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 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
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 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 or paddle 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 30-34 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
Amazing recipe. I’ve always had problems baking with yeast until now!
How would I compensate other ingredients to make it either half whole wheat or 100% whole wheat? Great recipe, thanks!
Hi William, it’s best to stick with plain bread flour for this recipe, but you could try half whole wheat bread flour and half bread flour. The texture and taste may be different. Or you may love our multigrain bread recipe!
I used the convection fan on my oven to bake this bread. it’s delicious with just the right density to hold up to avocado toast with toppings. You’d think heavy, right? Didn’t sag at all. Wanted to share that this recipe is great for open-face sandwiches.
Watched the video and followed directions CLOSELY. My dough was incredibly wet and did not rise hardly at all. Not sure what I did wrong or what I should do different. I really enjoy Sally’s recipes but this one did not work for me. 🙁
Hi there Sally, I’ve been making this great bread for about a year now, and let tell you my neighbors,,and me of course, love it. I have a question though, sometimes when I
remove the towel from the second rise to go into the oven, it falls. Why is that? By the way, I have two of your baking books, your baking addiction and cookie addiction and l am a hero to all who enjoy my wares. Another question, your baking addiction book does not have an apple or cherry pie recipes. Broke my heart.
Hi Bill, the bread will fall if it is stuck to the towel at all – be very careful removing it and maybe use plastic wrap instead to avoid any sticking to the fabric. Thank you so much for using Sally’s cook books! You can find our apple pie and cherry pie recipes on our website.
Wonderful! I’ve found my go-to recipe! It’s fantastic! I used bread flour as recommended and followed all of the steps exactly as written. It came out so beautifully and tasted delicious! My family loves it. Thank you!
First time making bread… So easy and so delicious. Sally’s recipes do not disappoint!
The dough was super wet and I had to add about 100 g of flour above what the recipe recommended. It’s also a very yeasty and salty bread so the flavor doesn’t work well with sweet sandwiches. Will not be making again.
PERFECT sandwich bread! I even screwed up and it still came out perfectly. I forgot to set a timer for the second rise, so when I finally realized that it had been a long time without a timer going off, the dough had way over-proofed. It was like a massive balloon in a loaf pan. But, I didn’t want to throw it out or start over, so I punched it down, reshaped it as best I could, put it back in the pan and let proof again. And, it still baked up beautifully! This is now my go-to recipe for a basic loaf of bread. It has great flavor, a nice crust and is the perfect, soft and chewy texture.
Can’t say enough nice things about this awesome bread recipe! I threw my old one out, and this is my new go-to. I set the ingredients out, warmed the water and the milk in the microwave, then came back an hour later and mixed it up. After the bread came out of the oven, I cut a slice to make sure it was done, and it was the best homemade bread I have ever made or tasted! That’s saying alot because my mother-in-law made excellent bread. My husband insisted that we make some French toast the next morning with some of the slices–best ever! Thanks so much Sally! If I need a recipe, I always check your site first. I am never disappointed.
So yummy! Third time I’ve made it. One note: the first two times I made it, I dumped onto rack for cooling. This time, I saw your instruction that said to let it cool in the pan which I did. However, when I turned it out to the rack after cooling for 10 mins in the pan, the bottom was super wet. I suspect that the steam created in the cooking, and then cooling in the pan left nowhere for the steam to escape. Luckily, I think it will be fine, but I won’t cool in the pan next time!
Super simple recipe for a beginner bread baker! I made this last year for summer camp lunches. It turned out great! Thanks ti this recipe, I am more confident in baking bread. Thanks Sally!
Would it be possible to use a dairy free milk to make this?
Hi Caitlin, you could try using all water or a dairy-free milk in place of the milk. For the butter, you could try solid coconut oil. Expect a less soft, more dense bread with these changes. Let us know if you give it a try!
Ok, so I’m a newbie. In my stand mixer, once the dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl, I then continue kneading an additional 3 minutes. The dough then goes back to being very sticky and sticks to the sides of the bowl again. ??Add a little more flour until it stops sticking again??
Hi Pam! Yes, your instincts are right to add just a Tbs or two or flour. Hope you love this bread!
This was so fun and easy to make! I did fail pretty badly at first but I was able to figure out what I did wrong. The water was too hot and the yeast was old! I really can not express how much I adore this website though. I’ve tried at least a dozen recipes on here and have been impressed every time! Thank you for helping me bring amazing food love and joy to my family!!
Thank you so much for making and trusting our recipes, Ander!
