The Best Homemade White Loaf Bread

Simple white loaf bread recipe for every day! Homemade white bread tastes sweet and savory, is quick to prepare and suitable for beginners.

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Light, fluffy and the perfect base for sweet as well as salty toppings: this simple loaf of white bread is a real everyday bread. Although the white bread recipe is made with yeast dough, which is often (wrongly) described as complicated, it is absolutely suitable for beginners.

Taste and Occasion

We like the homemade white bread for breakfast or dinner best lightly toasted. Or - baked - as a dessert ingredient. Because, a few days old and already a little dry, the white loaf bread also makes itself perfectly in the form of poor knights or French toast.

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Check out this recipe!

But in this post it should first only be about the "base", a wonderful white bread as from the baker. Ingredients and preparation are kept extremely simple.

Ingredients

You only need wheat flour, yeast, water, sugar and salt. I personally like white bread with fresh yeast the best, but it also works well with dry yeast (and is even a little faster to prepare). The main time goes anyway only for the leavening of the yeast dough. The preparation itself takes less than ten minutes.

As flour I recommend you, as actually always for yeast dough, Viennese Griessler or double-handled flour or wheat flour type 550. It succeeds also as white loaf bread with spelt flour (the bright one with the type 630).

How to make the White Loaf Bread

Let's get started with this delicious white bread recipe! First of all, crumble the yeast into a cup with about 150ml (about ⅔ of a cup) of the lukewarm water. Add a teaspoon of sugar and stir everything with a spoon until the sugar and yeast have dissolved.

For the next step, put flour in a bowl and make a well in the center. Now add the lukewarm yeast-water mixture here. Mix it with a little flour in the hollow. Then, cover the bowl with a cloth and let it rise in a warm place for about 15 minutes.

After that, add salt and more water (about 300-350 ml or 1 ½ cups). Knead the dough until it is smooth. Return the dough in the bowl to the warm place. Let it rise for about an hour until the dough has doubled in volume. Place the dough in a large greased loaf pan and smooth it out. Let the dough rise again for about 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 400°F/200°C and cut the bread several times diagonally with a large sharp knife. If necessary, brush the loaf with a little milk to make the bread shiny later. Bake it on the middle shelf for approx. 40-50 minutes.

And that's it! Enjoy your delicious homemade white loaf bread!

Top Tip

It goes without saying that the white bread recipe is vegan. For a nice shine, you can additionally brush the white bread dough with milk or a mixture of whisked egg yolk and milk before baking. Which, of course, is then no longer vegan.

Recipe Card

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Traditional White Loaf Bread

This simple white bread with yeast is quick to make and turns out nice and fluffy. Perfect for breakfast or dinner, with sweet and savory toppings.

Prep Time15 mins

Baking Time40 mins

Waiting Time2 hrs

Servings: 1 loaf pan (12 inches/30 cm)

Calories: 160kcal

Ingredients

• 1 cube fresh yeast or 2 packets dry yeast
• 450 milliliters water lukewarm
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 700 grams wheat flour preferably type 550 or Viennese semolina
• 1 tablespoon salt

Measures in Metric units - Measures in U.S. Customary units

Instructions

• Crumble the yeast into a cup with about 150 ml (about ⅔ of a cup) of the lukewarm water. Add a teaspoon of sugar and stir with a spoon until the sugar and yeast have dissolved.
• Put the flour in a bowl and make a well in the center. Now add the lukewarm yeast-water mixture here. Mix with a little flour in the hollow. Cover the bowl with a cloth and let it rise in a warm place for about 15 minutes.
• Add the salt and the remaining water (about 300-350 ml or 1 ½ cups). Knead the dough until it is smooth. Return the dough in the bowl to the warm place. Let rise for about an hour until the dough has doubled in volume. Place dough in a large greased loaf pan and smooth out. Let rise again for about 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 400°F/200°C. Cut bread several times diagonally with a large sharp knife. If necessary, brush with a little milk to make the bread shiny later. Bake on the middle shelf for approx. 40-50 minutes.

Variations

If you want to bake a particularly mild, slightly sweet white bread for breakfast, you can replace the water with lukewarm milk and reduce the amount of salt to a pinch.

Similar Recipes

If you like this recipe, you will love my french brioche bread which makes a perfect breakfast snack. And if you are more of a savoury type, you should have a look at this simple german sourdough bread for beginners.

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