Basic White Bread

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Need the perfect recipe for bread? This wonderful Basic White Bread recipe will be your new staple! Make your own homemade bread with this simple recipe and tutorial. No special ingredients or cooking equipment needed.

Need the perfect recipe for bread? This wonderful Basic White Bread recipe will be your new staple! Make your own homemade bread with this simple recipe and tutorial. No special ingredients or cooking equipment needed. #freshbakedbread #homemadebread #homemadewhitebread #simplerecipe

Basic White Bread

Every good homemaker needs a tried and true plain bread recipe in their recipe box. A basic white bread can be used in so many different meals and dishes and always makes a good snack when paired with some homemade jam.

This is an easy white bread recipe that has served us well over the years. I believe I originally found it from a Mennonite source which is where many of my old tried and true recipes have come from.

Basic White Bread Recipe

What You Need:

  • 1/2 cup warm water
  • 1 1/2 Tablespoon yeast
  • 1 Tablespoon sugar
  • 1 cup boiling water
  • 1/3 cup oil
  • 1/6 cup sugar
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 1/4 cup cold water
  • 3 cups flour + an additional 3 – 4 cups flour

How to make bread:

In a small bowl mix the 1/2 cup warm water, yeast, and 1 Tablespoon sugar. Let it sit for 5 minutes or so.

In a mixer or in another bowl mix the boiling water, oil, sugar, and salt. Stir until it dissolves.

Add in the cold water and mix and then add in the yeast mixture. (You want the mixture temp to be lukewarm before you add the yeast and that’s why do you do this mixing step. Do not burn the yeast!)

Add in 3 cups of flour and stir. Let this mixture rise for 30 minutes.

This is after 30 minutes. We have some nice bubbling yeast action going on here. 🙂

Add in the rest of the flour. (3 to 4 cups are needed) It should form a nice, not sticky, dough. Let this rest for about 30 minutes.

Form into loaves and stick in a loaf pan. This will make 2 loaves. Let these rise for about an hour in a warm covered place. Or at least until doubled in size. Then bake them at 350F for 35-40 minutes.

Remove the loaves from the oven and brush the tops with butter. Butter will help to keep the loaves soft and not crispy and crumbly. Store extra bread in the fridge or in the freezer. You can keep this bread on the counter but it will only last a few days.

Substitutions – You can make this bread recipe with all wheat flour or half wheat and half white.

Want to print this Basic White Bread Recipe? Grab it below:

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Basic White Bread Recipe

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup warm water
  • 1 1/2 Tablespoon yeast
  • 1 Tablespoon sugar
  • 1 cup boiling water
  • 1/3 cup oil
  • 1/6 cup sugar
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 1/4 cup cold water
  • 3 cups flour
  • 3-4 Cups additional flour needed

Instructions

  1. In a small bowl mix the 1/2 cup warm water, yeast, and 1 tablespoon of sugar. Let it sit for 5 minutes or so.

  2. In a mixer or in another bowl, mix the boiling water, oil, sugar, and salt. Stir until it dissolves.

  3. Add in the cold water and mix and then add in the yeast mixture. (You want the mixture temp to be lukewarm before you add the yeast and that's why do you do this mixing step. Do not burn the yeast!)
  4. Add in 3 cups of flour and stir. Let this mixture rise for 30 minutes.
  5. Add in the rest of the flour. (3 to 4 cups are needed) It should form a nice, not sticky, dough. Let this rest for about 30 minutes.

  6. Form into loaves and stick in a loaf pan. This will make 2 loaves. Let these rise for about an hour in a warm covered place. Or at least until doubled in size. Then bake them at 350F for 35-40 minutes.

  7. Bake the loaves at 350F for 35-40 minutes.

  8. Remove the loaves from the oven and brush the tops with butter. Butter will help to keep the loaves soft and not crispy and crumbly. Store extra bread in the fridge or in the freezer. You can keep this bread on the counter but it will only last a few days.

