Easy Homemade Bread Recipe

This is my go-to easy homemade bread recipe that always turns out great, uses simple pantry ingredients and makes my house smell amazing. The bread is so fluffy, delicious and is perfect for sandwiches.

An easy homemade bread recipe.

An easy homemade bread recipe is the perfect place to start if you want to start making bread from scratch. There’s something so satisfying with making your own bread – it is absolutely amazing. I’ve been making bread since I was a teenager, and this is the recipe I’ve always used. I love experimenting with all kinds of recipes for bread, but when I’m in the mood for simplicity, this is the one I go for.

With just a handful of ingredients and a little time, your house will smell incredible and you’ll be taking out a golden domed loaf of bread out of your oven.

If you want to bring your whole family together, bake a loaf of bread and you’ll have everyone crowding around the kitchen. Whenever I bake a loaf of bread, everyone wants a warm slice with butter and jam. You also can’t go wrong with serving bread with homemade soup. In my eyes, there is nothing more perfect.

Ingredients:

  • warm water (110-115 degrees)
  • dry yeast (active dry yeast or instant yeast) *see note below
  • sugar – I’ve often use honey instead of sugar
  • oil (olive oil, sunflower oil, avocado oil, vegetable oil, etc.)
  • flour – bread flour is best, but all purpose flour will work too
  • salt
  • butter – optional, to brush on top of baked bread

Active Dry Yeast vs. Instant Yeast

They are very similar and can be used interchangeably in recipes. However, active dry yeast needs to be dissolved in warm water first, before using it in a recipe. Instant yeast can be added in dry.

If you’re not sure which yeast you have, just add it to warm water first to be safe. The water should be about 90-110 degrees Fahrenheit. If the water is too hot, it will kill the yeast and your dough won’t rise.

Ingredients For Homemade Bread

How To Make Homemade Bread

  1. Dissolve the yeast in the warm water with half of the sugar. (If you’re not sure if your yeast is good, set it aside for about 5 minutes, it should foam up.)
  2. Mix the liquid ingredients. Pour the water with yeast into a large bowl of a stand mixer. Add the rest of the sugar and the oil.
  3. Add the dry ingredients. Then, add half the flour, mixing to combine, starting on low speed. Add the rest of the flour and salt and keep mixing, until all the flour is incorporated.
  4. Knead the dough for at least 5 minutes, up to 10 minutes, if you’re doing it by hand.
  5. Set the dough aside to rise until doubled in size, anywhere from 30 minutes to 1 hour, depending on the temperature in your home.
  6. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
  7. Shape the dough. When the dough has doubled, place the dough on the counter and shape it into a rectangle. It should be roughly the width of your bread pan. Roll it up tightly, starting with the short side until you have a neat loaf. Place it seam side down into your bread pan. (Mine is about 9 X 5 inches)
  8. Set aside to rise until doubled again. The dough should rise slightly over the edges of the bread pan.
  9. Bake in the preheated oven for 23-25 minutes.
How to make homemade bread step by step tutorial.

Helpful Tips and Frequently Asked Questions:

Is my yeast still active? How can I make sure my yeast is active?

It’s such a bummer if you make the bread dough and then wait and wait and it doesn’t rise.
To check if your yeast is still active, sprinkle the yeast into some warm water (100-110 degrees Fahrenheit) with a little bit of sugar. Set it aside for 5-10 minutes. It should rise and foam up. It’s ready to use! If your yeast doesn’t do that, it’s time to get new yeast.
P.S. Store your yeast in the refrigerator or even your freezer so it stays fresh longer.

How to prevent dough from getting dry and crusty while rising?

Cover the bowl and the bread pan with plastic wrap. You can also brush the top of the dough with oil for extra insurance.

How to store bread?

