With what I had on hand, I quickly made this when my wife was sick with the flu. We made it a regular in our recipe box because it exceeded our expectations by far!
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 30 mins |
| Additional Time: | 3 hrs 20 mins |
| Total Time: | 4 hrs 10 mins |
| Servings: | 10 |
| Yield: | 1 9×5-inch loaf |
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups whole milk, warmed
- 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 1 tablespoon white sugar
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon fine salt
- 1 pinch cayenne pepper
- 2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour, or more as needed
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, very soft
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, or as needed
- 2 tablespoons melted butter, divided
Instructions
- Pour warm milk into a bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook. Sprinkle yeast on top and let dissolve until a few small bubbles begin to a form, 10 to 15 minutes. Add beaten egg, sugar, vinegar, baking soda, salt, cayenne, flour, and butter.
- Knead on low speed until dough begins to come together. Increase speed slightly and knead about 3 minutes more. Use a spatula to scrape the sides clean and gather the dough into the center. Cover and let rise until doubled in volume, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
- Butter a spatula and a loaf pan. Scrape the dough into the pan using the spatula. Smooth out the top to distribute dough evenly. Dust the top with flour and press gently to even out the dough. Let rise in pan for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- Use a sharp knife or razor to cut a deep slash lengthwise through the center of the loaf. You may need to go over it several times. Brush the top with most of the melted butter.
- Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown, about 30 minutes.
- Brush hot loaf with remaining butter. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn it out onto a wire rack to cool for at least 1 hour before slicing.
- You might use up to 3 cups flour in the dough.
- Feel free to brush the top with milk or egg wash instead.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 211 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 30 g |
| Cholesterol | 37 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 6 g |
| Saturated Fat | 4 g |
| Sodium | 301 mg |
| Sugars | 3 g |
| Fat | 8 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Like every one of Chef Johns recipes this is terrific. Soft pillowy loaf. Tastes like bread should, not all the phony additives that are in store bought production line breads.
I’ve tried many bread recipes over the last 2 years and this one is, by far, my favorite! I made it twice and the second time I added jalapeño olive salad to the dough for a specialty loaf . It’s excellent both ways! Thank you Chef John, for sharing your gifts and talents with us!
We love this bread. So easy to make and pretty darn delicious too!
Wow!! This is my go-to white bread recipe! The whole family and friends love it. Thank you!
AA++
I made it exactly the same as Chef John’s recipe and it’s a great recipe for soft, flavorful, white bread. I used to knead bread by hand when I was younger, then went to a bread machine. This is the first time I’ve ever used the mixing hook for kneading. It sure was a different experience, but I will definitely do it again!
So delicious and recipe is easy to follow. My family loves it!
The most delicious white bread I’ve ever eaten.
Chef John is the bomb!!!! We loved this bread! Followed recipe exactly and it turned out perfectly! We did slice it while still warm (sorry, Chef) but I covered open end with towel immediately to trap moisture. Stored in microwave to contain moisture as well. In the morning, still moist and perfect for french toast! I was worried that it might be a tad bit too crumbly to use for french toast but resting overnight may have helped. Take the time to watch his video! He does an amazing job showing you the exact texture of the dough desired. The only thing different we plan on doing is to bake it in our Kamado grill with some wood smoke! Mmmmmm!!!! Chef John, you are awesome!!!
I’ve made this 2x now. The 1st time I made it as instructed but it was a bit crumby for my liking so I decided to hold off on reviewing it until I added a full 3 cups of flour. Honestly I prefer the recipe with the extra flour. It’s less like a biscuit in bread form and more like the white bread of yore. Will do again.
Yesss this bread is awesome chef John! Your recipes are always great. Definitely my favorite bread I’ve made so far. Thanks!
Fantastic recipe! Watched the video and did all the steps and did just as shown. Bread turned out delicious. Thank You for always sharing great recipes and handy tips
I love how John does his videos. If I may, I’d like to add a slight variation for those who don’t have a mixer. I’ve done this bread both ways, with and without a mixer, and I prefer doing it without a mixer. First, mix all ingredients as John shows us, then with a spatula form a shaggy ball. Cover and wait for 30 minutes and with a lightly oiled spatula, fold the dough on all around its circumference. Then wait 30 minutes and repeat the folding, and do this two or three times again. When the dough has doubled in size, place it in the bread pan, just as John did, and wait for it to rise again while the oven preheats to 350°F. Complete John’s instructions, brushing the dough with butter before baking the bread, and, as always, Enjoy!
I made this recipe as stated, except I just stirred with a sturdy spatula since I don’t have a mixer. I stirred for about 5 minutes, very briskly, and the finished loaf was super delicious!
Fantastic is all I can say! Thank you chef John!
3.5 Easy to make and the directions and video were helpful for new bread makers, like me. Also very tasty, however, more crumbly than I was hoping for. I wanted to use it for sandwich bread but it didn’t hold it’s “sliced” shape. More like a buttery biscuit
Turned out really well! Followed exactly. Had to use a knife and stir by hand because I didn’t have a mixer but still was fine. Thanks!
Absolutely Delicious! Followed exactly as write! Prefect breakfast bread toasted with butter & jam. Toasting really added to flavor too! Either way it’s great, brought back memories of local bakery in River Edge, New Jersey! Making another loaf today. Had to buy yeast on eBay due to virus! Who’d have thought yeast would become as scares as TP! Strange times………..
This was a delicious bread and I’ll make it again, but it’s too crumbly to use on sandwiches. We used it with breakfast, or even as a snack with butter and honey/preserves.
Recipe was easy to prepare, but the end result tasted like a buttery biscuit, not home-baked bread. Granted, it was a very good tasting “biscuit”, but it was overall a disappointment.
I followed the recipe exactly. The taste was awesome. I had some issues with the consistency. As some other reviewers mentioned, it was a little too cake-like and crumbly. I am not an experience bread maker, and I have read that crumbly is a common problem. It is worth a repeat to see if it happens again.