Recipe Notes

Substitutions - You can make this bread recipe with all wheat flour or half wheat and half white.

Did you enjoy this white loaf bread? Find even more Bread Recipes here on Little House Living!

Have you tried this basic White Bread recipe yet? What do you use it for the most?

This basic white bread recipe originally appeared on Little House Living in February 2011. It has been updated as of September 2019.

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81 Comments

  1. Wow!! That looks so Yummy!! I bet that it tasted good and smelled so good too!! Just wanted you to know that you are an inspiration to me! Thank You so much!! Really enjoy your posts!!

  2. I have failed many times making bread, but I’m going to try again. Somehow you make everything seem do-able! Thanks for helping us along.

    1. I’ll share a little story with you… When I was 8 years old I joined a 4-H Club and signed up to do breadmaking in the fair. I made my little loaf of quick bread and took it to show the judge. It was my first fair and I was so nervous. The judge was so… judgmental…she didn’t tell me I did anything right and just focused on what I did wrong. So the next year I decided to try again. I made my bread the night before the fair, when I went to take it out of the oven it looked like soup. I had forgotten to add any rising agents. I was up so late that night making another batch of bread. After that year I stopped entering bread in the fair but I kept working on it and working on it. So yes, it took me that long to get breadmaking down! I always loved baking every since I was little but breadbaking was hard for me! It just took alot of time and alot of practice. 🙂

    2. With yeast bread, failure is not uncommon. I buy yeast in bulk and keep it in the freezer so that it stays active for a very long period Two things to be aware of to make sure you get a good rise:
      1. The temperature that yeast is exposed to prior to baking should be between 105 and 120 degrees F and NO HIGHER. The breakdown is as follows:
      – the liquid should be between 105 to 110 if yeast is being added directly to the liquid OR
      – the liquid should be from 115 to 120 if the yeast is mixed with dry ingredients before the liquid is added
      2. Test that your yeast is active before committing all those ingredients to the recipe. I test yeast by putting a 1/4 tsp in a tablespoon of water then adding just a pinch of sugar. If it gets bubbly and foamy, you’ve got active yeast.
      Good luck and don’t give up!

  3. If you have a hard time getting dough to rise (especially in our cold, dry climate!) here is a tip that has always worked great for me – heat the oven to 200 degrees, then *Turn Off.* Boil a pot of water on the stove and stick it on the lowest rack of the oven. Put the dough on the rack above the boiling water. Close the oven and voila! This has never failed to get dough to rise for me! (I read it on the back of those frozen dough biscuits you can buy at Family Thrift!)

  4. Hi,
    I l ove your website , you are teaching me so much and love going back to the way things used to be. I would like to ask one thing please, I wish you could make it where we can print the receipe without the pictures. It just uses so much ink and paper..please help..and thank you..I really look forward to you in my emal.

    Suz

    1. Suz, when you click the Print Friendly button on the bottom of the post to print the recipe, there is a little box that you can check on the top of the pop up box that says “No Images” once you click that it will take away all the images and you will be able to just print the recipe. I hope that helps!

  5. I have never tried making my own bread, but you make it seem almost easy, so I am going to give it a try. Two questions: Do you have to have a mixer or can you mix it by hand as well ? Also, if you bake the bread before the dough has risen, what happens? What is the purpose of having the dough rise first?

    1. You don’t have to have a mixer but you will need to knead it well before you let it rise. Bread has to rise to let the yeast work, when it rises properly you will have the nice fluffy airy bread that you think of when you think bread, otherwise it will just be a hard flat loaf. Have fun!

  6. I just wanted to say thank you for posting this recipe. My family loves it. Also the Chocolate chip bagels are great. As far as the bread goes, I have stopped buying bread from the store and I make this one. We go through 4 loaves a week. THANK YOU! I can now say I make good bread.

