Homemade White Sandwich Bread: THIS is the recipe you need for easy and perfect white bread for every sandwich from peanut butter and jelly to chicken salad to your favorite grilled cheese. Make it in the morning for sandwiches with fresh bread at lunch!

Is there nothing more satisfying than a cutting into a warm loaf of freshly baked homemade bread? And then buttering that first slice and eating it almost straight from the oven?

I mean, you made that bread. It’s not something that’s mass produced on a line in a facility. It came from your kitchen, made with your hands.

Let me tell you, if you’ve never made homemade white bread – or even if you have before – this is quite possibly the most fantastically amazing white bread recipe ever created.

Overly effusive? Yes. Lying? NO.

Seriously, it’s difficult for me to accurately describe the perfectly soft crumb this sandwich bread has without snacking on a piece of it with some softened butter and tangy rhubarb strawberry jam as I sit and write this post. Actually, it’s not so difficult for me to do this.

It IS difficult for me to tell you how four adults nearly devoured an entire loaf in one day. And it’s difficult for me to tell you that I will be making my third loaf this weekend in as many weeks.

In comparing this bread to what you can buy in the grocery store, I’m going to stop you right there. You CAN’T compare the two!

This bread is the classic American sandwich bread that our grandmothers would have made. Your grandmothers, maybe. Not mine. Mine was a horrible baker. Ha!

White or Wheat?

Well, that is the age-old question, isn’t it?

Look, I’ll be honest here: white bread is a treat in our house. If I’m buying bread, it’s usually wheat bread. And if I’m making bread, it’s usually either this soft whole wheat sandwich bread or this oatmeal honey wheat bread.

But when the hankering comes for a grilled cheese sandwich or peanut butter toast to go with my morning iced lattes and we don’t have bread in the house, it’s THIS white bread that I’m making. Hands down, this is our favorite white sandwich bread recipe ever.

Ingredients for Homemade White Bread

But seriously, if you’ve never done it, I’m here to tell you that making loaf of homemade bread is more simple than you can imagine. The recipe is just 6 ingredients (plus water). SIX!

And unlike our favorite potato buns and pizza dough, which use bread flour, this bread recipe calls for simple all-purpose flour. Here’s what you’ll need:

All-purpose flour
Yeast
Butter
Milk
Honey
Salt

Yup, that’s it! The right combination of these simple ingredients yields what amounts to be the most outstanding white bread you’ll ever eat.

Don’t believe me? Just read the reviews below the recipe!

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How to Make a Loaf of White Bread

Get ready to pump out this bread before lunchtime, my friends. That’s right! Gather your 6 ingredients up and let’s get to it.

1. First, mix up the flour and salt in a mixing bowl. A stand mixer is the way to go for this recipe since the dough requires a long time to knead.

2. Warm the milk and water to 110° F in the microwave. Then whisk in melted butter, honey, and yeast. Pour the milk mixture into the flour mixture while the mixer is running. Knead for about 10 minutes, adding a little extra flour if the dough is still really sticky after 5 minutes.

3. Turn the dough out onto the counter and shape it into a ball. Drop the ball into an oiled bowl or dough container, cover with plastic wrap, and let the dough proof for about 45 minutes in a warm spot.

4. On a floured counter, flatten the dough in a rectangle and roll it into a log. Tuck the ends underneath the log and place it seam-side down in a greased 9-inch loaf pan. Cover with plastic wrap and let the dough proof again for about 25 minutes.

5. Preheat the oven with a roasting pan inside and set a kettle full of water to boil. Once the 2nd proof is finished, put the loaf pan in, pour the boiling water into the roasting pan, and close the oven.

6. Bake the bread for about 45 minutes. Transfer the bread from the pan to a wire rack and cool completely before slicing.

What kind of sandwich to make with homemade white bread

This bread is the epitome of what homemade sandwich bread should be. It’s bread that can make you squeal with delight over eating something as simple as a turkey sandwich. Or something so divine as a pulled pork grilled cheese.

And in my very humble and nostalgic opinion, you just can’t beat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on white bread. With an ice cold glass of chocolate milk.

But if you’re looking for more ideas, I’m here to help!

Needless to say, we love this classic white bread dearly. You will too.

I beg you, please go and make this bread so you can start telling me how awesome it is.

Homemade White Bread

Name: Homemade White Bread
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 2 h 30 min
Yield: 1
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 3 ¾ cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for work surface; 2 tsp table salt; 1 cup milk, warm (about 110° F); ⅓ cup water, warm (about 110° F); 2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted; 3 tbsp honey; 1 package or 2 ¼ tsp instant yeast

Yield: 1 loaf

Active Prep Time: 25 minutes

Inactive Rise and Proof Time: 1 hour 20 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Total Time: 2 hours 30 minutes

Homemade white bread is the ace up the sleeve of every home baker. You can whip this bread out on a Saturday morning and have the freshest sandwich bread ready for lunch that day. This bread is perfect for any kind of sandwich from the humble peanut butter and jelly to apple pecan chicken salad to your favorite grilled cheese. It's utterly perfect and reviewers are raving about it!

Ingredients

3 ¾ cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for work surface
2 tsp table salt
1 cup milk, warm (about 110° F)
⅓ cup water, warm (about 110° F)
2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
3 tbsp honey
1 package or 2 ¼ tsp instant yeast

Instructions

Adjust oven rack to low position and heat oven to 200° F. Once oven temperature reaches 200° F, maintain heat 10 minutes, then turn off oven heat. I use the proof setting on my oven which maintains the heat at 85° F so if your kitchen is warm enough, there is no need to use the oven for proofing – just keep the bowl in a draft-free area of the kitchen.
Mix 3 ½ cups of the flour and salt in bowl of standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix milk, water, butter, honey, and yeast in 4-cup liquid measuring cup. Turn mixer to low and slowly add liquid. When dough comes together, remove the paddle attachment and switch to the dough hook – the dough will be very sticky at this point. Increase speed to medium (setting number 4 on a KitchenAid mixer) and mix until dough is smooth and satiny, stopping machine two or three times to scrape dough from hook if necessary, about 10 minutes. If, after 5 minutes the dough still sticks to the side of the bowl, add another ¼ cup of flour to the dough, 1 tablespoon at a time until the dough clears the sides of the bowl. Turn dough onto lightly floured work surface; knead to form a smooth, round ball, about 15 seconds.
Place dough in very lightly oiled bowl, rubbing dough around bowl to lightly coat. Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap; place in warm oven until dough doubles in size, 40 to 50 minutes.
Form dough into loaf by gently pressing the dough into a rectangle, 1-inch thick and no wider than 9 inches long, with the long side closest to you. Next, starting with the long side, roll the dough firmly into a cylinder, pinching the seam with your fingers to make sure the dough sticks to itself. Turn dough seam side up and pinch it closed. Place dough in greased 9-by-5-by-3-inch loaf pan (a 1 lb loaf pan) and press gently so dough touches all four sides of pan. Cover the pan with plastic wrap; set aside in warm spot (not in the oven) until dough almost doubles in size, 20 to 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat oven to 350° F and adjust the racks to the center and bottom positions. Place an empty baking pan on the bottom rack. Bring 2 cups water to boil.
Remove plastic wrap from loaf pan. Place pan in oven and immediately pour heated water into empty baking pan; close oven door. Bake until instant-read thermometer inserted at angle from short end just above pan rim into center of loaf reads 195° F, about 40 to 50 minutes. Remove bread from pan, transfer to a wire rack, and cool to room temperature. Slice and serve.

Notes

adapted from Baking Illustrated, by the editors of Cook’s Illustrated

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