Homemade bread doesn’t have any preservatives in it like store bought bread, so it will not stay fresh as long. (This is never a problem in our family – it’s so delicious, it gets eaten much faster!)
Store the bread in a paper bag or wrapped in a clean kitchen towel if you don’t want it to get softer. It will last at room temperature for a few days.
If you want to keep it fresh longer than 3-4 days, store it in the refrigerator for 7-9 days.

Can you freeze bread?

Yes! Bread freezes really well. Make an extra loaf and freeze it, or, cut half a loaf in half if you have a smaller family. Make sure the bread is wrapped tightly, preferably in multiple layer. Freeze for 1-3 months.
Thaw at room temperature. (Remove the bread from the bag/container, wrap it in a towel while thawing, so it absorbs any condensation.)

More Delicious Bread Recipes You Will Love

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A Simple Recipe For Homemade Bread

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5 from 9 reviews

An easy homemade bread recipe that always turns out great, uses simple pantry ingredients and makes your house smell amazing. The bread is so fluffy, delicious and is perfect for sandwiches.

  • Author: Olga’s Flavor Factory
  • Prep Time: 1 hour 20 mins
  • Cook Time: 25 mins
  • Total Time: 1 hour 45 minutes
  • Yield: 1 loaf of bread 1x
  • Category: Miscellaneous

Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 cup warm water, (110–115 degrees F)
  • 2 1/4 teaspoon dry yeast
  • 2 Tablespoons sugar (or honey)
  • 2 Tablespoons oil (olive oil, avocado, vegetable, etc.) (plus more oil for brushing the bowl)
  • 3 – 3 1/4 cups flour (unbleached all purpose flour or bread flour)
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • butter, optional, for brushing on top of bread

Instructions

  1. Warm up the water until it’s a nice, bath water temperature. Sprinkle in the yeast and half the sugar. Mix it until the yeast and sugar dissolve. The yeast should get foamy within a few minutes.
  2. Pour all the liquid ingredients (water, yeast, sugar and oil) into a large bowl of a stand mixer and mix to combine.
  3. Add half the flour to the bowl and start on low speed and mix the dough with a dough hook attachment, until the it comes together. Ad the remaining flour and salt, gradually increasing the speed and knead the dough for 5-10 minutes.
  4. Brush the bowl and coat the dough in a little bit of oil, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside to rise until it doubles in size 30-90 min.
  5. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
  6. When the dough has doubled, place the dough on the counter and shape it into a rectangle. It should be about the width of your bread pan. (I use a 9 X 5 inch bread pan.)
  7. Roll it up tightly, starting with the short side and then place it seam side down into a greased loaf pan.
  8. Brush the top of the bread with oil. Cover loosely with plastic wrap or a towel and set aside until the dough doubles once again, 30 minutes to an hour.
  9. Bake in the preheated oven for 23-27 minutes.
  10. Take the bread out of the bread pan within 5 minutes and let it cool on a rack. Brush the top of the bread with butter to make it more glossy and to make the crust softer.
  11. Store the bread, wrapped or in a bag, at room temperature, for 3-4 days. Store in the refrigerator if you need it to last 5-9 days. Bread can also be frozen for 1-3 months.

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101 Comments

  • Valentin II

    This bread recipe is totally magnificent!! The flavor and texture are ideal:) especially when fresh out of the oven with a little butter:) mmm mmm good!!

  • lana

    Beautiful bread. Nothing like homemade bread. Will have to try your recipe. What is the reason for rolling up the dough?

  • moms dish

    I want to try a new bread recipe. What is the difference would you say is between this recipe and American Sandwich bread? Does this one taste more Russian?

    • olgak7

      I wouldn’t say one or the other tastes more “Russian”. The American Sandwich bread uses milk and butter instead of water and oil, so it has a similar texture to a sweet yeast bread, if you know what I mean, except it’s not sweet. It’s hard to explain.

  • Natasha

    Made this bread today and it came out great! So delicious! My 2 1/2 and 18 months old boys couldn’t stop eating it. There is still few little pieces left for my husband when he comes back from work 🙂 Thank you so much for all of your amazing recipes. You are the best!

