White Bread Recipe (Instant Yeast) - Soft & Buttery - Bread Dad (2024)

This white bread recipe uses instant yeast to easily produce a delicious & buttery homemade bread. Instant yeast is a quicker way to make white bread because instant yeast does not need to be pre-activated. FYI – This recipe is an oven-baked version of our very popular bread machine white bread recipe. Your family will love the taste of this buttery white bread & you will love the ease of this instant yeast bread recipe.

Sliced White Bread Instant Yeast

This white bread recipe is perfect for people who don’t want to spend ages kneading dough by hand. It is also great for bread machine users who want to get rid of the mixing paddle “hole” found at the bottom of breads made with a bread machine. Moreover, this white bread recipe allows bread machine users to create a “normal” looking bread loaf versus the more block shaped loaf created by most bread machines.

For this buttery white bread recipe, you can use either instant yeast or bread machine yeast (which is instant yeast). Our recipe shows you how to easily make this white bread with either a bread machine’s dough setting or an electric stand mixer with dough hook. The dough will then be finished in an oven.

White Bread Straight From The Oven (After Butter “Basting”)

Ingredients – White Bread Recipe Instant Yeast

• 1 1/3 Cups – Milk (lukewarm) – 307 milliliters
• 6 Tablespoons – Unsalted Butter (softened) – 86 grams
• 4 Cups – Bread Flour – 480 grams – Not all purpose flour
• 2 Tablespoons – White Granulated Sugar – 25 grams
• 1 1/2 Teaspoons – Salt – 9 grams
• 1 1/2 Teaspoons – Instant Yeast (or Bread Machine Yeast) – 4.5 grams – Not active dry yeast

Servings – Roughly 18 slices

Equipment Needed – Measuring cup & spoons, flexible spatula, cutting board, 9×5 bread pan, oven mitts, oven, wire cooling rack and a kneading machine to make the dough (either a bread machine or electric stand mixer with dough hook).

Dough Placed Into A Bread Pan To Rise

Ingredients In A Bread Machine (Before Using The Dough Setting)

Instructions

• Creating dough with bread machine
• Or

Instructions – Creating Dough with a Bread Machine

• Your bread machine should be unplugged.
• Remove the bread pan from the bread machine (so when you add the ingredients, they can not accidentally spill into the machine).
• Pour the milk into the bread pan and then add the other ingredients. Place the instant yeast (bread machine yeast) in last and the yeast should not touch the liquid (until the bread machine is turned on and the ingredients start to be mixed together by the bread machine). Some bakers like to make a small indent on top of the flour to prevent the yeast from spilling into the liquids or mixing with the salt before the machine is turned on.
• Put the bread pan with ingredients back into unplugged bread machine.
• Plug in bread machine. Enter the “Dough” setting on your bread machine and then press the “Start” button.
• When the bread machine has finished making the bread dough, unplug the bread machine.
• Remove the bread pan from the bread machine.
• Now go to the instruction section below on “shaping the dough & baking the bread”. FYI – Ignore the instructions for the electric stand mixer below if you are using a bread machine to make your dough. Skip down to the shaping dough & baking the bread section.

Instructions – Creating Dough with an Electric Stand Mixer with Dough Hook

• Your electric mixer should be unplugged.
• Remove the mixing bowl from the electric mixer.
• Insert a dough hook into the electric mixer.
• Pour the milk into the mixing bowl and then add the other ingredients. Place the instant yeast in last and the yeast should not touch the liquid (until the electric mixer is turned on and the ingredients start to be mixed together). Some bakers like to make a small indent on top of the flour to prevent the yeast from spilling into the liquids or mixing with the salt before the machine is turned on.
• Place the mixing bowl back into the electric stand mixer.
• Plug in the electric mixer and use a low speed (i.e. setting 2) to mix the dough. Mix the dough for 7-10 minutes.
• Turn off the electric mixer and unplug machine.
• Remove the mixing bowl from the electric mixer. Pour the dough into a second large mixing bowl that has been lightly “greased” with olive oil, melted butter, cooking spray, etc.
• Optional – Lightly coat the top of dough with vegetable oil in order to prevent dough exterior from drying out.
• Loosely cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rise for 60-90 minutes until it doubles in size.
• After the dough has risen, go to the instruction section below on “shaping the dough & baking the bread”.

