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
Didn’t add any extra flour. Added a tablespoon of honey. It was the softest yummiest bread.
I added one cup more of flour and used half and half. The rise was beautiful. The best ham and cheese sandwich. Oh my!
This is absolutely the BEST bread I have ever made. It rose beautifully and is so, so soft. I made it out of desperation last night after forgetting to pick up bread three times during the day and it couldn’t have been better – absolutely delicious.
Haven’t tried eating this yet as it’s still mixing, but I find the flour measurements way off. I definitely needed way more than 3 and 1/3 C flour. It was still so wet and extremely sticky. I probably used closer to 4.5-5C of flour before it started pulling away from the sides of the bowl and forming a soft ball. I triple checked and I did everything perfect as outlined so not sure what happened ♀️♀️
This is my family’s favorite bread recipe! Do you have the nutrition information?
Hi Heather, so glad 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
Thank you! That was so helpful!
I have made three of your bread recipes and haven’t had success with any of them. The dough is always super sticky and takes forever to knead and barely rises above the pan edge This recipe came out super salty. I am about 800-900 feet above sea level and the humidity is hanging out around 35%. I honestly just can’t figure it out and I’m super bummed. I’m new to bread making but am no stranger to the kitchen. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Hi Laurie, I’m sorry you’re having trouble but I’m glad to help. Don’t be afraid to add more flour to yeasted doughs if they are too sticky to knead. It sounds like more flour can definitely help your dough in this case, and help it rise appropriately during that 2nd rise. (Give it a little more time to rise, too.) For the salt, feel free to reduce the amount if you try the recipe again. Thank you for your feedback!
I’ve made this bread twice now and I am totally hooked! It is doable! Even for a beginner like me! Sally gives easy to understand instructions and this bread is the best homemade bread I have ever tasted!
I think I managed to get this correctly into baker’s percentages: using 425 g flour as the base, it’s about 56.5 percent water, 14.5 percent milk, 1.6 percent yeast, 5.9 percent sugar, 13.2 percent sugar, and 2.23 percent salt.
I’m looking to make about 2x 2.5 pound loaves, which is about 2268 grams of dough.
With these percentages and with some modifications, as I’m going to probably halve the butter as otherwise this is going to be like 2 sticks, it should be about
1170 g flour, 661 g water, 169.7 g milk, 18.7 g yeast, 69 g sugar, 154.4 g butter (or 77.2 halved), and 26 g salt
13.2 percent butter rather, not sugar, typo
First, I’ve been trying to get my family off store bought bread but couldn’t nail down a recipe my kids loved, until now! My only question is can you reduce the amount of butter? While it is delicious I’m going to baking 1-2 loaves of this every week for my family and butter is not cheap! Thanks.
Hi Tara, we’re so glad this is a favorite for you! You can reduce the butter down to 2 Tablespoons, but the bread may not be quite as soft.
I have made this bread four times now. It is the fluffiest and best bread we have ever eaten! Easy to make, kept for over a week in the fridge, and also makes the most amazing French toast and croutons. Here are my modifications that I think help:
1. Active yeast: I activate it before adding it to the recipe using separate water and sugar, letting it rise 10 min before adding. And I do each rise for an extra 15-30 min.
2. Ghee instead of butter (1:1)
3. Honey instead of sugar (2/3 honey for sugar and reduce water by a Tbsp)
4. Bob’s Red Mill Bread Flour for all the flour
Thank you, Sally!!
Hi Sally,
I’ve been making this bread for 2 years and love it. However, I’m wondering if the recipe was recently edited? I thought the instructions were to knead in mixer for 3 minutes – not the 5 to 8 minutes listed -,and I’ve always done that and the bread has worked out fine. I also don’t recall the test suggestions to see if the dough is kneaded enough (the windowpane example). Have I been making the bread incorrectly due to misreading the instructions? I read the recipe as I was baking for the first several times, yet since then, I haven’t looked at the recipe until today since it’s been a while since I made it. Thank you!
Hi Ellie! We recently published a new How to Knead Dough guide and updated many of our recipes’ kneading times with these guidelines. You can knead it in the mixer for the 3 minutes you’ve previously had success with and then follow the testing suggestions to see if the dough is ready. You may find it helpful to add the additional 2 minutes. Hope this helps and we’re so glad to hear this is a favorite for you!
I have been looking for a recipe for sandwich bread and this is fantastic.
This has become my go to recipe for sandwich bread. It is great for a turkey sandwich and amazing toasted with a little butter and jam. I won’t use any other recipe. If you have never tried to make a loaf, Sally has a really great video that gives step by step instruction.
Your recipes never ever fail me. 10/10. I enjoy the temp check note. Perhaps a new go to.
Really enjoyed the recipe, made it once so far but it was a bit dense it seemed. My rise time was pretty quick. I’m wondering if anyone knows how to make it lighter? The first rise I had doubled the size within about an hour, maybe I should have gone 2 hours? Or does that not matter since it has to rise again?
Taste was great, as hot bread and as toast but was just not as pliable or soft. Was seemingly a little on the dense side for feel but looked perfect. I had kneaded it for 7 minutes btw in my stand mixer. Again taste was perfect, I’m just not sure if I’m used to store bought bagged bread or if I need to get the technique down for this a bit more.
