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 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 (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 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 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 30-34 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
The best sandwich bread I have ever made! Over the years I’ve made a lot of bread, but none that actually stay soft the next day without using a tangzhong!
I refrained from cutting until completely cool snd was able to get thin, even slices with an electric knife. I am in awe of how fresh this tastes the next day. This is a true winner. Anytime my daughter wants to bake something and needs to look up a recipe, I tell her to look at your site first because the recipes are so well tested. Also, because of you I have even started hand kneading as I have always relied n my kitchen aid. Thank you!
Hi Michelle, you are so welcome! This is lovely to read. Thank you for all the kind words. I love this bread recipe too, and make it all the time for my family. This and the multigrain version!
I love all of your recipes. You are my go to for baking! Everything I make of yours turns out fantastic. Can I use active dry yeast for this recipe?
Hi Lauren, thank you! Absolutely, you can use active dry yeast. See recipe Note: You can use active dry yeast instead. Rise times will be slightly longer using active dry yeast.
Rating this 4 instead of 5 only because i ended up needing to add over 50g of flour for the dough to not be practically liquid, but it ended up tasting amazing; texture like a Hawaiian bun; so ridiculously soft! Bake time was closer to 52 minutes for me and my oven runs hot, so not sure what the deal was, but will be making it again.
I made this this morning. So good! I did make a double batch and it seemed to come out fine, but one loaf was a little bigger. The piece I tried was delicious. Can I freeze the dough? If so, do I go through all the rising steps? How long would this dough last in the freezer?
Hi Casey, see the recipe notes for freezing instructions. Enjoy!
I have made this many many times and I’ve loved it each time. I was wondering though could I add lemon and rosemary to make it a little different?
Hi Vicki, we’re so glad you love this bread! It would be great with melted butter and rosemary brushed on the top. Let us know if you try anything!
I stumbled upon this looking for a better and easier bread recipe and fell in love! Only change I make is adding a table spoon of honey to offset the yeasty taste (pure preference for us!)
My absolute go to recipe now and highly recommend 🙂
Can I leave out the butter? I do not have any at home and do not ever shop for it. I only use margarine for cooking.
Hi Lucy, you need softened butter in this dough. You can try room temperature (solid) coconut oil in it’s place, though (expect a different taste and a slightly denser texture).
How many slices would a loaf yield? I’m curious for the calorie breakdown, the whole recipe is roughly 2000 calories, so I’m curious if 20 slices of bread is obtainable
Hi Joe! That would just depend on how thin you slice your bread.
Hello, can I sub Honey for the sugar?
Hi Daisy! The same amount of honey will work here.
I think I did something wrong in this recipe. When I took it out of the oven it had risen a LOT (it was poofing way out of the pan) and it was getting brown on top, but it wasn’t cooked all the way through. I want to try this recipe again, but I don’t want to make the same mistake. Any tips?
Hi Lucy! Allowing the shaped bread to rise for less time before baking will help with over-proofing. If the top is browning faster than the bread is baking, you can tent it with aluminum foil part way through baking (see step 9!).
Thank you so much!
I was tired of my brother buying bread with so many ingredients.
This bread was awesome!!
It’s my go to bread for him
This was the easiest recipe to follow and the bread came out so perfectly tender! My husband has now requested weekly fresh bread!
My family and I love this recipe!!! I have made it five times so far following the recipe exactly and it turns out perfectly every time! It makes an excellent snack plain or heated with butter, a perfect sandwich bread and created the best grilled cheese I have ever had! Thank you so much for sharing this incredible recipe!
This has been my go-to bread recipe for almost 1 year now. I make it every week. Easy to make and delicious
I love this recipe. Can you turn this recipe into jalapeño cheddar sandwich bread?
Hi Cheryl, for that, we recommend using this recipe for cheese bread. Enjoy!
I like this recipe and would like to make it with a bread flour and whole wheat flour mix.
Can you tell me the ratio that would produce the best results? How would other ingredients/hydration percent change if at all. Thank you!
Hi Colleen, try this recipe for whole wheat sandwich bread, and use 1 cup bread flour and 2 and 1/3 cups ww flour. Enjoy!
I made this bread–it was amazing. The directions were so concise and easy to follow. I am truly shocked at the texture!!! light and fluffy just like a bakery. I have made a few other recipes from Sally, banana bread, chocolate chip cookies, and the cheesecake!! All turned out so great and I am not really a baker lol. Currently have the cinnamon rolls cooling on my counter
An awesome loaf! Worked first time and so delicious – toasted and fresh!
Could I use this dough to make bread rolls – would that be a matter of dividing the dough after the first proof and rolling individually into rolls before the second proof? How would baking time be impacted?
Hi Heather, so glad the bread turned out well! You can definitely make rolls as well. In step 6 punch down the dough, form into individual rolls, and continue with second rise. We’re unsure of the bake time needed. Or you can follow our recipe for dinner rolls.
Most delicious bread ever!!! Worth every min!
Hi Sally,
I am a beginner here. Ive never made homemade bread before, but I’d like to start! I made one loaf the other day and I don’t think my oven is hot enough or something, but the dough on the bottom didn’t cook. I tried it again the next day and it is a lot better but it’s still a little “doughy” near the bottom. Can you help me?
