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 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
My go to sandwich bread recipe! It’s so hard to find good websites where I can trust the recipes (I’m convinced many others must have fake reviews). So glad to have found it!!
I didn’t roll the bread tight enough before the second rise so there were holes in the dough when I cut it. Also, any suggestions on making the outside softer? My family didn’t like the hard crust 🙂
Hi Shantel, was the dough over-kneaded by chance? That can often cause yeasted breads to come out with a tough/hard exterior. This should produce a nice, soft crust. Our How to Knead Dough tutorial may be a helpful reference, should you wish to try the bread again. Thank you for giving it a try!
Made this for the first time yesterday with organic Italian flour, and it was best bread I’ve ever made. It’s light but flavorful and my 17-year old son gobbled up his turkey sandwich on this bread. Will be making it weekly! Thanks for the great recipe!
This bread turned out amazing and I did not have a stand up mixer !!! Five stars all the way make sure you bake your loaf on the lowest rack and after 20 minutes I just draped a piece of foil on it 34 minutes I baked it turned out perfect and this was my first time making bread!!
Second time making this and love it! Very new to making bread so I have 2 questions about the bottom of the loaf. I tried using oil the first time and butter the second for greasing the pan and it turned out the same. Everything looks and tastes amazing but the bottom 1/2 inch looks a little dense and the very bottom of the loaf looks slightly wet/soggy? I would love to perfect this. I baked for just about 34 minutes crumb structure looks amazing. I’m wondering if I over or under proofed?
Hi Chelsea, we’re so glad you’re enjoying this bread! Does the bottom seem underbaked? It’s possible the loaf just needs a few extra minutes in the oven to finish baking through on the bottom. Otherwise, be careful not to over-proof or over-knead the dough, as it can cause the bread to bake up a bit dense. Hope this helps for your next batch!
I love all your recipes I have tried and I think I have now tried all your yeast bread recipes. But I was wondering if I could use honey in this bread instead of sugar? Thanks so much for your videos and clear instructions. Would love if you could do a hotdog bun recipe as well.
Hi Christine! The same amount of honey will work here.
Hi Trina! Do you think it would work to omit the sugar all together? Thank you!
Hi Christine, Sugar is what feeds the yeast and keeps the dough nice and tender – we don’t recommend leaving it out.
My husband and I both love this recipe! It comes out soft and so yummy and looks exactly like sandwich bread, but tastes so much better than store bought. I have a question though about storage. This bread is great for the day after I baked it, but after that, it’s not staying as soft anymore. I just have it sitting in a freezer storage bag. Am I storing it wrong? If anyone has tips on how to keep this bread as soft as it is on Day 1 of baking it, I would really appreciate it!
Hi Kelly, we’re so glad this is a favorite for you! That’s completely normal for bread to start losing its softness as time goes on. Just make sure it is tightly wrapped/sealed, and that should keep it as fresh as possible.
I have never made bread before and this was so easy and tasted amazing! This is definitely going to be replacing store bought!
subbed dairy items for almond milk and vegan butter and it turned out so good.
I used salted Irish butter and did not add any additional salt, I also had to run an errand while the bread was in its second rise, and this bread STILL turned out darn good. It was easy to make and very economical. I plan on baking another loaf tomorrow (with the salt ) and freezing it .
I keep coming back to this blog for recipes. And they never fail. Have you written a cookbook yet? If not, please consider it.
Hi Amy! Sally has three published cookbooks and is working on her 4th now. So glad you enjoy the recipes!
This came out soooo good. The loaf was fluffy and delicious. It didn’t last long.
I’ve made this 3 times just recently and I don’t see myself needing to look for another recipe! I used AP flour and would also note that I needed to tent the pan. It’s a super soft and yummy bread, I find myself just eating it with butter. Thanks!
I love this bread and have made it multiple times now but I feel like my bread is short and not how I want for sandwiches. My bread pan is 9×5 but very tall. Could this be the problem?
Hi Alexx! It could certainly be contributing, but we’ve never tested bread in a pan with tall sides, so are unsure of exactly that would effect it. You can also let your dough rise for slightly longer for a taller loaf.
I’ve baked a lot of different bread recipes and my biggest issue is that homemade bread is really difficult to slice. It’s too easily smashed, or you get inconsistently-sized slices (gigantic or too thin)…you just can’t get a decent slice. NOT THIS BREAD! I made this last week because I was too lazy to go to the grocery store when we were out of bread, and it’s amazing. Tastes great, slices beautifully, and seems to stay fresh longer than my other recipes. I’m making another loaf today!
