Homemade White Bread Loaf

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5 from 1 vote

Homemade white bread with 5 simple ingredients. Its so easy and turns out perfectly soft and fluffy every single time!

Prep Time20

Cook Time30

Proofing Time2

Total Time2 50

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: American

Servings: 8.5 inches by 4.5 inches loaf

Calories: 777.6kcal

Author: Priya Maha

Ingredients

7 g instant dry yeast
180 ml water (lukewarm)
310 g all purpose flour
30 g granulated sugar
30 g butter
⅔ teaspoon salt
Extra butter to brush the top of the bread after baking

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Prepare a loaf tin. Grease it well and set aside.
Add yeast to a large mixing bowl. Add half of the water and mix with a spoon until the yeast is dissolved.
Add the remaining water, sugar, and flour and knead on medium speed for 2 minutes (with a dough hook attachment).
Add the butter and continue to knead until the butter gets fully incorporated into the dough and the dough turns stretchy. This should take approximately 7 to 8 minutes on medium high speed.
Form the dough into a ball and place it in a large bowl. If the dough is sticky, add a little more flour.
Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap and place it is a warm place to proof. This should take approximately 1 hour depending on the surrounding temperature. The dough should almost triple in size.
Press the proofed dough to release air bubbles.
Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Flatten with your fingers into a rectangle with the short side of the rectangle measuring the same as the long side of your loaf tin.
Roll the dough into a tight roll, tuck the ends underneath and pinch the sides. You can also fold the dough into 3. Place the rolled dough in the prepared loaf tin.
Let the loaf proof again until slightly more than double in size.
Bake the bread at 165°Celcius on the lowest rack in the oven.
Once baked, remove the loaf from the oven and brush the top with melted butter.
Let the bread loaf rest in the tin for about 1 minute. Turn it out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Slice the bread after it has completely cooled down for neater slices.

Notes

I use a mixer with a dough hook to knead my bread. The timing indicated in the recipe below is for kneading with a mixer. If you knead this homemade white bread by hand, a longer knead time would be required. Ideally, the dough needs to be kneaded until it turns stretchy. To test if the dough is ready, do a windowpane test. Take some dough and gently stretch it with your fingers until it forms a thin film. If you can stretch it without tearing, it is ready, otherwise, more kneading is recommended.

This homemade white bread requires 2 stages of proofing. Proofing is the process of letting the bread dough rest to allow it to increase in size, often double its original size. Proofing requires a warm spot or temperature so place your bowl of dough somewhere warm to help it rise well. For the first stage, it helps to cover the bowl with plastic wrap.

For the second proofing stage, the loaf need not be covered, but you can always place a light kitchen towel on it if you wish. You can also proof this homemade white bread loaf in the oven, just don't turn it on until the bread is ready to be baked. The closed oven helps keep the air in there warm to help with the dough to rise in size.

Nutrition