While cleaning out the pantry, I found a package of yeast leftover from Christmas. I remembered seeing this recipe and decided to give it a try. Holy cow. I made zero changes.
I even followed the suggestions of using a (near) bottom rack, foil at the 20 min mark, and knocking for a hollow sound. (Thanks for the temp too, I always like to verify with an instant-read!)
Sincerely, my only regret is I didn’t have enough ingredients to double it!
First loaf of bread I ever made and one of the best I ever ate. Thanks!
I made this twice using leftover whey from a cheese making experiment instead of both water and milk. It turned out great both times. Great recipe!
I baked this bread twice this week, and the results are amazing! Way better than store-bought, my family are glad to grab a slice with butter or Nutella on top. Thank you for helping me learn to bake bread!
What a great recipe! Simple ingredients, minimal effort, maximum result! I’ll never go back to store bought bread. Thank you, Sally!
100% the best bread recipe I’ve tried. I used the measurements in grams and had to add more flour to get the dough to the correct consistency. But oh man, my bread has never turned out this good!
Can I bake this recipe in mini loaf pans?
I’m a huge fan of all your recipes!
We haven’t tried it ourselves, but we can’t see why not. We’re unsure of the exact bake time. Let us know what you try!
This was the first time I’ve ever made bread in my life, and it turned out amaaazing! Second time around, I used 50:50 milk & water, and it was delicious, like milk bread! Thanks for the awesome recipe, I’ll definitely be trying by others:)
the first couple of times i made this bread i replaced a tablespoon or so of butter with olive oil. the bread was very soft but firmed up as it aged or if i put it in the fridge or freezer. when i use all butter, it bakes firm.
i use a 1/2 mix of white bread flour & regular whole wheat flour by weight and add a tbsp of gluten to help with the rise. i also mix the salt in with the flour instead of dumping it all into the yeast mix as salt apparently retards yeast activity (paul hollywood). maybe it makes a difference, maybe not.
i begin mixing with a hand mixer w those tiny dough hooks following the instructions until about 1/2 the flour mix is incorporated and then hand knead it the whole mess until the remaining flour is absorbed and the dough is ready to rise. so if you don’t have a stand mixer, don’t despair. no doubt it can all be done by hand too. also, i’ve noticed my bread rises faster than the recipe suggests (maybe the gluten?) so keep an eye on it the first time or two that you make it..
the bread keeps well on the counter (soft) or the fridge (firmer) and freezes well even pre sliced. it toasts beautifully. i haven’t purchased sandwich bread since i found this recipe. thank you.
the recipe is 73% hydration, way wetter than the dough in the video, works fine at 500g of flour, what am I missing?
Amazing recipe! First time I’ve ever made bread at home and it turned out perfectly!
My bread didn’t raise at all, but I use cake and pastry I know, but all I had, I used half brown sugar spenda.
The yeast raised well for the five minutes so I think definitely the floor
Thank you for this recipe. I was nervous to try making this type of bread, but it came out great the first time! It won’t be the last!
Can you put this in a bread Machine?
We haven’t tested this recipe using a bread machine, but many readers have reported success doing so. Let us know how it goes!
This was my first time making this bread, and I’m newer to using yeast/baking bread. The recipe was easy to follow and delicious, as per usual with Sally’s recipes. However the texture is not super strong and we are having a hard time using for sandwiches/toast. I baked for ~35 minutes, my crust wasn’t as brown as the pictures. I’m wondering if it was underbaked, or if I didn’t knead it enough, or if it’s a different issue all together? Thanks!
Hi Abby, your bread sounds under-baked. We would extend the bake time if you try it again. Tent the bread with foil if the top is over-browning quickly. If you have an instant read thermometer, yeast doughs/bread is done when it reads the center of the loaf/pan/bread as 195°F(90°C). Our baking with yeast guide may be helpful as well!
Sally while my bread taste great the inside of the baked loaf is very soft and has almost holes thru out the bread. Can barely cut it without shredding. Can you give me any hints what I might have done eying?
Hi Susan, the bread sounds under-baked. I would extend the bake time if you try it again. Tent the bread with foil if the top is over-browning quickly. If you have an instant read thermometer, yeast doughs/bread is done when it reads the center of the loaf/pan/bread as 195°F(90°C).
I made this bread today and I am still speechless! Best bread I have ever had in my life. My entire family loved it. So soft and moist. Almost like a cinnamon roll. Thank you! Thank you!
Tried you’re bread recipe too much water and milk, can’t do much after that