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 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.
- 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.
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 and it provides the best texture when mixed with whole wheat flour when making Homemade English Muffins.
After you make 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
- 1/4 cup (60ml) whole milk, warmed to about 110°F
- 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 (416g) all-purpose flour or bread flour (spooned & leveled)*
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 3 minutes or knead by hand on a lightly floured surface for 3 minutes. (See video tutorial above if you need a visual of kneading dough by hand.)
- 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 with aluminum foil, plastic wrap, or a clean kitchen towel. 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 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°F (90°C). 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.) Remove from the oven and allow bread to cool for a few minutes before slicing and serving. Feel free to let it cool completely before slicing, too.
- Cover leftover bread tightly and store at room temperature for 2-3 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). It’s best to stick with bread flour, but you can try half whole wheat flour and half bread flour (or all-purpose flour). The texture and taste will be different. Or you can try my whole wheat dinner rolls.
- 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 Cinnamon Swirl Bread
Keywords: bread, loaf, sandwich, white bread
I loved this recipe! The first time I made it exactly to the original directions. Turned out great! The second time I made it I tried doing the second rise overnight in the fridge. It’s been on the counter for 2 hours now after being in the fridge all night and hasn’t risen at all. Any idea why? Thanks!
★★★★★
Hi Edie! Sorry for just getting to your question now – the dough likely just needed more time to rise or a slightly warmer environment. Hope it turned out!
I love this recipe, the bread is delicious and it comes out so nice. However I’ve only been able to use it as a side bread, not to make sandwiches. It doesn’t come out structurally sound enough for a sandwich. Is there any way to remedy this? Thanks!
★★★★★
Hi Khaos, We are glad you enjoy this recipe! If the bread is overly crumbly/not sturdy, it’s possible it was simple over baked a bit. Be sure to also spoon and level your flour to ensure it isn’t over measured. Both over baking and over measuring the flour can dry out the bread and make the slices a bit delicate. Hope these tips help for next time!
I loved the recipe and it worked well for the regular AP loaf I made. I decided to try using Einkorn flour to make it healthier. I used 1 cup organic whole wheat flour, and 2-3/4 cups Einkorn flour. I added in 1 tbs honey and kept the rest of the recipe as is. It rose beautifully in half the time my AP loaf did (same temp inside house) and turned out amazing.
★★★★★
This bread is sooo good. I tried doubling for a 13x4x4 pullman loaf but it overflowed in the oven. Still good though. Do you have any recommendations for using a pullman loaf pan for this recipe?
★★★★★
Hi Andrea, we’re not completely sure if this recipe would work in a pullman loaf pan because we haven’t tested it ourselves. It *shouldn’t* be a problem to use it as is (not doubled), but again– we haven’t tested it. Let us know if you do give it a try!
I make all my family’s bread and I’ve made this before and it turned out great. I also make your multigrain loaf all the time and it also turned out great. Last night I put it in the refrigerator after I shaped the the loaf and took it out this morning to bake. Let it rise about an hour and a half and then it deflated and of course baked with a poor result. I have had this happen before with other loaves when I do the overnight rise in the refrigerator according to directions. Do you know why this happens? It’s like it doesn’t have quite enough oomph to get to the point where I would bake and then gives up and is ruined.
★★★★
Hi Christine! Dough will deflate if it has risen for too long. Try reducing the time the dough rises for the first rise, or keeping it in a less warm spot to rise.
Perfect!!! I’ve been learning to bake for a couple of years. I thought I already had a great bread recipe. Nope, this is it! Wish I could post a picture of it.
★★★★★
Me too, it’s beautiful!
Hello! I’ve been making this bread for awhile and keep running into the same problem—to different degrees. Currently I’m using half AP and half WW flour. I’m using a stand mixer for blending and kneading. The dough is awesome. However, after baking my loaves are dense around the perimeter—mostly—but very light with lots of holes in the middle. If you cut a slice and hold it up to a light you can see right through the middle. One slice I ate today had a half inch hole in it! I just can’t figure out what I’m doing wrong—any ideas from you guys? I have pics if you’d like to see them. Thanks!!!
Hi Matt, some holes are completely normal. However, the bread may be under-baked. 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).
Thx Michelle. I do use an instant read but haven’t taken the bread to 195, figuring it’ll continue to cook outside of the oven. But I will try it.
Great recipe ! Followed it exactly , and everything turned out ! Wish I could send you a picture !
It was still warm when they decided to cut and dive in !
