make the dough by hand, but it requires a bit of arm muscle. After the dough comes together in the mixing bowl, it’s time to knead. You can continue beating the dough with the mixer for this step or you can knead the dough by hand. If you’re new to bread baking, my how to knead dough post and video can help with this step.
Sandwich Bread Ingredients
You need 7 ingredients—practically the same as my homemade cinnamon swirl bread but less sugar. Likewise, they’re basically the same ingredients as my soft dinner rolls too, but in order to bake a bread that rises tall and has legitimate structure, we’ll leave out some of the fat. Swap some of the milk for water and leave out the egg.
- Water: Liquid activates yeast. I use mostly water in this dough because we need a bread that has structure. Using all milk, like I do for my dinner rolls, would yield a flimsy bread without much texture.
- Milk: To make a soft bread, you need fat in the dough so make sure 1/4 cup of the liquid is milk. Low fat milk works too, but whole milk produces phenomenal texture.
- Yeast: You can use active dry yeast or instant yeast. If using active dry, the rise times will be a bit longer. I recommend Platinum Yeast from Red Star, which is an instant yeast blended with natural dough improvers. It’s my go-to for all bread.
- Sugar: Sugar feeds the yeast, increases its activity, and tenderizes the dough.
- Butter: Butter promises a flavorful loaf. I tested this recipe with melted butter, softened butter, and even olive oil. We liked the loaf made with softened butter the best because it had pronounced buttery flavor and a softer (yet still sturdy) interior.
- Salt: You can’t make flavorful bread without salt!
- Flour: You can use all-purpose flour or bread flour. All-purpose flour is convenient for most, but bread flour produces a chewier crust. There are no other changes to the recipe if you use bread flour. For best taste, I highly recommend bread flour. It’s what I always use when I make artisan bread. If you wish to use whole wheat flour, follow my recipe for whole wheat bread instead.
After you make and knead the dough, let it rise. Then, punch it down to release the air:
Roll it out into an 8×15-inch rectangle:
Roll it up tightly starting with the 8-inch side, so you have an 8-inch roll to fit into your 9×5-inch loaf pan. (Unlike cinnamon rolls where you roll up the dough starting with the larger side.) Let it rise until it’s 1 heaping inch above the rim of the pan:
Bake until golden brown, about 30-34 minutes.
Uses for Homemade Sandwich Bread
- Any sandwich. Like the Ross Geller’s Turkey Moist-Maker Sandwich 🙂
- BLT or grilled cheese
- Avocado toast or bacon & egg sandwiches
- Soup dipper
- Make croutons
- French toast or Blueberry French Toast Casserole
- Or in savory recipes like Breakfast Casserole and Sausage & Herb Stuffing
But our favorite way is simply warm toast with regular butter or honey butter & jam. Honestly, toast made from mass-produced bread doesn’t even compare. You can actually taste the soft and buttery toasty crumbs here. Or make an easy turkey sandwich—store-bought bread can’t make a sandwich taste as PERFECT as this.
I understand there’s a major convenience with store-bought bread and I’m not asking you to only make homemade bread for the rest of you life, but try it at least once. It takes a few hours one afternoon and most of the work is hands-off while the dough rises. Fresh-baked sandwich bread smells incredible, tastes even better, and I’m confident there’s no better baked good than this perfect loaf. You won’t regret trying this.
More Easy Bread Recipes
- Focaccia
- Multigrain Bread
- Artisan Bread
- Cheesy Breadsticks
- Pizza Crust
- Homemade Soft Pretzels
- Bread Bowls
- Homemade Breadsticks
- Olive Bread
- Cranberry Nut No-Knead Bread
Sandwich Bread
- Prep Time: 3 hours, 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 32 minutes
- Total Time: 4 hours
- Yield: 1 loaf
- Category: Bread
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
You only need 7 ingredients to make this simple sandwich bread. Soft and buttery with a chewy/crisp crust, this fresh loaf of bread will quickly become a staple in your kitchen. See recipe notes for freezing and overnight instructions. You can also reference my Baking with Yeast Guide for answers to common yeast FAQs.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (240ml) water, warmed to about 110°F (43°C)
- 1/4 cup (60ml) whole milk, warmed to about 110°F (43°C)
- 2 and 1/4 teaspoons (7g) Platinum Yeast from Red Star instant yeast (1 standard packet)
- 2 Tablespoons (25g) granulated sugar
- 4 Tablespoons (1/4 cup; 56g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons (9g) salt
- 3 and 1/3 cups (about 420–430g) all-purpose flour or bread flour (spooned & leveled), plus more as needed
Instructions
- Prepare the dough: Whisk the warm water, warm milk, yeast, and sugar together in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment. Cover and allow to sit for 5 minutes.