Awesome recipe! Just made this, and it turned out great 🙂
Seriously this is such a great recipe!! I was hoping to quadruple it to make 4 loaves at once. Do you have an advice for that in regards to butter/yeast amounts and rise times?
Thank you!!
Hi RN, we’re so glad you enjoyed this one! For best results, and to prevent over or under mixing, we recommend making separate batches rather than multiplying.
I made this bread today and is was very good. Only thing is , when I was slicing, 1”-1.5” thick, it just started falling apart around the middle. What did I do wrong?
Hi Tina, this is a pretty soft bread, so a little breaking/crumbling is normal. However, be sure not to over bake (even by just a minute or two) as that can dry out the bread and make it crumbly. So glad you enjoyed this recipe!
The best sandwich bread recipe I’ve tried so far! Thank you!
This bread is so yummy and we love it! I need an issue troubleshooted tho! My bread is not baking into one loaf. It stays in it’s rolled up pieces so it’s like a cinnamon roll inside. We still use it but it’s difficult to spread peanut butter on. It makes great French toast!
I thought I might have undercooked it so I cooked it longer the second time and I had the same issue. Do I really need that thermometer?
Hi Sarah! Are there air pockets between the layers? Some gaps are normal with swirled breads, but the best way to eliminate or reduce the gaps is to poke a toothpick in a few places on top of the bread right before baking. This helps that steam escape (which is creating the gaps). Hope this helps!
excellent !!!!!
I’ve made this recipe 3 times now and every time it is so delicious! I never thought I’d say that about plain sandwich bread lol. But I have a question – mine comes out like flaky instead of crumby (if that makes sense), and it’s hard to get a good clean cut slice because of it. What am I doing wrong? Maybe the first, initial mix because I don’t have a mixer? Doing it by hand
Hi Ashia, I’m so glad to read that you enjoy this homemade bread! I wonder about the kneading… are you kneading it for long enough? How long? A flaky bread is a good thing, you definitely don’t want it dense and crumbly. A couple extra minutes in the oven could help, too. And let the bread cool for a little longer, to really help the texture set before slicing.
A very straightforward recipe; good for beginner bread makers. There are two problems I have with this recipe. The first is that the bread lacks any flavor, which confused me because tons of the comments said “It’s delicious”. Second is that the bread lacks good structure, which makes it extremely hard to use as sandwich bread. To make it work for sandwiches I had to cut very thick slices of it to make sure it would hold together and that led to the sandwiches being more bread than anything else.
Still a decent recipe – maybe it’s just not for my family.
Can I swap this out for nondairy milk?
Hi JJ, you can use non-dairy milk if needed. The bread may not be quite as soft. Hope you enjoy it!
I’ve made this recipe twice now, and it is so simple and delicious. My 2 toddlers went through the whole loaf in less than 2 days the first time and are currently devouring the second!
One of the hallmarks of a good recipe is that it works! That should be a given but isn’t always so. Bread is one that is picky on humidity and heat in your home. Miss Sally has shared tried and true recipes with lots of information and pictures to help you succeed even if your a bread novice like myself. There’s even videos too. I’ve only tried 3 of her recipes but all have come out great. This sandwich bread one is one of my favorites as is the baked oatmeal!
An old passion renewed. Thank you. I am excited to get store bought out of our house and bellies.
I have one question for you. When using a Pullman loaf pan with lid. Do I ise all the dough? How do I know how much dough for doffernt size pans.
Thank you for your time
Hi Billi Jo, 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, but again– we haven’t tested it. Let us know if you do give it a try!
if i only have 2 9×3 inch pans… would you recommend i split the dough and make two loaves, or just leave it in one of the pans?
Hi Riley! We haven’t tested it in two 9×3 pans, but that’s the route we would try for two smaller loaves. This is too much dough for one 9×3 pan.
With my bread on the lower rack it barely browned. The texture was crumbly and not at all what we expected. Fed it to the chickens
It could have been something I done
I’m experiencing the same issue. Crumbly so not sure what is wrong. Bread is tasty and I had some leftover honeybutter for it but not sure where I may have erred
I only have salted butter right now. How much should I reduce the salt to compensate?
Hi Ashana, you can use salted butter with no other changes to the recipe needed. The slight flavor of salt in the 4 Tbsp of salted butter won’t make a difference in the baked bread. Enjoy!
So delicious! ! I even used 1% milk. Great instructions. Love your Site. Wish it made 2 loaves.