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Hello Dear Friends! I am so excited to share this bread recipe with you! What I love most about this recipe is how simple and basic it is (meaning no crazy ingredients)-not to mention it is DEE-licious! It’s very similar to our Easy Homemade Wheat Bread which is half white flour half wheat flour-except this one uses only white (all-purpose) flour…you know, in case you don’t have whole wheat flour on hand, or you’re trying to acclimate your family to regular homemade bread before delving into the whole wheat arena.
After making this bread for the third time I realized I didn’t even pull out the recipe because I already had it memorized. Yep! That’s the kind of simple that I’m talking about! It is very soft the first day after you bake it, but because there are no preservatives (which are a HUGE plus in my book!), you’ll notice it starting to go stale quickly if left out. So I like to keep our bread in the fridge if I know we won’t be going through it very fast. There are days however when we go through both loaves in two days! But when you make things like Sweet French Toast and garlic bread, that tends to happen. 😉
This does take a few hours to make, although, the extra time is mostly waiting for the bread to rise, but the amazing aroma it gives to your home is absolutely DIVINE! And well worth the wait! enjoy!! 🙂
What is your favorite type of bread?
- 2 1/4 cup warm water
- 3 tablespoons honey or white sugar
- 2 1/4 teaspoons Active Dry Yeast (or one 1/4 ounce package of Active Dry Yeast)
- 1 tablespoon salt (I use sea salt or real salt)
- 2 tablespoons oil (I use olive oil-but any kind should work)
- 6 1/4 to 6 3/4 cups of all-purpose flour*
- Add warm water (this should be somewhat hot-but not scalding. I will often microwave my water or heat it on the stove until it reaches the right temperature (between 105-115 degrees if you have a thermometer). Add the honey or sugar and the yeast to the warm water and stir slightly. Then set aside and allow to sit for 5-10 minutes until it begins to rise.
- In a large mixing bowl or Kitchen Aid add the yeast mixture, salt, oil, and 3 cups of flour and mix. Then add 3 additional cups of flour and mix. Add the rest of the flour 1/4 cup at a time depending on how much your bread will need (see notes below). Kneed for 8-10 minutes by hand or 5 minutes in the Kitchen Aid.
- Add some oil to the bowl and turn the dough over a few times to coat the outside of the dough with the oil. Cover and allow to rise until double in size (1-2 hours).
- After it's risen, shape bread into two loaves and place in two 9x5 inch greased bread pans. Cover again and allow to rise until about double in size (about 30-45 minutes).
- Bake on 375 degrees for 30-35 minutes.
- Brush a light coating of butter on the top of the bread, and allow the bread to sit in the pan for 5-10 minutes. Then remove from pan and set on a wire rack to cool.
- *Add enough flour to the dough so that it pulls away from the sides of the bowl, or so that it is easily manageable when kneading. For me this is about 6 1/4 cups of flour. Start with 6 cups and then slowly add in an additional 1/4 cup of flour at a time until it reaches the right consistency.
your first step states to add water… where to?
Sorry about the confusion. You add the water into a separate bowl. I’ll make sure to clarify that! Thanks! 🙂
Recipe says this can be mixed in a kitchen aid. Is that a mixer or a food processor?
Yes, a kitchen aid is a stand mixer. 🙂
Do you knead a second time between step 3, and shaping the dough into 2 loaves?
Hi Candy, No I don’t knead it again I just work it enough to shape it into loaves.
I don’t have any white sugar on hand. Can I use dthe same amount brown sugar instead? Thanks for the recipe. Looking forward to make my first bread.
Hi Cady, Yes, brown sugar or honey should also work in place of white sugar.
Thanks Melanie. It was great for the first time making bread but it wasn’t as I expected. I hope you can help me with fixing these problem. I am new at baking . I kneaded by hand and used 6 cups of all purpose flour. The bread skin is crusty like french bread, not as hard but not as soft as store bought sandwich bread. The bread is also more chewy than sandwich bre and very yeast smell. What can I do to make it better and less smell? Thanks.