The parts that are cooked are *delicious* by the way!
Hi Ally! Could the loaves just need longer to bake? We do always recommend using an in-oven thermometer so you know the exact temperature of your oven. And an instant-read thermometer is helpful for testing your baked goods for doneness as well.
I’ve tried cooking for a little longer and it was still a little doughy at the very bottom, but I will say I’m using a glass dish, do you think that would have something to do with it? Im sorry for all the questions, I have literally never done this haha! I will try again with the thermometer. Thank you for answering also!
Happy to help! Try a metal loaf pan; the bread will likely cook more evenly in a metal pan.
This was a super fun recipe. I used glass bread dishes instead of metal pans, so I baked it slightly longer; however, it turned out a little crumbly and dry. What did I do wrong? I froze my second loaf, and it seemed like it had even more flavor when we pulled it out. But still such a crumbly mess! My husband was just getting ready to make me a bread box too until I was unsuccessful haha
The bread could be dry/crumbly if over-baked. Also make sure not to add too much flour to the dough (spoon and level or use a kitchen scale instead of scooping). This is a soft bread!
oh my goodness, I could eat the whole loaf in one sitting! This turned out so well! The directions were easy to follow, and making bread wasn’t as difficult as I had thought. I don’t know why I waited so long to try! Will be making again and again!!!
This makes the most epic sandwich bread! my older daughter (and if he was truly honest my husband as well) just don’t prefer the taste of sourdough. This is the ONLY non sourdough recipe I bake on repeat. The is our go to sandwich bread for their lunches. I accidentally doubled the butter bc I dumped in a whole stick not thinking to double check the measurements in the recipe (I tend to measure with love anyway). It works, and honestly its the best loaf of bread I have probably ever made… I have a brother (and a few friends) that stand by the mantra you can never have too much butter, and I may keep the extra in future loaves.
Hello, Could you recommend a recipe for “hoagie” rolls for use with steak sandwiches? Thanks much. I thought of using sandwich bread recipe not sure about shaping and baking etc.thanks!
Hi Anita! You could try this dough, though it may be a little too soft. We would try the dough from these bread bowls instead. We’re unsure about shaping and exact bake time but let us know what you try!
Hey Anita, I’ve used this recipe for hoagie rolls and it turned out great! I cut the dough into 8 equal portions, shaped them like a hoagie roll, put them on a large baking sheet with parchment paper underneath and baked them at 350°f for about 25 minutes.
I followed this recipe yesterday to make my first ever loaf of sandwich bread, and my family and I loved it so much! It was soft, fluffy, and absolutely delicious. My 3 yr old granddaughter and I have been baking so much lately we completely wiped out all of the AP Flour in the house lol. I was wondering if I could substitute the AP flour for whole wheat flour during times like this when it’s what we have available?
Hi Tina, here is our whole wheat bread recipe instead. Hope you enjoy it just as much as this one!
Welp. We were out of bread, so I thought I’d try this recipe, and I served it with dinner (chicken soup). It was soft, with that old-fashioned taste like my Pennsylvania Dutch grandmother’s bread. Only problem? I had two slices, my husband had two slices, and when I went to put away leftovers, there were only the heels plus two more pieces. My two grown sons (24 and 20) went through the rest of the loaf like locusts! Guess I’ll be making this again tomorrow. Maybe I’ll double it! Thank you, Sally, for another wonderful, dependable recipe.
Can I use a pullman bread box? I have the 1 lb or the 8×4 one
Hi Deni, 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!
I made this the first time, and it was delicious even though I accidentally doubled the butter lol. I had weighed the flour and used 430 g per above. However, I am just starting to make it again and this time I decided to level 3 1/3 cups of flour and that’s actually 500 g so now I’m confused. According to Alexa (!) 430 g is equal to 2 cups…I’m going to proceed, but am now thinking about doubling the butter again instead of doing it ‘right’. Any thoughts on the weight v. Measure?
Hi Sheila, you can read more about measuring baking ingredients here!
Best sandwich bread! It makes a soft, fluffy white bread with a great crumb.
Trying today! Can I substitute oil for butter in this recipe?
Hi Mandi, you need softened butter in this dough so we don’t suggest an oil substitute (liquid). You can try room temperature (solid) coconut oil instead (expect a different taste). We haven’t tested baking with ghee, so are unsure of the results. If you try it, please let us know how it turns out!
hello!! i want to try this recipe out but i was just wondering if you turn the oven on from up & down or just down?
I’d been using a fifty year old Betty Crocker recipe which I thought was good. This is much better. Recommend giving this recipe a try. I converted half of the batch to cinnamon bread by rolling it out, brushing it with margarine and sprinkling it with cinnamon and brown sugar. Next batch I’ll also add raisins. Let cool completely before slicing.
Wanting to try this recipe, how would it bake in glass loaf pans thats all I have at the moment
Hi Lena, glass pans take a little longer to cook through than metal pans. Some additional time should help, but if you find it’s still not there, you can tent the pan with foil to prevent the top from burning while allowing the bread to continue baking through. Happy baking!