    • olgak7

      Nope, not this bread. I have another recipe that I make with whole wheat flour. It’s a multigrain bread, and I love it too. You can try this bread with whole wheat flour, just substitute part of the all purpose flour for whole wheat, not the full amount, or the bread will be too dense and hard.

  • Natasha

    Hi Olga!!

    This bread is absolutely wonderful!! I’ve been trying to find a recipe for bread that is similar to the kind my aunt makes and I must say, this one might be better (shhhh 🙂 )… It’s like perfectly fluffy but not too fluffy and soft and yummy! With everything! Honey, jam, butter, for sandwiches!!! WOW!!!! OK, you probably got the point– it’s sooooo goooood!!! My husband said, “I don’t think we’ll ever be buying bread anymore. This one is delicious!”

    Thank you soooo much!!!!

  • Tanya

    Bread is… AAAAMMAAAAZIIING!!! The most PERFECT bread!! Doubt I’ll be buying bread again! Paired with your soup with meatballs… Match made in heaven 🙂

    • olgak7

      Thanks for taking the time to let me know you enjoyed the bread, Tanya. I think there is nothing more perfect than soup and homemade bread. Glad you liked it.

  • Mariya Gavralova

    What kind of flour do you use? I never made home made bread before for all of your other recipes I used Canadian flour. We also bought “bread flour” but I never used it. Which one would you recommend? Thank you

    • olgak7

      Mariya,
      I’ve never used Canadian flour, so I’m not sure what it’s all about. I recommend unbleached all purpose flour. That’s the one I use for all my baking. Bread flour will work great for this recipe too.

      • Oksana

        I use Canadian flour, basically its just flour made in Canada. My mom and some other people I know always prefer this flour when baking. One thing though, when using this flour you need to decrease how much you use. Like for this bread recipe, I needed only slightly less than 3 full cups of flour, otherwise the dough gets too tough. I haven’t bought other type of flour in a long time. This flour is usually sold at Winco and Cash & Carry.

        • olgak7

          I’ve never seen Canadian flour sold here and we don’t have any of those stores in our area. As a blogger, I like to use ingredients that are accessible to most people. That’s not always possible, but I do my best. I’m glad it worked out for you.

  • Oksana

    I just made this bread yesterday night. It is not hard at all and tastes really, really, really good (get the point?). My husband also liked it alot. I am wondering though, when the dough is stretched into the rectangle, before rolling it up, if it would be ok to sprinkle cinnamon and sugar, so that it bakes into the bread. Safeway has this french toast bread, where you can see the cinnamon swirls on each slice. Do you think that will work with this bread? I might have to try it myself next time (very soon) when I bake this again.

    • Oksana

      Ok, so I did it. Today I made the bread again, and this time I put in the cinnamon and sugar on it before I rolled it. Oh, and I added extra tablespoon of sugar to the recipe because my intention was to make it taste kind of like safeway french toast bread. It was the right idea, the bread turned out beautifully. My son especially liked this new version with the cinnamon. One thing though, I didn’t roll it too tightly, so there is a swirly gap in the bread when cutting it. But besides that, put a little honey on it, and you’ve got your dessert. Thanks Olga for posting your recipe, this is definately a keeper.

      p.s. you should put a disclaimer on your site: If anyone who cooks often from this website can’t fit into any of their regular clothing again, Olga’s not to blame, and will not be paying your new wardrobe. 😉

      • olgak7

        That’s great to know, Oksana. I’m glad your cinnamon bread turned out so well. I would have used a bread dough that is based on milk and butter instead of water, though.
        That disclaimer is a good idea, thanks! You made me smile!

    • olgak7

      That’s awesome, Oksana. I’m glad my humble bread recipe is enjoyed by others. Homemade bread is so wonderful!
      I see you already tried making it with cinnamon with great success. Good job!