Hi Cady, That’s a great question! My first thought would be to double check what kind of yeast you are using. If you are using Instant Yeast or Rapid Rise yeast, those yeasts don’t require as much rise time as Active Dry yeast does. They can eat up all of the sugar in your recipe if left to rise too long, and cause a yeasty smell and taste. So if you are using one of those yeasts, just reduce your rise time or watch for it to be about double in size instead of watching the clock. I hope this helps! Let me know how your next batch turns out! 🙂
Hi there i was wondering does this bread freeze well?
Hi Yana, I have not tried freezing this bread, but if I did freeze it I would probably pre-cut it first. 🙂
I am using your recipe to make my first ever loaf of bread. I am so excited. Like a kid at Christmas!
Haha, yay that’s awesome Nicki! Let me know how it turns out! 🙂
just made bread thanks for the awesome and simple recipe !!!!:)))
I’m so glad you liked it! Thanks Teri! 🙂
A tad confused on how much flour is needed. Is it just 6 1/4 cup or is it 12 cups? Because the way you wrote it (6 1/4-6 3/4) isn’t clear
Hi Sierra, sorry for the confusion. It’s 6 1/4 cups of flour, but you can add up to 6 3/4 cups total (or an additional 1/2 cup of flour on top of the 6 1/4 cups). I hope that helps! Thanks! 🙂
I did everything you said to do and my dough won’t rise.
Hi Marcus, I would make sure your yeast is fresh. I try and buy the yeast that is vacuumed packed because it tends to be more fresh than many of the others. I’ve had yeast that I could never get to work until I switched to the vacuum packed ones and then stored the remaining yeast in the freezer. I would also double check the temperature of your water. If it’s too cold it won’t activate the yeast enough, and if it’s too hot it can kill the yeast. Also, once they yeast does start to rise in the water (first step in the instructions), don’t let it sit for more than 5 minutes because it can often exhaust its rise and it won’t have enough strength to get your bread to rise once you mix it in. I hope this helps! 🙂
This is the second batch I’ve made today
Thank you for this recipe, my family really likes it and it is very easy. Someone asked about where to add the water at the beginning…I make everything in my Kitchen Aid bowl, from beginning to end of kneading. No need to dirty too many bowls. After I perfect this…I’m gonna try to make a cinnamon bread out of this dough.
This dough is good for sandwiches…holds the filling well.
That sounds awesome! I’m so glad everyone enjoyed it! 🙂
Can you use it to make cinnamon rolls?
Hi Leah, these would taste great the first day as cinnamon rolls, but they might start to get a little dry by the second day.
Made this bread today and it turned our quite dense and heavy. Is it possible that I didn’t need it long enough? I was using my stand mixer to do the needing.
Hi Gayle, I usually knead mine for about 10 minutes in the mixer and will occasionally pull it out and knead it for about 5 minutes by hand. But often times when my bread turns out heavy it’s because my yeast didn’t proof (rise and bubble) well or long enough. How well did your yeast rise? Did it bubble up and look active? Make sure the water is warm but not hot, and that the yeast isn’t too old. I’ve had expired yeast still work just fine as long as it was stored well, but I’ve also had yeast that wasn’t expired, not proof well. It can be a little tricky sometimes. Let me know!
I just don’t understand…..I’ve tried this recipe twice and the dough does not pull away from the sides. It’s a gooey mess. 2 1/4 cups of water seems like way too much. I ended up adding a total of almost 8 cups of flour to soak up the water. Help! Thank you!!
Hi Briana, I’m sorry it’s been challenging so far. Do you happen to be at a low altitude or sea level? If so, I’d try using only 2 cups of water and see if that helps. You can even start with using one cup of warm water to proof the yeast in and then as you are mixing the dough add another 1/2 cup of warm water at a time until it comes together.
This recipe was absolutely perfect! I had to come back online and search for this post just to show my appreciation so Thank you very much☆
Kavenamuua, thank you so much for coming back to let me know! I’m so glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
Please can I double this recipe to make four loaves instead of the two, cause my family is quite Large
Hi Rosemary, Yes! You can double the recipe. I do this all the time with my family. Just make sure you use a large enough bowl to mix it and for it to rise in afterwards. 🙂