How To Make White Bread? I have always wondered about it. The thought of the smell of white bread alone is nostalgic for me because it magically transports me to my childhood days, when we lived closed to a bakery and we were welcomed by the aroma of the baking white bread in the air even a couple of feet away from the store.
Those days I never even thought that one day I will be using an oven to bake leave alone baking something as complicated as a white bread. Yes I didn't think that an easy white bread recipe existed. I didn't think that baking with yeast is easy, even after I started baking other treats regular.
I have always had yeast-o-phobia. Couple of years back, when I started baking, one of the first recipes I had tried was making Naan at home. I gathered all the ingredients with so much excitement and prepared everything as listed in the recipe, put the naan inside the oven and was eagerly waiting to taste it and all my excitement shut down once I tasted it.
It smelled "yeasty", tasted "yeasty" and nothing like what I had expected.
So my experiment with yeast stopped way back in 2006. Somehow I didn't feel like baking with yeast again until recently. So I always only tried eggless quick bread recipes and vegan quick bread recipes.
I didn't let my husband to photograph the steps involved because I didn't want to jinx anything. All the craziness was well worth it because the bread turned out AWESOME!
One day I decided that I'm going to overcome this yeast fear and decided to try a basic white bread recipe. I Googled and picked this recipe. I Googled and picked this recipe because it looked pretty easy to follow and I had the Rapid Rise Yeast or Instant Yeast and not the Active Dry Yeast some of the other white bread recipes called for. I followed everything in the recipe with utmost reverence and I was so serious like I was doing some surgery or something.
I can definitely say that it was the best white bread recipe! The bread was soft and fluffy, just like the freshly baked white bread we used to get in the bakery near our home. The kitchen smelled exactly like that bakery which made it even more thrilling! So if you are like me worried about how yeasted breads will turn out, you don't have nothing to worry, try this "no-fail" rapid rise yeast bread recipe. This recipe for white bread is eggless to begin with. I haven't made any changes to make it egg free.
Another advantage of this easy white bread recipe is that you can bake it into dinner rolls too. This white bread recipe will yield 2 regular size loaves. You can either make 2 loaves or the entire batch as rolls or one loaf and the other portion as rolls. Whichever method you choose to follow let me assure that you will end up with fluffy white bread.
Recipe
Beginner's White Bread
Ingredients
- 5.5 to 6 cups All-purpose Flour
- 3 tablespoons White Sugar
- 2 envelopes Rapid Rise Yeast I used Fleischmann's
- 2 teaspoons Salt
- 1.5 cups Water
- 0.5 cup Milk
- 2 tablespoons Butter
Instructions
- Combine 2 cups flour, sugar, undissolved yeast and salt in a large bowl.
- In a medium saucepan, heat water, milk and butter until very warm. Use a candy thermometer to see if the temperature is between 120F-130F (approximately 48C-54C).
- Stir the milk mixture into the flour/yeast mix.
- Use an electric mixer at medium speed and beat for about 2 minutes, scraping the bowl occasionally.
- Stir in another cup of flour, beat again for 2 minutes at high speed, scraping bowl as needed.
- Stir in enough of the remaining flour (2 and ½ to 3 cups) to make a soft dough. I used about 2 and ¾ cups of flour. (See My Notes)
- Lightly flour the surface you will be working on and knead the dough until smooth and elastic, about 8-10 minutes.
- Cover; let rise 10 minutes.
- Divide dough in half. Roll each half to 12x7 inch rectangle. Beginning at short end of each rectangle, roll up tightly. Pinch seams and ends to seal completely.
- Grease two 8x4 inch loaf pans and place the dough seam sides down.
- Cover using plastic wrap; let rise in warm, draft free place until doubled in size, about 45 minutes. (See My Notes)
- Meanwhile around the 30th minute or so, preheat the oven at 400F/200C for about 15 minutes.
- When the dough has doubled in size, bake it for 25-30 minutes or until done. Remove from pans; cool on wire rack.
- Like always you have to wait for the bread to come to room temperature before you can cut it into slices. If you prefer eating warm bread then just apply some butter and tear it off and enjoy.