  7. Hi Merissa! This is a really interesting site. I managed to ‘stumble’ across it, while looking for ways to save and such. Anyway, as I was reading this fantastic receipe, I just wanted to double check your amounts. I’ve been baking a variety of different types of bread from scratch lately and most of those receipes only require a teaspoon of yeast and an equal amount of sugar. The capital “T” in baking generally stands for Tablespoon, which sounds like an awful lot of yeast, and sugar, even for two loaves. Are you sure you don’t mean teaspoon for both the yeast and sugar? The receipes that I’ve been using, from King Arthur Flour and Red Star Yeast, only call for a teaspoon of yeast and/or sugar even for their larger receipes – This also saves on ingredents – I’ve been able to make 3 bread receipes from just one small packet of yeast (which contains 2 1/4 tsp. of yeast). I now buy my yeast in bulk (one pound cake) and store it in the fridge. I easily make at least one to two loaves a day for my family (and everyone loves it so much better than store bought) that I go through enough yeast to make that cost effective for me. But I just wondered on the amounts you listed for your bread here. Thanks for all your tips! Can’t wait to check out the whole site.

    1. Hi MaryBeth and welcome! I double checked my recipe and the amounts of 1 T of yeast and 1 T of sugar is correct to make 2 loaves for this recipe.

  8. Instead of two loaves do you know if this would make one big long loaf? I have the long commercial bread pan.

  9. I made this & the 2 loaves that it made were delicious!..They were HUGE loves!..not the kind you get in the store!..I would say 1 1/2 lb. loaves..each..I don’t know why you couldn’t make it in a commercial bread pan?..Thanks for the recipe, Merissa..I had no problem with making them..am going to make some more! 🙂

  10. You could try a commercial bread pan but Mel is right, they are huge loaves! With the double batch I plan on making 2 loaves and then a tray with sub sandwich buns.

  11. I just made a batch of whole white wheat biscuits. They are delicious. We are having biscuits and (homemade) sausage for lunch today…but the kids and I all had to sample a biscuit fresh from the oven for breakfast, too!

  12. I made a chocolate cookie with a peppermint frosting, banana bread and then I made Alton Brown’s mayo. I love his recipe for it!

  13. Letia, I haven’t made that recipe full wheat but I have substituted half wheat and half white and it was very good!

  14. I’m cooking a turkey! I love doing turkeys year round – which provides delicious ‘real’ meat (aka ‘lunch meat’) for sandwiches, yummy and fast dinner options, jars of turkey soup and gallons of turkey stock. And the house smells sooooo good!

  15. We’re having a women’s night out at our church tonight. I was thinking about my bread machine, now I’ll have to use it to make something!

    1. I make this recipe in my mixer, as seen above, so I don’t have to knead it. But if you don’t have a mixer you will need to knead it well after you add the second batch of flour and before you let it rise. Then after you let it do the second rise ( 1 hour) punch it down and knead it a bit more.

  16. basically the same as my basic bread recipe 🙂 Only instead of plain oil I use lard or coconut oil. Makes awesome cinnamon rolls too. It is a great all around recipe. 🙂

  17. Can I freeze it? I think I would freeze it right before the putting it in the bread pans but just wanted to double check

  18. Sooo I just have to letcha know- your site is my new favorite recipe site! 🙂 Thanks for sharing so much yummi-ness!

  19. Hi, Merissa,
    Every time I try my hand at making homemade bread it comes out really dense and yeasty tasting. When I use the bread machine it comes out fantastic, light and yummy!
    So I’m going to try this recipe to see if it comes out nicely.
    Thank you for sharing this recipe!
    Brenda

  20. I made this recipe a number of times with fresh yeast, and it was delicious every time!! But my local stores stopped carrying fresh yeast. Can I make this recipe with active dry yeast instead? Is the measurement the same?