  • Oksana

    Ok, so I have to write another comment again. Since my first post, I’ve made this bread like 6 times now and will be making another one before the week is out (can’t make a double batch because I only have one bread pan). The house smells like a bakery several times a week.
    To anyone who was like me before, the idea of homemade bread seems impossible, or that you have to have a bread machine to make good bread, don’t give up. Seriously, every time I made this bread, turns out the same awesomeness(is that a real word?). Wow your friends and family.
    Olga, I can’t thank you enough, my husband and kids equally love this bread. Is there an easy recipe for whole wheat bread too? My husband wants to expand my cooking skills, lol.

    • olgak7

      Wow. Good for you, Oksana. I’m glad to hear that you and your family are enjoying some homemade bread. You’ve inspired me to bake some bread tomorrow. Thank you so much for the kind words, Oksana!

      I’ll try to post some of my favorite whole wheat bread recipes sometime in the future.
      Do you like Russian Black Bread? It’s one of my favorites and I have the recipe here on the blog.

      • Oksana

        Just looked up that recipe, and I made a list of ingredients to buy. So maybe I’ll tackle this recipe next week and surprise my husband. Thanks so much.

  • Oksana

    Hey Olga, I would like to double this bread recipe in the future. Do you know if this bread will come out perfect if I double all of the ingredients?

    • olgak7

      Yes, the bread will be just fine. Just bake in in 2 bread pans. I mentioned in the post that I used to bake 5 loaves of bread at once when I still lived with my parents.

    • olgak7

      Yep. You can freeze it. However, I don’t advise storing any kind of bread in the refrigerator. The bread will dry out and stale much more quickly in the refrigerator. I usually store bread at room temperature, with in a bag or wrapped in a clean kitchen towel.

  • Oksana

    So I went ahead and made both of your breads (Simple Homemade and American). My husband liked the bread with water and oil and I liked the bread with milk and butter. 🙂 Thanks for the recipe 🙂

  • Maryana

    So delicious! So simple! Thank you Olga! May God bless you, your site, parenthood, everything! You’re wonderful!

    • olgak7

      Thanks, Maryana.
      I just made some today and most of the loaf is gone already. We had half of it with Chicken Noodle Soup and the other half with butter and jam. Yum.

  • Marina Degler

    Hi Olga ,
    You are great in the kitchen ! You love to cook and it shows:)
    I love this bread. It is Rustic Italian,
    I made it many times and agree it is absolute delish. I do wander why it is need to be rolled?
    Can it be just be put in the form?
    I do like the idea of the sandwich slice, and before I just made a round loaf.

  • Olga G.

    I baked this bread last night and made a sandwich for my husband with it. He called to tell me how good it was. I didn’t put anything new or different than what I usually do. Secret ingredient is the yummy bread! Such a keeper for anyone who wants a great sandwich bread! Thanks Olga. 🙂

  • Julia

    Hello Olga,
    My name is Julia, I made this bread about 1/2 year ago. How can it be, 1 cup of water for 3 cups of flour? The mixture turned out very very dry and I had to add an extra 1/2-1 cup of water. The bread turned out delicious but 1 cup of water is too little. Am I missing something? Or did I misread the recipe?
    Thanks 🙂

    • olgak7

      Hi Julia!
      Nope, you didn’t miss anything. The ingredient measurements are all correct. This is the recipe I use all the time and it always turns out great:). You can try adding 1/2 cup less flour, if you’d like.

  • maria

    I was thinking to make this bread recipe in a bread machine. Is there another specific way for the bread machine version?

    • olgak7

      I usually only make the dough in the bread machine, in which case just put all the ingredients in the bread machine and let it do the work. Then bake as instructed. If you actually want to bake it in the bread machine, I can’t help you there. Follow your manufacturer’s instructions, Maria.