★★★★★
First time trying to make sandwich bread. I’ve made pizza dough for years and was a bit skeptical when this dough turned out so wet. I pressed ahead and boy am I glad I did. This made a wonderful loaf of sandwich bread.
I used my oven’s Proof setting (110f) for rising and it sped things up to about <2 hrs. total for both rises. The bread did deflate a bit in the center losing the dome so I think next time I will start the 2nd rise in the oven as before but turn it off, so it rises just a bit slower. Since it came out basically flat it was more like a Pullman Loaf but it was not dense and had a perfect consistency for sandwich bread. 32 minutes gave me 196f in the center. Thank you so much for this recipe.
By the way, I've made a couple of your cookie recipes and they were wonderful as well.
★★★★★
I have tried making this dough twice now. During the rising portion, the bread never rises. I have it in a slightly warmed area. Follow the recipe exactly and my yeast does get bubbly. Not sure what is going wrong.
Hi Dana! Does the dough not rise at all? Our baking with yeast guide has a helpful section titled “what if my dough isn’t rising” with our best tips for this issue.
This is a perfect easy recipe for sandwich bread. I have used a 60/40 bakers bread flour out of Anita’s organic flour in Chilliwack, BC with this recipe that made a great loaf of bread.
★★★★★
My first try came out too crumbly! Any thoughts on what went wrong?
Hi Danielle! It’s possible it was simply over baked a bit. Be sure to also spoon and level your flour to ensure it isn’t over measured. Both over baking and over measuring the flour can dry out the bread and make the slices a bit delicate. Hope these tips help for next time!
Hello! I found this recipe after a few fails with other recipes. It’s seemless, easy, quicker than most, and so so sooooo good and buttery. I was curious if you knew how to calculate the calories and carbs for a single loaf? Thank you for this magical recipe lol
Hi Rachael, we’re so happy to hear that you love this bread! We don’t usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
Can I use whole wheat flour for this? If not do you have a recipe that does?
Best baking site ever. Can’t thank you enough.
Hi Bill, we 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). It’s best to stick with bread flour, but you can try half whole wheat flour and half bread flour (or all-purpose flour). The texture and taste will be different. Or you can try our whole wheat dinner rolls.
The recipe is excellent. Hands down.
The tip to coat the dough with a bit of oil really helps with the stickiness when working it after the first rise.
My loaf came out airy and fluffy like no other bread before (and I have baked a few).
The only issue was: after cooling the loaf for a bit, I had to remove it from the pan as it was “sweating” on the bottom. But the bread was so soft that it couldn’t support its own weight, so it sagged. I decided to turn it upside down (to keep the square shape of the bottom part) and the beautifully risen dome is now about as flat as a pancake. LOL
The inside was fully cooked after 32 min, tested and measured 198 F.
I used bread flour for better stability.
But how do I prevent the next loaf from collapsing?
Was the 2nd proofing a tad too long?
More kneading?
More flour?
★★★★★
Hi Brigit! We’d love to help you figure out the shape/deflating issue. This can happen if the dough over-proofs during that second rise. And it could be likely that the warm environment (for rising) is too warm. This means that the shaped dough is rising too fast, then easily deflates before/during/after baking. Next time, let it rise in a cooler environment. The slower rise will help guarantee a sturdier top. Hope this helps!
Thank you so much! I have been experimenting for a couple weeks now and the loaves are getting better. What I’ve learned:
– Letting the dough rise on the counter is fine. I usually let my dough rise in the oven just with the light on (which emits a bit of warmth). That’s not necessary. Countertop is fine.
– I used Breadmachine yeast and that acts even faster than quick rise, so I have cut down slightly on the yeast and the loaf still rises nicely but doesn’t “explode”.
– One thing that changed stability was to actually use a timer when kneading the dough. I was afraid of overworking it with my stand mixer, but 5 minutes on speed 2 or 3 worked really well.
So far the loaf comes out plump and domed but the top still slightly crunches up and deflates a little bit once cooled off, but I am getting there. ;o)
Really awesome recipe but I let it almost completely cool in the pan and it sweated on the bottom. Next time I’d remove it from the pan for cooling.
★★★★★
Hi! This recipe is great! Just a question. The bread came out perfect the first couple of times I made it, but now I’m noticing that the top of the loaf deflates in the oven? What should I do to fix this? Thanks!
