This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my full disclosure for details.
Hi Bold Bakers!
I bet your bread baking game is next level since the whole world went into lockdown! It’s nice to make great, crusty, artisan loaves — but a staple bread that you have to have a recipe for is white sandwich bread. The beauty of making your own sandwich bread, rather than buying store-bought, is that my recipe only calls for 7 ingredients. They’re all pantry staples, too, where a lot of store-bought bread has 20 unpronounceable ingredients.
[Looking for more bread? I have plenty of bread recipes for you!]
What You Need To Make White Bread (Sandwich Bread)
Very little actually. You don’t even need an electric mixer to make this delicious everyday bread.
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Large mixing bowl
- Measuring jug
- 2 loaf pans
- Elbow grease
How to Make White Bread
Wondering what you’re about to get yourself into? Don’t worry, it’s very easy — so here are the basic steps on how to make your own White Sandwich Bread (and don’t forget to get the full recipe with measurements, on the page down below):
- Place the flour, sugar, yeast, and salt in a large mixing bowl and mix to combine.
- Separately, add water, melted butter, and egg into a measuring jug and whisk well together.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and using your hand, mix to form your dough. It’s really easy to bring the dough together to make a ball.
- Knead on your surface for roughly 5-6 minutes to develop the gluten in the flour. Finish by rolling dough into a smooth ball.
- Grease your mixing bowl with a little oil and add the dough back in. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap (or a plastic shower cap) and clean towel and allow to rise in a warm place until it has doubled in size, roughly 60 minutes.
- After this time knock back the dough and cut into 2 even pieces.
- To shape, roll the balls into an oblong shape then tucking and pinching the ends under the loaf. Place loaves into 2 greased 9 x 5-inch bread pans.
- Cover again with cling wrap and a towel and allow to proof at room temperature for the second time or until it is risen to the lip of the loaf pans, this will take roughly 45-60 minutes. Don’t cut this time short as your bread needs it to grow.
- Carefully egg wash the loaves and pre-heat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
- Bake the loaves side by side in the oven for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown.
- Allow the bread to cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing as it needs to be cool to cut! Enjoy a sandwich made with your homemade sandwich bread. Store bread covered at room temperature for up to 4 days. It also freezes really well for up to 6 weeks.
Gemma’s Pro Tips for Making White Bread
- Use digital weighing scales for complete accuracy when weighing your ingredients.
- Use a plastic shower cap to cover the dough. It is reusable and has no air holes.
- This recipe makes two loaves. Keep one for eating and freeze the other one.
- Add in a little whole wheat flour if you would like more fiber and whole grain.
- Make the dough up to 2 days in advance and keep it in the fridge.
- Use leftover bread for homemade breadcrumbs or bread pudding.
How do I Store Bread?
Store bread in a bread box or bag at room temperature. You can buy plastic bread bags online that you can get multiple uses out of. I found with this bread it keeps well covered for up to 3-4 days. It can also be frozen for up to 6 weeks and used for toast, bread and butter pudding, breadcrumbs, etc.
Can I Use Bread Flour?
Yes, you can and you will get just as good results. Yeasted doughs love that extra bit of protein in the flour to strengthen it and add an extra chew. Just note that bread flour tends to absorb more liquid than all-purpose flour so you might need to add a little extra to bring your dough together.
Make More Bread!
And don’t forget to buy my Bigger Bolder Baking Cookbook!
Full (and printable) recipe below!
Watch The Recipe Video!
Perfect Homemade White Bread (Sandwich Bread Recipe)
Ingredients
- 3 3/4 cups (18oz/531g) all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon instant yeast
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 cup (8floz/240ml) water, warm
- 3 tablespoons (1 1/2 oz/43g) butter, melted
- 1 large egg
- egg wash
Instructions
- In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, yeast, and salt.
- In a separate jug add the water, melted butter, and egg and whisk together.
- Add the wet ingredients into the dry and mix by hand to form your dough. Knead on your surface for roughly 5-6 minutes.
- Roll dough into a smooth ball. Grease your mixing bowl and add the dough back in. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap (or a shower cap) and clean towel and allow to rise in a warm place for ROUGHLY 60-90 minutes or until doubled in size.
- Once proofed, knock back the dough and cut into 2 even pieces, roughly 15oz/420g
- Form each loaf by rolling the dough into an oblong shape then tucking and pinching the ends under the loaf. Place loaves into 2 greased 9 x 5-inch bread pans.
- Cover again with cling wrap and a towel and allow to proof at room temperature for the second time for roughly 45-60 minutes or until is risen to the lip of the loaf pans.
- Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C) and carefully egg wash the loaves.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown.
- Let cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing & enjoy! Store bread covered at room temperature for up to 4 days. It also freezes really well for up to 6 weeks.
Hi, Gemma: I have a tip. Recently, I screwed up a low-yeast bread recipe. I accidentally doubled the liquid, making batter instead of dough. (!) I did not want to pitch everything, waste the ingredients, and start over, so I made 2 loaves out of the batter by increasing the flour, etc. I wanted to use my pan de Mie pan to bake them, and I only have one, so I let one batch of dough rise in the oven, with only the oven light on, covered the other and put it in the fridge to bake the next day.… Read more »
Didn’t have a bread tin… So made braided dinner rolls using this recipe and it came out amazing ????… Thanks for sharing such a simple bread recipe.
Hello Gemma,
Just to let you know, l halved the sugar, it worked out really well, taste is great. Thank you, up till now, my bread could have been classed as an offensive weapon or great substitute for bricks ????. So glad to have a recipe that works.
Just made the white sandwich bread. Made 2 beautiful loaves. Only thing I did add was after 30 minutes of baking I brushed the tops with melted butter. Then baked the last few minutes. Totally recommend this recipe. Thanks Gemma!
Hi gemma!!
Where I live its kind of hard to find all purpose flour but I do have a lot of whole wheat flour, so will it work if i use whole wheat??
Hi Gemma, I only have 1 bread pan. Can I chill/freeze the other half of the dough and bake it later? If yes, should I do this before Step 7 and let it rise for the 2nd time after I take it out of the fridge? Is there a way for me to make a lot of the dough at once and store it? Also, you said I can freeze the finished product for 6 weeks. How should I defrost it? Thank you very much! (I’ve been watching your videos for a very long time and I love them!!) Jasmine… Read more »
Delicious and easy to bake!!
Tried this bread today! Turned out a perfect golden brown on the outside, and a lovely white on the inside. Thanks for this amazing recipe, Gemma!
Great tasting bread. However, I used too much butter 85 grams as listed on the recipe I downloaded, so it didn’t rise all the way. Will make again, but with the correct butter measure. Still good , though.
Lovely receipe