Instructions – Shaping the Dough & Baking the Bread

• Sprinkle a little bit of flour onto a large cutting board.
• Remove the dough from the bread pan or mixing bowl and place the dough on the cutting board.
• Press down on the dough with your hands and create a “flattish” rectangle with the dough. The dough should be roughly 1 inch high.
• Roll up the dough into a tight “jelly roll”. FYI – Please see the short instructional videos in the tips section below on how to shape the dough if you haven’t shaped bread dough before. It is easier to watch & learn from these short videos versus trying to explain the rolling technique step by step.
• Place the rolled up dough into the bread pan.
• Press down on top of the dough so the edges of the dough press out towards the sides of the bread pan. This should result in little or no gaps between the dough and the bread pan. This helps the bread to turn into a nice loaf shape without any misshapen edges. Make sure that the top of the pressed down dough is roughly level (so one side isn’t much higher than the other).
• Lightly coat the top of dough with vegetable oil in order to prevent dough exterior from drying out.
• Loosely cover the top of the bread pan with plastic wrap. Set the covered bread pan aside for 60-90 minutes for the dough to rise into a loaf shape. Once the dough has risen 1 – 1.5 inches (2.5 – 3.8 cm) above the rim of the bread pan, the dough should be ready to be placed in the oven. FYI – You want the dough to fully rise during this stage. So don’t try to shorten this rising time. If the dough is still significantly rising while in the oven, you are more likely to see crust/seam cracks or “bursts” in the oven. In addition, the speed of the dough rise will vary in part based on the temperature of your kitchen (i.e. rise faster in the summer & slower in the winter).
• Preheat the oven to 350 F about 20 minutes before you plan to put the dough in the oven. FYI – I like to set my timer to go off 40 minutes after I place the dough in the bread pan. Given variability in the dough rising time, this can be a little early sometimes (but better to be a little early versus being late!).
• Place the bread pan in the (preheated) oven to bake at 350 F for 37-42 minutes. Wear oven mitts when dealing with a hot oven. Place the bread pan in the middle of the oven.
• Rotate the bread pan in the oven after 15-20 minutes (in order to ensure an even browning of the bread).
• After the 37-42 minute baking period has finished, remove the bread pan from the oven. Wear oven mitts.
• Remove the bread from bread pan and place the bread on a wire cooling rack. Wear oven mitts.
• Optional (but recommended!) – Brush melted butter on top of the bread with a pastry brush. This “basting” helps to create a more golden, buttery & tasty crust.
• Allow the bread to cool down on the wire cooling rack for 1-2 hours before cutting the bread.
• Please read the tips section below for extra information on how to make this recipe successfully.

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Tips – White Bread Recipe Instant Yeast

• The tips below are designed to help baking & bread making “novices”. They will enable you to make better oven-baked breads. FYI – Intermediate and advanced bread makers probably know most of these bread making tips.
• Click on our “print recipe” link if you want to print out this recipe. It includes all of the recipe’s ingredients and instructions. However, the recipe print function does not include our tips section. Please read the tips section in order to avoid common recipe problems.
• This recipe is part of Bread Dad’s series on Easy Bread Recipes such as soft whole wheat bread, French bread and Italian bread.

• This buttery white bread recipe is the “oven version” of our very popular buttery bread machine white bread recipe. For the instant yeast bread recipe on this page, you will create the dough in your bread machine (or electric mixer) and bake the bread IN THE OVEN (thus no bread machine mixing paddle hole in the bottom of the bread). In contrast, our bread machine white bread recipe makes the dough in the bread machine and bakes the bread IN THE BREAD MACHINE.
• Optional – If this buttery white bread is too bland for your family, you can “spice” it up by adding 1 teaspoon of your favorite herbs (i.e. dried rosemary, onion powder or Italian seasoning).
• This recipe creates an oven-baked white bread that is very buttery. However, if you want to create an extra soft oven-baked white bread, you should try our Soft White Bread Recipe. It uses sour cream to tenderize the gluten.
• Or check out our Honey White Bread which uses natural honey as a sweetener (instead of processed sugar).