Hi Joshua, If the bread seemed dense, your dough could have been over-proofed. Try letting the dough rise for a slightly shorter time next time, until just doubled in size. Our baking with yeast guide may be a helpful resource as well. Thank you for giving this recipe a try!
There is no temp on the oven. I have read the recipe several times looking for it.
I’ve used a lot of your recipes with great success. (Cookies, pies, etc) I’m wondering if you think this bread recipe would work ok using a 9x4x4 Pullman pan without the lid?
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!
Thank you I’ll give it a read through! I know it’s supposed to be 1 to 2 hours but after 30min to 45min was when it was basically double or more. I’m just using regular active dry yeast as well.
Question: How will using a glass loaf pan effect the rising or baking of the bread? Would I need to adjust baking time or temperature or make any other adjustments? I only have one clear glass loaf pan and I would love to try my hand at this recipe. Thank you.
You can certainly use a glass loaf pan here. Same temperature, but baking time may be a few minutes longer. Keep a close eye on it. Hope you enjoy the bread!
Forgot to add the 5 stars. Would add more if I could!!!
This is going to be up there on one of my fav recipes. The size is perfect. I followed the recipe to the t and it came out amazing!! I did split the dough and color one red and one black with Wilton no taste gel food coloring. I then layed one flat over the other and rolled it. It came out as a cute swirl in the center. Looks so cute!! The flavor is 10 out of 10 and the texture. This is def going to be a staple recipe in this household!!! XOXO
I loved this recipe! We’re trying to reduced/cut out refined sugar (your blueberry muffins without refined sugar were divine!). Is there a substitute for it in this recipe?
Hi Jannae, the same amount of honey will work here.
I just adore this recipe and make it twice a week. Do you have any advice for adapting it to a 10×5 pan to make a loaf last a little longer?
Hi Lissa, we haven’t tried scaling this recipe up proportionally, but 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.
I haven’t tasted it yet but when I pulled out the bread from the pan after cooling for a good 30 minutes the bottom and sides of the pan were still doughy and sticky. I let it cook for 34 minutes as mentioned above. I had to use an aluminum tin as my bread pans are currently packed as we get ready to move. I’m not sure if that was the issue or not. I ended up popping it back in the oven for about 10 more minutes out of the pan. Hopefully I did not dry it out.
First time making sandwich bread.. usually I’m strictly sourdough or focaccia but I gave this a go and it turned out PERFECT. Delicious!
This is the best sandwich bread I’ve ever made. I’ve been searching for a loaf that was soft and delicious and this is it! When I took it out of the pan, I was nervous because it was so squishy. I was nervous it was hollow inside. I sliced it open and it’s not hollow just really freaking soft. Sliced on an end (I usually don’t eat the ends) slathered it in butter and inhaled it. My goodness this is delicious. I can’t wait to make sandwiches with it!
So glad you loved this recipe! It’s definitely a personal favorite of mine–slices lightly toasted with butter and jam are just perfection!
This bread was a big hit!! I love that I can make homemade bread without all the preservatives, and for a fraction of the cost of store bought. Thanks for this recipe.
I love this recipe however I should warn fellow US bakers about an issue I came across. I recently moved and learned the tap water in this area has chlorine in it. I tried to make bread and bagels and couldn’t figure out why the dough wouldn’t rise (I checked the temp of the water before mixing the yeast in and let it sit for 5 minutes before adding any other dry ingredients) only to find out chlorine kills yeast! Check your tap water and use filtered or distilled water if you have chlorine in it!
I thought I was doomed when I started this recipe. I tried to microwave the milk/water to get it to 110°F and way over did it. I think I put it in for like 2 mins and it was ~170°F. I didn’t realize at the time but I probably killed most of the yeast. I should have tried again but ignorance is bliss and I forged ahead with the recipe. I realized later when the bread didn’t rise my mistake, but I really didn’t want to throw it out so I figured I’d leave it overnight and see what happens. It took ages but it did rise! The second rise also took all day but otherwise the loaf came out perfect! I couldn’t believe it! I’m going to try again without killing off most of the yeast, hopefully it’s as good as the first but done much faster.
I have tried this recipe twice now, the first time it tasted delicious but the loaf was very short. It wasn’t too dense or anything inside the actual loaf, just smaller than the photos. I re-tried it again today, and same thing. I can’t get my loaf to rise a whole inch over the pan during the second proof and i suspect that is a symptom of the issue. Not sure what i’m doing wrong. Followed recipe except switched whole milk for fat free. Is this the issue?
Hi Annie, your dough could have been over-proofed—if it rises too long, it can collapse when baked, leading to a denser texture. Try letting the dough rise for a slightly shorter time next time, until just doubled in size. Our baking with yeast guide may be a helpful resource as well. Thank you for giving this recipe a try!
After trying many bread recipes, yours is just the best, and easy to follow worked perfect just as your recipe, thank you so much.
Do you think there are any changes needed if you want to bake it in a Pullman pan with a lid to end up with square bread?
Hi John, 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!