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READY IN 3 hr

Perfect White Bread

Read Reviews (30)

"A perfectly simple and perfectly good white bread." — Donna

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Original recipe makes 2 - 9x5 inch loaves Change Servings

2 cups milk, scalded
2 tablespoons white sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon shortening

1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
6 cups bread flour

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Directions

In a small saucepan, heat milk until it bubbles. Remove from heat and add the sugar, salt and shortening. Cool to lukewarm. While milk mixture is cooling, dissolve yeast in warm water and let stand until creamy.
Combine cooled milk mixture with yeast and water in a large mixing bowl. Stir in 2 cups of the flour, then add the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, to make a moderately stiff dough. Knead on a lightly floured surface for 8 to 10 minutes, or until smooth and elastic. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and turn to coat the dough. Cover the bowl with a damp towel and let rise in a warm place until the dough has doubled in volume (about 1 1/4 hours).
Lightly grease two 9x5 inch loaf pans. Punch down the dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Shape into 2 balls, cover and let rest 10 minutes. Shape dough into 2 loaves and place in pans; let rise until doubled (about 1 hour). Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
Bake in the preheated oven for 35 minutes or until the top is golden and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.

Kitchen-Friendly View

PREP 30 mins
COOK 40 mins
READY IN 3 hrs

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Highly recommend this recipe. When making the dough, please do as instructed and let your fingers let you know how much flour to add--when we first made it, we just measured 6 cups of flour--it yielded a very dense loaf that way. However, if you start with the two cups of flour and keep adding until you have that "moderately firm" dough, you will get a perfect loaf of bread that will rise beautifully and taste even better! We make this bread at least once every two weeks when we run out of store-bought bread, and I am thinking of making it weekly--store-bought bread just isn't this good! Thanks for the recipe!

—chabely_k

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Most Helpful Critical Review

Dec 23, 2003

THIS RECIPE IN MY OPINION SHOULD BE COOKED AT A LOWER TEMP. OR FOR LESS TIME AT 400 DEGREES

—JANET-H

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34 Ratings

May 23, 2008

This is essentially the recipe my mom always made when I was small, and the one I've gone back to after trying a half dozen others. Nothing else comes close! The slight tweaks I've made are as follows: I always proof the yeast first in the warm water by adding a generous pinch of sugar and letting it sit for 10 minutes. Seems to get a better result - maybe it wakes the yeast up? Secondly, instead of shortening I use melted and cooled butter. Finally, I mix in five cups of flour to the dough, then mix the final cup in during the kneading process (the dough will start out fairly sticky). Great recipe!

—Luey

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Oct 15, 2004

No exagerration- this is the BEST bread I've ever had in my life. It beats the loaves I had in a San Francisco bakery. It is also easily the best bread I've made. I can't believe it came from my own hands. I have been making bread for 8 years and no mix, nor scratch recipe ever equalled this. It is unbelievable. I gave up my bread machine last year and am thrilled, thrilled with this recipe. Nothing that I have tried has turned out half as good as this. The texture is light, yet moist. Note that I did let it rise quite a bit longer before baking (I went shopping) probably 2 hours. Also, in light of previous review I let the loaves rise in the oven, so I started the oven with them in there at 400 (no pre-heat). I baked it for 40 minutes (again, no pre-heat). Oh, wow, I don't even know what to say. Thank you, Donna. Your recipe is the best!

—BRAINFEVER

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Jan 09, 2008

Simply amazing! I cooked the loafs for 35 minutes at 375 degrees. The recipe doesn't need to be changed at all, perfect the way it is!

—Alli G.

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Mar 24, 2006

Unlike some of the other white bread recipies I have found, this one was fantastic. I found that by cutting the temprature to 375 and time down to 25 mins, the bread came out perfectly. And it was a fun way to spend my afternoon.

—Oleannder

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Feb 25, 2007

Very good, nice light loaves. This was one of the best recipes I've made. I've been baking bread 10 + years now and this is almost the perfect white bread. It is wonderful. My kids and hubby love it so much I'm lucky if I get any. I followed the recipe exactly and only changed the oven temp to 375 and cooked about 5-10 minutes longer. Perfect.

—BILLIEBCC

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Oct 29, 2006

This bread is delicious. Tastes a lot like french bread. I halve the ingredients and use it in my bread maker. I even made it using the timer. To do this, I used dehydrated milk and put the ingredients in order so the dehydrated milk wouldn't touch the water until the mixing began. (Same thing with yeast).

—ThatHippy

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Nutrition

Calories
115 kcal
6%

Carbohydrates
21.6 g
7%

Cholesterol
1 mg
< 1%

Fat
1.2 g
2%

Fiber
0.7 g
3%

Protein
3.9 g
8%

Sodium
162 mg
6%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

Nutritional Information

Perfect White Bread

Serving Size: 1/30 of a recipe
Servings Per Recipe: 30
Amount Per Serving
** Calories: 115
** Calories from Fat: 11

% Daily Value *
** Total Fat 1.2g 2 %
** Saturated Fat 0.4g 2 %
** Cholesterol 1mg < 1 %
** Sodium 162mg 6 %
** Potassium 57mg 2 %
** Total Carbohydrates 21.6g 7 %
** Dietary Fiber 0.7g 3 %
** Protein 3.9g 8 %
** Sugars 1.7g
** Vitamin A < 1 %
** Vitamin C < 1 %
** Calcium 3 %
** Iron 13 %
** Thiamin 23 %
** Niacin 23 %
** Vitamin B6 1 %
** Magnesium 3 %
** Folate 31 %

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
** Nutrient information is not available for all ingredients. Amount is based on available nutrient data.
(-) Information is not currently available for this nutrient. If you are following a medically restrictive diet, please consult your doctor or registered dietitian before preparing this recipe for personal consumption.