• This white bread recipe uses instant yeast or bread machine yeast. It does NOT use active dry yeast.
• Active dry yeast is different from instant yeast & bread machine yeast. Instant yeast & bread machine yeast are added directly to the recipe’s ingredients and does not need to be pre-activated. In contrast, active dry yeast must be pre-activated in water/milk before being added to a recipe’s ingredients. Many bakers find it quicker to use instant yeast because you just add it to the dry ingredients. With active dry yeast, you need to spend roughly 10 minutes “proofing” (activating) the yeast with a liquid & sugar.
• I decided to make this buttery white bread recipe without active dry yeast because many bread machine users & novice bakers only have bread machine yeast or instant yeast at home. Moreover, there are plenty of good recipes for white bread with active dry yeast but not so many white bread instant yeast recipes.
• This white bread instant yeast recipe was also designed to help bread machine users if they wanted to finish a bread in their oven (versus in their bread machine). For example, this recipe allows bread machine users to create a white bread without the standard bread machine mixing paddle “hole” in the bottom of the bread. It also allows bread machine users to create a “normal” shaped bread loaf (i.e. 9 x 5) versus the usual bread machine shaped bread “block”.

• If you are having problems shaping your dough, you should watch the “how to” instructional videos below. These are links to bread dough shaping videos on Youtube.
• King Arthur Baking
• San Diego Artisan Bread School
• Father Dominic – a slightly different method versus the videos above
• Don’t worry if you are a beginner and the bread top comes out a little lopsided. The bread will still taste great. It takes a little while for new bakers to learn how to shape a bread consistently.

• You can use all-purpose flour to make white bread. However, I would strongly recommend that you use bread flour when making homemade white bread. Bread flour has more gluten than all purpose flour and this means that bread flour has a greater ability to capture the carbon dioxide put out by the yeast. In turn, this means that white bread made with bread flour is airier & fluffier than bread made with all purpose flour.
• Do not use cold milk because that will inhibit the growth of the yeast. If you use cold milk, your bread may have trouble rising properly. The milk should be lukewarm in temperature. Of course, you should not make the milk too hot because the bread yeast can be killed by high temperatures.
• Use FRESH ingredients (i.e. flour) for the best results. Ingredients that have been sitting in the pantry for months can become stale or pick up weird smells & flavors.
• Try to keep your ingredients (i.e. flour) in airtight food containers in order to extend their shelf life. This reduces potential exposure to pests, dust, etc.
• Airtight containers also help to prevent ingredients (i.e. flour and sugar) from absorbing moisture from the air. This extra moisture can throw off recipes (as it can disrupt the liquid-to-dry ingredient ratio in the recipe) and shorten an ingredient’s shelf life.

• This white bread recipe (instant yeast) is based on using either a bread machine or electric stand mixer with dough hook in order to make the dough. A bread machine is great for single loaves (or if you don’t have room for a large mixer). In contrast, a large electric stand mixer with dough hook is probably better if you want to create larger amounts of dough (i.e. dough to make 2+ bread loaves at the same time). The capacity for most bread machines is generally smaller than the capacity of the mixing bowl included with a large electric stand mixer.
• Kneading dough by hand for 10-15 minutes is too much work for me!!! I prefer the bread machine or electric mixer to do the hard stuff. Also hand kneading can be occasionally thrown off recipes as people often use extra flour to prevent the dough from sticking to their hands & kneading surface (i.e. cutting board). This extra flour can hurt the final results of the bread making (as it throws off the liquid-to-dry ingredients ratio of the recipe).

• The second rising of the dough (where the dough sits in the bread pan for 60+ minutes) helps to reduce the potential of the bread top to crack. If you do not let the dough rise a second time, the top of your bread is more likely to burst or split in the oven (because the interior dough will continue rise while the exterior crust is hardening due to the oven heat). Don’t cheat and skip this second rising due to the lack of time… cough, cough… I have tried this before to my regret (as I was late to one of my son’s sporting events)!
• FYI – The dough setting on bread machines lasts for roughly 1:30-1:50 hours. For example, on my Sunbeam 5891, the dough setting lasts for 1:30 (one hours & 30 minutes). However, on the Zojirushi Breadmaker BB-PAC20, the “regular dough” setting lasts for 1:50. Check your bread machine manual to see how long the dough setting lasts on your particular bread machine model.

• How do you know when the dough has risen enough in the second rise (when the dough is in the bread pan)? After letting the dough rise for 60-90 minutes (and when it is roughly 1-1.1.5 inches above the 9×5 bread pan), you can try the “poke test“. Poke your finger into the dough (going in about an inch). If the poke hole rebounds immediately, you need to allow more time for the dough to rise further (it is “under proofed”). If the hole doesn’t come back at all, the dough has risen too much (it is “over proofed”). If the hole slowly fills over 2-3 seconds, the dough is at the right stage of proofing.
• Unfortunately, the temperature of your kitchen can make the timing for this perfect poke result hard to predict (because there is a faster dough rise in hot kitchens and a slower rise in cold kitchens). Experience with “proofing” will make this easier (but it can be a problem for beginning bakers).