  21. I LOVE LOVE LOVE your blog!!! I have a few silly questions! On the measurements, is the T for tablespoon and the t for teaspoon? Also is the c. for cup? I have been looking for a website like yours for a while and I am soo thankful I found it!! You are a blessing to a young mom of 2 little boys and a preacher’s wife. 🙂 God Bless!

  22. I have never been able to make bread that turns out edible. I have made this recipe twice now and it actually turned out AND tasted sooo good!!! Thanks so much for all you do/write/recommend on your sight. I grew up near Walnut Grove and have loved the Little House series since I was very young.

  23. I just made this yesterday for the first time ever, and it turned out fantastic! My husband, two little boys and I had one loaf gone in no time! Definitely making this from now on. No more buying bread from the store! Thank you so much for everything you do on your site. You really are an inspiration! I will be making the gummies next! Have a BLESSED day. 🙂

  24. I read all the comments, no one asked what was 1/6 c sugar was equal to? I don’t have a 1/6 of a cup! 🙂 🙂 🙂

    I know 1/4 c = 4 T
    1/8 c = 2 T

  25. Active dry yeast.. check, but what kind of flour? Just bread flour, or all purpose? Also, for the cinnamon buns, would I simply just cut the dough into strips and roll them into a cinnamon sugar mixture, then bake and frost?
    I am in love with the site! We are moving to our very own “little house in the big woods”(43 acres!) this fall, while we are building our dream home. I will actually be cooking off of an antique wood burning kitchen stove.

    1. I just use all purpose but bread flour works too. Yes, that’s what would do for the rolls, yum! I bet your stove is lovely, I’ve always wanted one of those!

  26. I have a question. When you place the dough in the loaf pans to rise do you grease them first? Would the dough stick to t he pan if you don’t? And don’t you turn the dough over when you grease the pan to cover all over?

  27. After a few failed attempts and different methods… I can’t wait to try this one! One question though, usually you have to knead the dough for a while, so how long do you leave the mixer on?

  28. I just made cinnamon buns with this recipe, and oh my goodness, best cinnamon buns I’ve ever made! I just used half a cup each of white and brown sugar, and 3 tbsp of cinnamon, and a bunch of margarine, and they turned out lovely!

  29. Hi Merissa, Love your site! This recipe sounds wonderful. What type of oil do you use in it, and do you use plain, white sugar or some other kind? Also, do you use table salt, or kosher salt, or sea salt, or some other type? Thanks!

    1. I just use regular olive oil because that’s what I have on hand all of the time. This recipe uses plain white sugar (you could use raw sugar if you have it). And personally we use Real salt (or a salt containing trace minerals) in all our food but any salt will work in this recipe.

  30. Hello Malissa, i am injoying all of this homesteading information and helping to save on the costs of things this is all right down my alley.however i am in need of a few things i have not yet purchased .I really need a pressure cooker i have a pressure canner but that has wieghts not a pressure meater i dont not what the two are used for differently i cant find anyone to give me an answer .however i also need a mixer with the dough neading hook , i was wondering if you have any recipes that can be done by hand ??

  31. I am late to this discussion but when I see a bread has yeast in it, I don’t usually read any further – because I’m allergic to yeast.
    But just now having read all the comments you received, my stomach is growling.

    I am not a bread maker (in fact, I’m not much of a cook at all) so my fanciful dea of substituting baking soda for the yeast will not work, will it?
    Do you have a bread recipe that does not use yeast?

    TIA,
    Jane

  32. If I may ask what was the thing you were using in the photos to mix your ingredients for the bread with. I have never seen anything like it so I don’t know. I thank you for all your info and I appreciate your time. Thank you from Kelley

  33. 5 stars
    I wish this would let me post pictures, this recipe will be my go to for loaf bread. It was my first time making it and it turned out perfect although I would cook it that extra 5 minutes next time. I tried to get through all the comments but there are many. I like the idea of making rolls with this dough and might even try hot dog buns. Has anyone tried this recipe with gluten-free flour?I am a great cook and a good baker but I have yet to make a decent gluten-free bread.