- Add the butter, salt, and 1 cup flour. Beat on low speed for 30 seconds, scrape down the sides of the bowl with a silicone spatula, then add another cup of flour. Beat on medium speed until relatively incorporated (there may still be chunks of butter). Add the remaining flour and beat on medium speed until the dough comes together and pulls away from the sides of the bowl, about 2 minutes. *If you do not own a mixer, you can mix this dough with a large wooden spoon or silicone spatula. It will take a bit of arm muscle!*
- Knead the dough: Keep the dough in the mixer and beat for an additional 5–8 full minutes, or knead by hand on a lightly floured surface for 5–8 full minutes. (If you’re new to bread-baking, my How to Knead Dough video tutorial can help here.) If the dough becomes too sticky during the kneading process, sprinkle 1 teaspoon of flour at a time on the dough or on the work surface/in the bowl to make a soft, slightly tacky dough. Do not add more flour than you need; you do not want a dry dough. After kneading, the dough should still feel a little soft. Poke it with your finger—if it slowly bounces back, your dough is ready to rise. You can also do a “windowpane test” to see if your dough has been kneaded long enough: tear off a small (roughly golfball-size) piece of dough and gently stretch it out until it’s thin enough for light to pass through it. Hold it up to a window or light. Does light pass through the stretched dough without the dough tearing first? If so, your dough has been kneaded long enough and is ready to rise. If not, keep kneading.
- 1st Rise: Lightly grease a large bowl with olive oil or nonstick spray. Place the dough in the bowl, turning it to coat all sides in the oil. Cover the bowl and allow the dough to rise in a relatively warm environment for 1-2 hours or until double in size. (I always let it rise on the counter. Takes about 2 hours. For a tiny reduction in rise time, see my answer to Where Should Dough Rise? in my Baking with Yeast Guide.)
- Grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan.
- Shape the bread: When the dough is ready, punch it down to release the air. Lightly flour a work surface, your hands, and a rolling pin. Roll the dough out into a large rectangle, about 8×15 inches. It does not have to be perfect—in fact, it will probably be rounded on the edges. That’s ok! Roll it up into an 8 inch log and place in the prepared loaf pan.
- 2nd Rise: Cover shaped loaf with aluminum foil, plastic wrap, or a clean kitchen towel. Allow to rise until it’s about 1 inch above the top of the loaf pan, about 1 hour. (See video and photo above for a visual.)
- Adjust oven rack to a lower position and preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). (It’s best to bake the bread towards the bottom of the oven so the top doesn’t burn.)
- Bake the bread: Bake for 32-36 minutes or until golden brown on top. If you notice the top browning too quickly, loosely tent the pan with aluminum foil. (I usually add aluminum foil over the loaf around the 20 minute mark.) To test for doneness, if you gently tap on the loaf, it should sound hollow. For a more accurate test, the bread is done when an instant-read thermometer reads the center of the loaf as 195–200°F (90–93°C).
- Remove from the oven and allow bread to cool for a few minutes in the pan on a cooling rack before removing the bread from the pan and slicing. Feel free to let it cool completely before slicing, too.
- Cover leftover bread tightly and store at room temperature for 6 days or in the refrigerator for up to 10 days.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: Prepare recipe through step 6. Place shaped loaf in a greased 9×5-inch loaf pan or disposable loaf pan, cover tightly, and freeze for up to 3 months. On the day you serve it, let the loaf thaw and rise for about 4-5 hours at room temperature. Bake as directed. You can also freeze the baked bread loaf. Allow the bread to cool completely, then freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator or at room temperature, then reheat as desired.