• If the dough is “under proofed” (hasn’t risen enough) when you place it in the oven, the bread is more likely to burst/crack when baked in the oven (as the still rising dough will push against the hardening crust and “burst” at the seams of the crust). Bakers try to get around this issue via testing for the right “proofing” level (i.e. use the poke test), “scoring” breads (slicing the top of the dough so the cracks occur where you want them), adding moisture inside the oven (so the dough doesn’t harden as quickly), using a dutch oven (in order to trap the dough moisture inside the dutch oven container & not spread out into the oven), etc.
• Don’t overproof the dough (let it rise too long). This occasionally happens when someone forgets about the rising dough and comes back hours later to check. Overproofed dough leads to deflated dough as well as flat and/or sunken bread tops. According to Wikipedia, “Overproofing occurs when a fermenting dough has rested too long. Its bubbles have grown so large that they have popped and tunneled, and dough baked at this point would result in a bread with poor structure.”
• If your dough is “over proofed”, you might like to read the King Arthur Baking article “How to save over-proofed dough” as it gives tips on how to save the dough.
• For more information on dough proofing, please read this MasterClass article “Baking 101: What Is Proofing?“.

• This white bread recipe calls for the use of a 9 x 5 inch bread pan. You can also use a 8.5 x 4.5 inch bread pan but the “crown” of the bread might come out too tall (or overflow) if your yeast is very active.
• The flattening & shaping of the dough and the press down of the dough in the bread pan is the “punch down” phase.
• If you don’t do this punch down phase, your bread will have large air pockets (trapped bubbles produced by the yeast). Large air pockets are fine for ciabatta-type breads but not ideal for sandwich bread.

• Use an oven thermometer as your expected oven temperature may be different than reality. Some ovens can be 25-50+ degrees F hotter or colder than the number you set with your oven dial. An oven thermometer (which usually costs less than $10) is an easy way to measure the actual temperature inside your oven.
• A hanging oven thermometer is also a great way to tell if your oven has been fully preheated. If your oven is not fully preheated, your bread could come out underbaked.
• Use a digital bread thermometer to test if your bread is completely done. The interior temperature of the bread should be 190-200 degrees F. This inexpensive tool can save you from underbaked breads.
• You should let your bread cool down for 1-2 hours on the wire cooling rack before you cut any slices (or the slices will be “gummy” and not taste as good as expected). Excess interior moisture is released (via steam) during the cooldown period.

• Cooler home temperatures in the winter can cause rising problems for bread dough. Ideally, your room temperature should be around 75-80 degrees F. Colder winter room temperatures can significantly delay the rise of the dough. You will need to raise the temperature of your kitchen (if you like a cold house in the winter) or find a warm spot for the dough to rise. I often put my dough (covered of course) next to a heating vent in the winter to make sure it is getting enough heat.
• Conversely, dough can rise faster than expected in a very hot kitchen.
• Kitchen humidity can also impact a recipe. A winter kitchen tends to be drier due to your heating system drying out the air. In contrast, a kitchen in the summer can be much more humid. This change in humidity impacts baking as flour can soak up humidity from the air. Therefore, you might have to add 1-2 teaspoons of liquid in the winter if the dough is looking too dry. Or you might have to add 1-2 teaspoons of flour in the summer if the dough is looking too wet. If your kitchen is very dry or humid, you might have to add even a little more (but start with 1 teaspoon at a time until you achieve the right consistency).
• Of course, excessive kitchen humidity or dryness can impact a recipe at any time during the year (not just in the summer & winter)!
• Other factors that can impact the rise of the dough include old or expired yeast, contaminated yeast (i.e. the yeast was left in an open jar & air moisture contaminated it), water that is too cold or too hot, using heavily chlorinated tap water, placing salt next to or on top of the yeast (salt can kill yeast or inhibit its growth), not covering the dough during the rising period (as the exterior of the dough can dry out & limit the ability to rise), etc.