  • Marysya

    Hi Olga! I love this bread. Ive made it in the past no problem. I made a double batch the other day and the dough, once kneaded, became like rubber. 🙁 I don’t know what I did differently. I thought maybe the yeast is expired but it foamed in the water so I thought it’s ok. I would appreciate your insight if you know what could cause this? I’m not sure what I did wrong. Thanks so much again!

    • olgak7

      Hi Marysya,
      I’m sorry it didn’t work out for you. It’s very hard for me to say what could be the issue, since I wasn’t with you while you were making it, and you yourself say that you’re not sure what you did wrong. Sorry. Did you let it rise enough?

      • Marysya

        Hello! I called my mom to see if we could troubleshoot and save the dough. She says I most likely used water that was too hot and scorched the yeast so to speak. I activated some more yeast in lukewarm water and let it rise an extra time and got excellent results. When I thought back to it, I had always used warm water but here mixed a cup of boiling with a cup of cold (since I doubled the recipe) and it was probably too hot. Hopefully that can help someone if they run into the same problem. Thanks for your reply!

  • tania

    Hi Olga. I’m planning to make this bread tomorrow. Wondering where you bought your bread pan. Don’t want to drive around town looking for one. Thanks:)

  • Anna

    This bread recipe is amazing!!!! Thank you for sharing it. I’ve never worked with yest and I started with this bread recipe and it didn’t fail me:)

  • Marina

    I do not have a standing mixer. Can i knead the dough by hand? If so, how long should i knead it? I also have a small food processor. Would that work?

    • olgak7

      You can definitely knead it by hand, Marina. I don’t think it would work in a small food processor. Bread dough is really dense and you need a large food processor for such heavy work. I would say to knead it for at least 10 minutes if you do it by hand.

  • Alyona

    Hi Olga , I had a few questions i have a lot of whey from the farmers cheese I made from your blog( thank you, for that recipe it turned out fast, and great! ) can I replace whey for the water in this recipe? Should I heat it a little? Also can I make this bread in a bread machine? After I let the yeast stand for 5min?
    Thank you!

    • olgak7

      Absolutely! I always do that any time I make farmer’s cheese. Yes, you should heat up the whey so that it’s between 105-110 degrees Fahrenheit. (If you don’t have a thermometer, it should be like a very warm bath.) And yes, you can make the bread in a bread machine.

  • Tzivia

    Hey there Olga darling love this bread recipe omg you’re right this is so mad easy and really way simple made this today and half of it is like already gone this one is a keeper am definitely making it again girl thanx so much for sharing can’t wait to make this again whoop whoop

  • ella

    Hi Olga,

    I was wondering if you could do a recipe for costco styled country french bread. We LOVE it but I would love a homemade version.

  • Dvt

    Can you put the dove in the instant pot on yogurt setting for 20 min so it will rise faster? I made breadsticks and the recipe had the dove put in the instant pot for 20 min and it doubled in size

  • Joan D.

    I do not have a mixer, just a portable hand mixer…..can I make it the “old fashioned” way like my grandmother used to do?

  • Regina

    Second batch done today. I used half whole wheat flour this time and it didn’t rise as much, but still tastes wonderful . ❤️ The first time I followed the recipe exactly and it had a beautiful 2nd rise….then half of it fell when baking ☹️ I have never had any luck with yeast bread but these two were the best tasting by far. Thank you for all the wonderful recipes.



  • Regina

    I thought I left a comment days ago but apparently I didn’t! Made it exactly per directions (used scale for flour both times) for the first batch – wonderful 1st and 2nd rise and then half of it fell in the oven during baking. It was delicious but looked ugly…lol Second batch yesterday and I subbed 1/2 of the flour for whole wheat and added 1/2 tbsp baking powder to (hopefully) even out the added weight of the more dense wheat flour. It didn’t rise as much either time but it was over the rim of the bread pan, and again it fell during baking, this time completely. My yeast was new and I proofed it before adding other ingredients for both batches. Both loaves tasted wonderful, but I have never had much luck with yeast breads as a whole anyway.. Any tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated and THANK YOU for all the wonderful recipes and ideas.