★★★★★
Hi Alysa, we are so glad that you enjoy this sandwich bread recipe! We’d love to help you figure out the shape/deflating issue. This can happen if the dough over-proofs during that second rise. And it could be likely that the warm environment (for rising) is too warm. This means that the shaped dough is rising too fast, then easily deflates before/during/after baking. Next time, let it rise in a cooler environment. The slower rise will help guarantee a sturdier top. Hope this helps!
I made two loaves of this bread yesterday, separately of course. It is delicious. I seem to have a “fear of failure” notion sometimes when it comes to trying new things to bake. I’ve decided I’m trying out every yeast recipe Sally has written to gain confidence baking with yeast. This is recipe number 2. Off to a good start, both were delicious.
★★★★★
This bread never fails and its great to have a recipe that makes just one loaf. I have been experimenting with add-ins to the dough and have found adding some dehydrated onion to the dough and an egg white wash with everything bagel topping is a nice and savory variation.
Does this bread get an egg wash? Or butter over it before baking?
Hi Elly, no, it’s not necessary for this recipe.
This recipe produces a great loaf of bread. It has my preferred texture and taste. It’s my new go-to recipe for sandwich bread.
★★★★★
Found your site this week and have made this bread, your ginger molasses cookies and your pizza dough. For the sandwich bread, I had never used Platinum instant yeast and followed my usual practice of letting it rise in an oven heated by a pan with 3 cups of boiling water and didn’t look at it for an hour. Well, it certainly rose. I’d love to send you a picture. Next time, I’ll pay more attention, skip the boiling water and maybe use a bigger pan. the Ecko Ovenex 8.5 x 4.5 could not contain all the goodness
★★★★★
I’ve never baked bread before in my life, but this recipe was fool-proof! Made the best bread and the most amazing sandwich! Thank you so much!
★★★★★
Any ideas on making the recipe to fit a 10×5 bread pan? My favorite pan is 10×5 and I can’t seem to find an accurate recipe for that size pan.
Thank you
Hi Sheila, you can use this recipe exactly as written but use your 10×5 inch pan. The bread just won’t be quite as tall with the very slightly larger pan. The bake time will be pretty much the same.
Holy amazing bread, Batman! Perfect recipe!
★★★★★
I have been looking for a sandwich bread recipe…this is it! I have never made my own bread other than bread machine. We love bread machine bread when it is warm. But afterwards, it is just not a good sandwich bread. I was very excited with the texture and crust of this recipe! However, I am going to try tomorrow because I must have dome something wrong. The dough in the stand mixer just was too sticky. It didn’t pull away from the side. As soon as I aded flour a little at a time, it got bed…in the end maybe 1/4 additional flour. That seemed to do it but the taste of the flour seems like too much flour. It is soft and looks as it should. Because of that-I am trying again tomorrow. and, I will barricade the kitchen to keep hubby out! maybe I lost count not sure. I used all purpose flour. Thank you for the easy instructions! Leave it to me to mess it up somehow haha.
★★★★★
Depending on the size of your mixer the amount of dough is a bit small and results in the dough hook not being able to get “underneath”, leading to dough sticking to the sides of the bowl and having just a small dough ball being kneaded by the hook.
You can scrape the sides a few times to incorporate all of the dough and in the end it helps to handknead the dough with a scraper, bringing the edges into the center, a quarter turn of the bowl at a time.
The dough also is much less sticky after the first rise. It will stick even less if you use a bit veg oil on your hands and dough scraper, without adding flour (which would make the bread tougher).
★★★★★
I replaced the sugar with honey, provided it a better flavor and all that. I also needed to add maybe 30-40 extra grams of flour.
★★★★★
Easy to follow, and great for a beginner like me. First try ans ot came out great, especially with European flour. Thank you.
Tried and true…and fabulous result on my first attempt !!!
I wish we could post picture to boast about this recipe.
★★★★★
I’ve made this several times now an it is amazing. Easy to follow directions and super tasty! I never knew baking my own bread would be so easy and rewarding
I’m a 40 year old man who has never baked anything in my life. This recipe made me look like a pro right out the gate! Thank you so much! Now I’m addicted and haven’t had to buy bread in months lol
★★★★★
This recipe makes great sandwich bread. I would like to use the same recipe to make hoagie rolls however, the dough is on the wetter side and am worried about the rolls holding their shape. Should more flour be kneaded into the dough at beginning or second rise and if so, how much?
Hi Sue, this bread really needs the structure from the sides of the loaf pan to rise and bake properly. Many readers have had success making sandwich rolls from our artisan bread. Instead of shaping it into two long baguettes, you can divide the dough into smaller roll sizes. Let us know what you try!