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
I love this recipe. I veganize it with vegan butter and plant milk and it is perfect every time.
This recipe was so easy and delicious I will never buy store-bought sandwich bread again!
Do you have the nutrition facts by any chance?
Hi Launi, 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
Literally the best sandwich recipe I I’ve ever tried!
Hello,
Can evaporated milk be substituted for regular milk? Thank you!
Hi Barb, we haven’t tried this substitution, but let us know if you try!
Hi Sally, I make this bread weekly for my kids lunches. But my husband has started to snack on slices with jam, I end up having to make another loaf during the week. Do you have modifications to make 2 loafs or can I just double the recipe?
Hi Raghavi, For best results, we 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.
Thank you for the “Simply Sandwich Bread” recipe along with accompanying great directions with
video. This is the first recipe I tried for a home-baked loaf of bread that actually turned out as amazing
in looks and taste as you said it would. So happy to have found your recipe. Bookmarking your website
as a go-to reference.
Can the sugar be replaced with raw honey?
Hi Laura, the same amount of honey will work here.
Can you use 12 inch pans ? Also for the 9 inch pans what weight pan are you using 1.25 lb ?
Hi Heather, yes, the 9×5-inch pan that we use is a 1.25 lb pan. We haven’t scaled this recipe up for a 12-inch loaf pan, so we’re unsure how well it would work. Let us know if you do any experimenting, although it may be best to find a recipe specifically developed for a larger 12-inch pan.
Best bread I have ever made, fantastic first try!
Love this recipe! Made it a gazillion times using avocado oil and honey (substitutes). However we sadly just found out husband needs to switch to GF. Curious if you/anyone of your readers have tried baking this bread using a 1:1 Gluten Free flour? Understandly the texture might differ, but curious of the overall result.
Hi Jen, we haven’t tested this recipe with gluten free flour, so we’re unsure of the results. Let us know if you do give it a try.
I really like this recipe, I’ve made it several times and it always come out tasting really good, but the dough is usually dry and the loaf comes out a bit dense. I’m fairly certain that I’m measuring the ingredients properly, what could be going wrong?
Hi Sarah, are you spooning and leveling your flour? Did you happen to substitute any whole wheat flour? 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!
This is the first time in all my years that the bread turned out perfectly and not like a brick! Thank you!!!
Can I replace the milk with heavy cream or water?
Hi Macie, we haven’t tested this recipe with heavy cream or a portion of heavy cream so we can’t accurately predict the results for you. We fear it will be much too heavy, unless you’re using a lower fat milk or watering the cream down a bit. If you do any testing, we’d love to know how it turns out for you.
This recipe looks delicious, and I can’t wait to try it. I have a longer bread loaf pan closer to the size of store sandwich loaves. Would you recommend doubling in this case?
Hi Michelle, here’s our Pan Sizes & Conversions post. This will be a good resource to determine how much dough you need for your size pan!
First time making sandwich bread turned out perfect.
I’ve made this recipe several times. As is, hand kneaded, dough hook kneaded, either flours, a combo of AP and bread flour, and even when I managed to mess up the recipe and needed to salvage, it still yielded wonderful results! Hats off to this recipe!
I love this recipe. The first time I made it, it was really good. Second time, it didn’t rise as much on the second rise and had a big hole through it. What did I do wrong? Thanks
Hi Nim! It could have just needed a longer second rise the second time you made it. And also make sure you roll it up into a very tight 8-inch log in step 6. The tighter the layers/swirls, the less chance of an air bubble.
I’ve been on my bread journey for a few weeks and all my bread has been mediocre at best- too yeasty or dense ect. THIS bread is amazing!!!! Came out perfect and delicious. There’s no way it will last 24 hours in my house. Thank you so much for sharing it! I finally have a go to with replacing store bought bread!
I don’t have a stand mixer, can I use a hand mixer or mix with a spoon?
Hi Ingrid, A hand mixer can be tricky with thicker doughs, we would mix/knead by hand instead – see the end of step 2 for details.
It was so delicious, but the only thing that was off was that when I cut it, there was a big hole throughout the top. Do you have any idea what I possibly did wrong to create such a big hole? It’s fine for eating with just butter on it, but because of the hole it wouldn’t have held a sandwich together.
Hi Erica, make sure you roll it up into a very tight 8-inch log in step 6. The tighter the layers/swirls, the less chance of an air bubble. Also, don’t over-proof the dough in either rise. (Don’t let it rise too long past necessary.) Hope this helps for next time! So glad you enjoy this bread.
Can you use an 8 x 4 1/2 in bread pan/ loaf pan as well? Silly question but can this recipe be doubled to make two loaves? Thank you!
Hi Chip, that size pan should work just fine. Roll the dough out to be a little smaller than 8×15 inches in step 6. The loaf will be taller and require a little more time in the oven. See recipe notes for directions on doubling. Enjoy!
This is my go to! But I feel like I’m always adding extra flour at the end because it’s too sticky
This recipe is wonderful! It has come out perfectly every time!
am however wondering if I can use just any regular active dry yeast or if I have to use the Red Star Platinum?
Also if I were to make pepperoni rolls would I add the pepperoni and cheese when rolling it out for the second rise?
Thanks!
Hi CM, you can use active dry yeast instead. Same amount, although rise times may be just slightly longer. For pizza rolls, we’d recommend using our pizza dough recipe instead, like we do for these pizza rolls. Hope this helps!
I made this today. I am in shock. It was so easy. So delicious. I’m excited to see how long it stays soft, but honestly, it won’t last that long cause it was so tasty! Will definitely make this again.
Can I out all of this recipe in a bread machine and it turn out ok?
Hi Nanette, we haven’t tested this recipe in a bread machine, but many readers have reported success doing so. Let us know if you try it!
I don’t bake. I suck at it. I’ve tried to bake loaves of bread several times and they were always too burnt at the top, or the middle just wasn’t cooked through, or it never proof-ed right. I have had to put my loaves back into the oven a few times just so they would cook thoroughly. Yesterday, I decided to try again but to use a different recipe. I saw this recipe and it was the first time I ever got a loaf of bread baked right! I wish I could add a picture! I feel so proud and giddy! I don’t entirely suck. Thank you for this! I have saved it and will be using your recipe for future loaves.
We’re so glad this recipe was a success for you, Lele!
Delicious and very easy to make. Love it!
We live this bread so much! It is so soft! I used it to make hamburger buns this weekend , cut into 3.25 ounces each made buns baked at 350 for about 10/12 mins! It worked GREAT!!!!! Yummmy! Thanks
I made this bread yesterday. The bread is amazing! It came out perfect. I made one to see how it would turn out, then made another! I can not and will not buy the bread-like substance they want to call bread from the supermarket anymore. Thank you.
I did a flour comparison bake today – one batch with all-purpose flour and one with bread flour, all else the same. The bread flour mixed into dough with the given measurements, but the all-purpose flour needed a lot more to stop being sticky. The bread flour also rose more. The all-purpose flour resulted in bread that was rather crumbly.