    • olgak7

      Hi Regina! Sometimes when the bread collapses in the oven, it can be because the bread was overproofed before being placed in the oven, which makes it not as strong and it falls when it’s baking. I also don’t recommend using baking powder in addition to yeast when making bread. Whole wheat flour naturally won’t rise as much as all purpose or bread flour will. If you want to use whole wheat flour, just use the same amount of yeast, you don’t need to add any baking powder. If you want it to rise more, use more bread flour than whole wheat flour. It will taste good, just won’t be as tall and fluffy as when you use all bread flour. I hope that helps!

  • Donna Couture

    Hi Olga! I want to try this recipe but I do not have a stand mixer. Would I be to use a hand beater and then finish off mixing by hand?

    Donna C.

    • olgak7

      Hi Donna,
      Yes, you can definitely mix it by hand. Just knead it longer and it will work great. I don’t recommend using a hand beater, because it isn’t strong enough for bread dough.

  • Victoria

    Why does my bread smell like wine/ alcohol I have fresh yeast and the water was at 108 degrees, and my flour doesn’t expire until next year?

    • olgak7

      One of the reasons could be that the dough was overproofed. If it’s proofed too long (left too long to rise), sometimes the yeast will smell stronger. It’s also not uncommon for the bread dough to have a small amount of wine/alcohol aroma. During the natural fermentation process of adding yeast to bread dough, yeast breaks down the carbohydrates in the dough into alcohol and carbon dioxide. It shouldn’t be really strong though. If it really bothers you, try using less yeast, although the bread may not rise as much. Usually though, it’s because it was proofing too long, became over-fermented and then smells sour. I hope that helps.

  • Candi

    If you double or triple this recipe do not double or triple the temperature of the hot water like the recipe says. keep it at a 1x batch so you don’t kill your yeast.

    • olgak7

      Hi Candi,
      I’m so sorry that’s what the recipe card says when you click to double or triple the recipe. That’s terrible! When working with yeast, it’s very important not to overheat the water. I did write this in the actual blog post too.
      If you use the scaling option that comes with the recipe card, unfortunately it’s not accurate and makes mistakes like this. (I wish I could remove this option completely, but that’s not something I can control, unfortunately.) I would recommend never using an automatic doubling or tripling option on any recipe unless you do the math yourself. It’s done by a robot, not a human being and doesn’t calculate things like this correctly at all, such as temperatures, which is such a crucial step.
      In the original recipe for 1 recipe, it says to heat the liquid to 110-115 degrees Fahrenheit.

  • Barbara Mobarak

    The recipe suggests that the hot water temperature be 330-345 degree F. That is over boiling and will kill the yeast. Later, the recipe says that the yeast should be dissolved in hot bath water which is more realistic. I cannot take a bath in boiling water so that temperature must be a typo! I suggest not more than 100 degrees F, even that is too hot for me to put my toes in the water! Please correct the temperature. Thanks



    • olgak7

      Actually, the recipe is correct, it is only incorrect when you use the feature in the recipe card that doubles or triples the recipe.
      If you use the scaling option that comes with the recipe card, unfortunately it’s not accurate and makes mistakes like this. (I wish I could remove this option completely, but that’s not something I can control, unfortunately.) I would recommend never using an automatic doubling or tripling option on any recipe unless you do the math yourself. It’s done by a robot, not a human being and doesn’t calculate things like this correctly at all, such as temperatures, which is such a crucial step.
      In the original recipe for 1 recipe, it says to heat the liquid to 110-115 degrees Fahrenheit.

  • Supriya Kutty

    This homemade bread recipe looks incredibly inviting, I love how straightforward it is, making it perfect for bakers of all levels. The idea of enjoying warm, freshly baked bread right out of the oven is so comforting. I can’t wait to give this a try and fill my home with that amazing aroma.



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