Description

Soft and fluffy white bread recipe - made with a simple white bread dough, this easy bread recipe makes two perfect loaves of white bread. The recipe uses simple ingredients and gives a light, soft bread that is perfect for slicing. Follow my step-by-step recipe to make the most amazing loaf of homemade bread.

Ingredients

Bread Dough

One batch of white bread dough, risen and ready to use (see dough post for rising options)

To Finish

Softened butter for greasing the loaf pans
Egg wash - one egg whisked with 1 Tbsp water

Instructions

Start with risen white bread dough. If you have chosen to do a cold first rise, you will need to leave the dough out at room temperature for about 30 minutes to allow it to soften slightly so that it is easier to work with.
Grease two 1 lb loaf pans (8.5 x 4.5" / 22cm x 12.5cm) with softened butter.
Turn out the risen dough onto a lightly floured, clean work surface. Divide it into two even pieces (the dough makes about 850g of dough so divide it into two 425g pieces).
Shape each piece into a ball using a bench scraper and using the counter to create tension. Cover the pieces of bread dough with a clean tea towel and leave to rest for about 10 minutes.
Working with one piece of dough at a time, shape the dough into a loaf shape - turn the dough over so the 'good' side is facing down.
Flatten the dough out using your hands into a rectangle about the width that your tin is long. For a 1lb loaf pan, this is about 20cm x 15cm (8x6"). Fold over a little of the short edges to form a rough square shape (this does not have to be exact). This helps to give you nice clean ends on your bread.
Fold the top third of the dough down, and press with your fingers so that it sticks to the dough underneath - you want to form a gentle seal. Roll the rest of the dough down toward you as tightly as you can. Pull the sausage of bread against the counter to help seal the seam and make sure that the ends are nicely tucked in.
Place the dough into the loaf pan carefully, seam side down. It will not completely touch the ends of the pan.
Repeat the shaping process with the second piece of dough to form a second loaf.
Cover the pans with plastic wrap or a clean tea towel and place in a warm spot until the dough has doubled in size and is nearing the top edge of the pan, about one hour depending on the temperature of your kitchen. To check the rise on the dough, lightly press it with a floured finger - if it is fully risen it will leave an indentation that slowly springs back. If you have started with a cold dough, this step will take 2-3 hours as you need to account for the dough warming up.
While the loaves are rising, preheat the oven to 180°c / 350°f. Arrange a rack in the middle of the oven.
When the loaves are risen, brush the surface of the dough with egg wash.
Bake the white bread loaves for 25 to 30 minutes, until deeply golden brown. If you want to check the internal temperature, a fully baked loaf should register at 190°f / 88°c when probed with a digital thermometer.
Remove the loaves from the oven and place on a cooling rack. Leave to cool in the pans for 10-15 minutes then turn out of the pans and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Slice when cool. Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days. Best eaten fresh on the day it is made, however leftovers are amazing either slightly warmed up, or lightly toasted.

Notes

I prefer to make this white bread recipe in a 1 lb loaf pan which is an 8.5"x4" / 22cmx12cm pan. You can use whatever size you have, but for me this makes a nice sized loaf. If you use a pan that is a slightly different size, then the bread may come out a little shorter - it will still be really good, just a slightly different shape! I did try baking this all in one in a pullman pan and it got HUGE and almost ate my oven rack, so I want to try it in two smaller pullman pans and see how it goes.

A slightly larger loaf pan will work too - the loaf may just bake up slightly shorter. If you only have one loaf pan you can shape the other half of the dough into parker house rolls or rolls of your choice.

How do you store loaves of baked bread?

This bread is best on the day that it is baked for eating fresh and for using for things like sandwiches, but the great thing about my white bread dough is that it makes bread that stays nice and soft for days thanks to the nice soft dough and the milk powder in the recipe.

You can either store leftovers lightly wrapped, or in an airtight container at room temperature. This may not be for everyone but I don't mind a slightly crunchy crust, so I often just store the bread cut side down on my chopping board and that creates enough of a seal that it stays nice and fresh. You can store this bread at room temperature for up to 4 days - it may not be as fresh as when you first made it, but it will still make great toast!

Can Bread be frozen?

Yes! This White bread recipe freezes super well - just wrap it in plastic wrap well and then pop into a ziploc bag and then freeze. It will keep, well wrapped, for up to 3 months - when you are ready to use it, defrost at room temperature. I prefer to use bread that has been previously frozen for toast, or for making garlic bread. You can also pre slice the bread before you freeze it if you want to keep it in the freezer to remove pieces to slice - I like to store slices in a ziploc bag.

What is the best way to refresh old bread?

I prefer to toast old bread to give it a bit more life, however you can also just quickly zap in the microwave to refresh the bread slightly. If you want to refresh a whole loaf, you can pop it in the oven at 350°f / 180°c until it is warmed through - just keep an eye on the crust.