- Overnight Instructions: Prepare the recipe through step 6. Cover the shaped bread tightly and refrigerate for up to about 15 hours. At least 3 hours before you need the bread the next day, remove from the refrigerator, keep covered, and allow to rise on the counter for about 1-2 hours before baking. Alternatively, you can let the dough have its 1st rise in the refrigerator overnight. Cover the dough tightly and place in the refrigerator for up to 12 hours. Remove from the refrigerator and allow the dough to fully rise for 2 more hours. Continue with step 5.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Electric Stand Mixer or Large Glass Mixing Bowl with Wooden Spoon / Silicone Spatula | 9×5-inch Loaf Pan | Rolling Pin
- Yeast: Platinum Yeast from Red Star is an instant yeast. Any instant yeast works. You can use active dry yeast instead. Rise times will be slightly longer using active dry yeast. Reference my Baking with Yeast Guide for answers to common yeast FAQs.
- Flour: You can use all-purpose flour or bread flour. All-purpose flour is convenient for most, but bread flour produces a chewier loaf of bread and I highly recommend it. The bread is still soft no matter which you use. Either flour is fine and there are no other changes to the recipe if you use one or the other. I don’t recommend whole wheat flour because it doesn’t have the same baking properties as white flour or bread flour (the gluten levels are different). If you wish to use whole wheat flour, try my recipe for whole wheat bread instead.
- Doubling this recipe: For best results, I recommend making two separate batches of dough. However, if you want to double the recipe all in 1 mixing bowl, double all of the ingredients except for the yeast and butter. Use 3 and 1/4 teaspoons yeast and 6 Tablespoons of butter.
- Bread Machine Questions: I don’t own a bread machine so I have not tested it, but some readers in the comments section have had success.
- Adapted from Homemade Cinnamon Swirl Bread
Reader Comments and Reviews
Hi Sally, I want to try this in a large pullman loaf pan 13″ I believe. Have you tried doing this yet?
Hi Diane, we haven’t tried scaling this recipe up for a 13 inch pan before and it would likely take some experimenting. Let us know if you give anything a try!
I have been on the search for the perfect sandwich bread. This is it. Pitching the other three recipes I’ve tried in the past and this recipe of yours is THE ONE. Just delicious. The rise, the texture and the taste is incredible. Love your recipes & YouTube channel. Keep doing what you’re doing. Huge fan right here.
I bake a LOT of bread, all different types. This one is my FAVORITE for an every day sandwich bread!
Not sure why but bread flour in Australia needs a lot more water. I added an extra 1/4 cut warm water to get it to the right consistency.
Otherwise worked beautifully!
If I want to bake this loaf in 13 x 5 bread tin do I double the receipe to get a bigger loaf. Appreciate your advice.
Hi Shyama, we haven’t tested this dough in that sized pan, but it would be a shorter loaf as written. See recipe Notes for details about doubling. Let us know what you try!
I tried the short loaf by following exact instructions and it came beautifully. Thanks. I will try in a bigger pan by doubling and let you know the results.
The dough was way too soft. I had to add 1/2 cup of flour to get it firmer. I weigh my flour. I know I used the right amount.
Hi Kris, there are a lot of variables that go into the consistency of dough, even down to the weather and humidity in the air. There’s nothing wrong with adding just a little more flour to bring the dough into a less sticky and knead-able consistency. Hope you enjoyed the bread!
This is my go-to everyday loaf. I have been adding 1 TB of powdered milk to this recipe and it has improved the flavor, texture, and counter life of this wonderful all purpose bread. Thanks Sally. 🩵🍞
I have been struggling for YEARS to make a soft, fluffy bread with horrible results each and every single time. I came across this recipe 2 days ago and yesterday I made it for the first time. PERFECTION!!! I am beside myself with joy!!! I’ve deleted all other bread recipes from my collection and will now make only this one going forward. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!
Love this recipe! Use it all the time!
I made this according to your recipe and my dough was just so sticky and would not come together. I even used a mixer what happened
Hi Sandra, there are a lot of variables that go into the consistency of dough, even down to the weather and humidity in the air. There’s nothing wrong with adding just a little more flour to bring the dough into a less sticky and knead-able consistency.
Same for me! I’ve been kneading and adding more and more flour. I’m wondering what I did wrong.
Hey sally, I followed the doubling instructions for one batch but it’s incredibly sticky after nearly 40 mins kneading in the stand mixer. Did I place the butter in wrong perhaps? The butter was slightly cold
Hi Katie, There are a lot of variables that go into the consistency of dough, even down to the weather and humidity in the air. There’s nothing wrong with adding just a little more flour to bring the dough into a less sticky and knead-able consistency. However for this current batch, it may be best to start over. 40 minutes is a very long time to knead so the dough would likely turn out dense without much rise at this point. Hope this helps for your next loaf!