My Notes
- The quantity of flour you end up adding depends on the type of flour you are using, the moisture content etc. So add it in small increments until you feel it's right.
- I read elsewhere that, when a bread recipe or any yeast recipe mentions to wait until the batter rises double in size or for a specific amount of time, look for the size and not the time. Sometimes the dough may need more time to double in size than mentioned in the recipe and you may not get the desired result if it does not double. After baking this bread, I did try my hands on dinner rolls and I just waited for the time mentioned in the recipe rather than for it to double in size and the dinner rolls came out look pathetic. The taste and texture was quite good but not as perfect as the bread. That's when I looked for a reason and found that the time does not matter. I'm just a beginner baker and this is my understanding. Experts please share your tips and opinion.
- I also read that, to get neat slices, you have to put the bread on either side and then slice it rather than the usual top to bottom slicing. I didn't know it while slicing my first loaf and did the top to bottom slicing. For the second loaf I followed the trick and it really worked.
- If all you have is Active Dry Yeast, then follow the instructions given for using it. The original recipe is here.
- To make it vegan use non-dairy milk and margarine (I don't recommend this for health reasons, organic coconut oil/avocado oil is a better option).
- The recipe also suggests that you can use up to 2 cups of whole wheat flour in place of all purpose flour, though I have not tried this yet.
Taste & Texture
- The bread looked exactly like bakery breads at least on the inside. The texture was perfect; light, airy and fluffy. I hadn't done a neat job on sealing the edges after rolling the dough, so my ends were not perfect. The bread tasted great too. It's been a while since I tasted freshly baked bread and God does it taste fantastic. It's the best! How did we end up liking the factory made bread? I realized that bread baking is one of the "if I can do it you can do it too" stuff. So no more excuses, gather all the ingredients and bake a fresh loaf this weekend. You just have to just check the expiry date on the yeast and you are good. Also a pick a candy thermometer while you are at the dollar store.
Nutrition
Update: Using the same dough, we can make pull-apart white bread as well.
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Cila says
Thanks for this recipe, was my first time making bread alone from scratch, using yeast...came out really nice!! I live in South Africa and used the SPAR brand 10g yeast sachets. Maybe that could help someone.
Madhuram says
You're welcome, Cila.
Susan says
After I put the dough in the bread pans and covered it with plastic wrap, it did rise. However, when I removed the wrap it stuck to the risen dough and flattened it. I baked it anyway and it came out quite delicious, but it looked pathetic. How can I stop this from happening?
Madhuram says
Next time spray some oil on top of the dough before covering it with wrap.
cecilia says
i live in india and u say 2 envelopes of yeast...\pls let me know according to indiand yeast that is Bakers dry yest , how much should i use..ur early reply is appreciated..thks..cec
Madhuram says
Each pack is about 8 gm. So 16gms in total, Cecilia.
Jaishree says
Will a pyrex loaf pan work to bake this bread.i don't own a metal one.I would like to do it right,because its my first try.Please let me know.
Madhuram says
Yes, it will work, Jaishree. If I remember right I think one will have to adjust the temperature and time while baking in a glass dish. Not sure how much. Please Google it.
Eric says
Best bread I have made so far
Usually turned out doorstops or hockey pucks
So very please with the recipe
Thanks a lot
Madhuram says
You're welcome, Eric.
Amy says
Hi, I double checked and my yeast packets and they weren’t expired, but my bread didn’t rise. Any thoughts?
Madhuram says
Maybe the water/milk was not warm enough. Also sometimes it might take additional time to rise, so instead of following the time given in a recipe you can instead wait until the dough rises.
Rosa M. Acosta-.Kurtz says
I have done this recipe with and without a bread machine, loved it both ways, so easy as well as light. Good one. Thank you for refreshing my memory. My nan was my original teacher, followed by her older sister, then my mom, and then my boss Bruce. Now home with my husband and I'm trying to bake bread for the ones here. Best of luck bread makers.
Madhuram says
Thank you for the feedback Rosa.