• If you have not made bread in a long time, please buy some NEW bread machine yeast or instant yeast before making your bread. Old yeast can die or lose its potency and this will lead to bread that does not rise properly. Yeast is not likely to be viable if it has been sitting in your pantry for years.
• Once you have opened the yeast container, the yeast will last longer if you store the bottle in the refrigerator or freezer. Just make sure the bottle is sealed tight (as yeast will deteriorate quickly if exposed to air, moisture and/or heat).
• Examples of instant yeast that can be used for this bread recipe include Fleischmann’s Bread Machine Yeast, Fleischmann’s Instant Yeast, Saf Instant Yeast, Red Star Instant Yeast, etc. This recipe is not designed for active dry yeasts such as Fleischmann’s Active Dry Yeast, Red Star Active Dry Yeast, etc.
• Like making dough in your bread machine and finishing it in the oven? Then you might also be interested in our Buttermilk Bread, Cranberry Walnut Bread, Flaxseed Bread, Greek Yogurt Bread, Multigrain Bread, Oatmeal Sandwich Bread or Soft Whole Wheat Bread recipes. Similar to this white bread recipe, these oven-baked recipes help you to create delicious homemade breads… where you make the dough in your bread machine (or electric mixer) and finish it in your oven.

• My recipes are based on US ingredient measurements (i.e. US cups & tablespoons). However, as a courtesy to our European visitors, I have also included some very ROUGH European equivalents (i.e. grams & milliliters). Since I rarely use European measurements when baking, please let me know in the comment section below if any of the European ingredient measurements need to be changed (i.e. for XYZ ingredient, milliliters are more commonly used versus the grams information listed in the recipe).
• Be safe! Always wear oven mitts/gloves when dealing with an oven, bread machine, hot bread pan, etc.
• For many more easy bread recipes, please explore Bread Dad’s Homemade Bread Recipes or Bread Machine Recipes sections.

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• Bread Machine Cookbooks
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• Ingredients – Bread machine yeast, multigrain, flour, etc.

Questions – White Bread Recipe Instant Yeast

How do I shape the dough in order to make a white bread loaf?

It is very easy to shape the white dough in order to fit it into a 9 x 5 bread pan before baking your white bread in the oven. Moreover, it should take you only a couple of minutes to shape the proper dough “jelly roll” needed to create a nice bread loaf. Please watch this Youtube video by King Arthur Baking because it is a very good (& short) instructional video. It is focused on how to shape the dough in order to make a “sandwich” loaf in a bread pan.

What extra ingredients can you add to white bread?

You can add lots of different ingredients in order to change the flavor of your white bread. You can use butter instead of vegetable oil in order to add a more buttery flavor. You can add spices such as Italian seasoning and dried rosemary. You can add dried fruit such as dried cranberries in order to add sweetness & some fruit flavor. You can use buttermilk or whole milk instead of water. All you need to be is creative with your white bread and you can add lots of delicious new flavors.

Can I make white bread with all purpose flour?

Yes, you can make homemade white bread with all purpose flour. It will be a decent bread but it will not be as nice as a white bread made with bread flour. All purpose flour has less gluten than bread flour. Therefore, a white bread made with all purpose flour will be denser & less airy than a white bread made with bread flour. More gluten enables bread flour to trap more of the CO2 “bubbles” put out by the bread yeast. More trapped bubbles help to create softer & airer breads.

Can you make this white bread without dairy products?

If your family can’t eat dairy products, you can easily replace the dairy ingredients in this white bread recipe with non-dairy substitutes. You can replace the milk with water, soy milk, almond milk, etc. You also can replace the butter with vegan butter or vegetable oil (i.e. canola oil or corn oil).

How do I add flavor to white bread?

If you want to add a little extra favor to white bread, you can add a small amount of spices such as Italian seasoning, dried rosemary, dried pepper flakes, black pepper, etc.

What flour is best for making white bread?

Bread flour is the best flour to use when making white bread. It has more gluten than all purpose flour and more gluten results in an airier & softer bread. The extra gluten in bread flour helps to trap more of the CO2 put out by the yeast. Moreover, white breads made with all purpose flour tend to be a little denser (less air pockets) than white breads made with bread flour.

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Reference Sources

• Wikipedia, Baker’s Yeast
• Wikipedia, Bread
• Wikipedia, Dough
• Wikipedia, White Bread

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• Bread Machine – French Bread
• Bread Machine – White Bread
• Buttermilk Bread – Oven baked
• Frying Pan Bread – Skillet flatbread
• Oatmeal Sandwich Bread – Oven baked

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