Simple recipe! I use it to make sandwich or burger buns. Makes 9 buns. Form them in to flattened balls for the second rise. I use a small amount of whole wheat flour (like 75 grams) and sometimes add in seeds for fun, or sprinkle with sesame seeds before putting in the oven.
Can I use buttermilk?
Yes, you can definitely use buttermilk here.
Hey sally! I loved this recipe, and my family loved it so much they asked if I could make a whole 7 loaves! You recommended changing the yeast and butter content for doubling the recipe, but what should I do if I’m making 7?! Thanks so much!
Hi Katie! We wouldn’t recommend more than doubling this recipe. So, for 7 loaves, you could make a double recipe 3 times and one extra single batch. Follow the instructions in the Recipe Notes section to double the recipe. So glad this bread is a hit!
I made this loaf and it turned out great! Although it has sunk a little after coming out of the oven. Any suggestions why? Thanks!
Hi Beth! If your loaf is sinking, it could be that it needs a few more minutes of bake time. It could also be that the dough is over kneaded or over proofed, causing it to collapse when baking. You might find this guide on How to Knead Dough helpful to review before your next batch!
can this recipe be doubled?
Hi William! For best results, we do recommend making two separate batches of dough. However, if you want to try to double the recipe, see the Recipe Notes section “Doubling this recipe.”
I have had an issue twice with the bread falling in the oven using this recipe. Once with bread flour and once with AP. One with instant yeast and once with active dry. Dough seems weak. Will try another recipe.
Hi Steve, Thanks for giving this recipe a try. We’re happy to help troubleshoot. Was the dough over-proofed by chance? Over-proofing can cause the bread to collapse in the middle when baked.
Can I substitute honey for the sugar? I made the original way and it came out so nicely!
Hi Brigit, you can use the same amount of honey instead of sugar without any changes. Let us know if you give it a try!
Third time making this. Used honey this time instead of sugar and came out great. Perfect sweetness. My go to white bread recipe!!
Can this be made using whole wheat flour?
Hi Maria, many readers have reported success with swapping half of the flour for white whole wheat. We haven’t tested it ourselves, but it sounds like it should work. Let us know how it goes for you! You may also love our 100% Whole Wheat Bread recipe.
Hi!
I’ve tried this a few times and failed to get a rise. I notice that the “cup measurements” of flour do not match my gram weight. 3 and a half cups makes around 490g flour for me. How do I know which measurement is correct?
Thanks!
Hi Tyler, we test all of our recipes multiple times using both metric weights and cups (since that’s standard where we live). While spooning and leveling our flour does get us 125 grams per cup, we always say that “A cup isn’t always a cup, but a gram or ounce is always a gram or ounce!” Basically, when in doubt go by the weight. Hope this helps!
This is the best homemade sandwich bread I have ever made and I have tried many recipes!
Is there anyway to convert the recipe to make Gluten Free bread?
Hi Wendi, we haven’t tested a gluten free version, but let us know if you do.
caputo fioro glut or any of their gf bread flours work great as a 1:1 for this recipe, thanks!
Excellent recipe, the best so far
My sandwich loaf was nice but abit dense not light and fluffy. I didn’t use bread flour (just plain flour).
Usually this means it needs to be kneeding longer, rise time adjusted, or new yeast. This is the only recipe I use for bread now because it comes out so soft. I’d give it another shot if you’re willing to!
This was an easy recipe and it was my first time baking bread. The bread came out perfect and it was a hit with the family.
I’ve made Challah, rolls and all kinds of sweet baked treats, but never made sandwich bread before. This recipe was easy to follow (and, thank you for the “How to Knead” video! Veeeery handy!), and it came out sooo delicious! 🙂
I went to go make this today, and my 3yo asks me if I’m baking with Sally. 😂 I was so confused, until I realized he must have heard your kneading video, too. 😂 So, yes, I am baking with Sally today.
PS I quadrupled the recipe my first time, and it came out perfectly, each loaf was gorgeous, airy, and delicious! 🙂 Thank you so much! 🙂