Jolyn’s Extra Soft White Bread Recipe
on Feb 01, 2021, Updated Jun 29, 2024
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Extra Soft White Bread is perfect for making sandwiches because it’s SO soft and fluffy. It has the most amazing texture thanks to a few secret ingredients!
There is something so satisfying about baking bread from scratch and this Extra Soft White Bread does just that. Simple ingredients and a couple secrets (like potato flakes, gluten, and powdered milk) make this bread delicious and practical!
Use your homemade bread to make a Classic Club Sandwich, the Ultimate Turkey Sandwich, or a Cucumber Sandwich if you want to be a little fancy. This soft white bread is also amazing plain smeared with some homemade butter.
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- The texture is perfect for sandwiches.
- This homemade bread isn’t crumbly thanks to a few secret ingredients.
- It’s so satisfying to make your own bread.
Recipe Ingredients
- Water
- Active dry yeast
- Sugar
- Vital wheat gluten: Usually found near the specialty flours.
- Salt
- Nonfat dry milk: This is typically in the baking aisle.
- Butter or oil
- Potato flakes: The kind you use for making instant potatoes.
- All-purpose flour
- Stick of butter: This is just to butter the top of the bread loaves.
See the recipe card below for full information on ingredients and quantities.
How to Make Extra Soft White Bread
Step #1. Add water, yeast, sugar, wheat gluten, salt, dry milk, oil, potato flakes, and 4 cups of flour to the bowl of a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment.
Step #2. Mix on low for 10-12 minutes. Then add 1/4 cup of flour at a time at a time and work it in with the mixer until it’s not too sticky to be handled. Form the dough into a smooth ball and add it back to your mixing bowl.
Step #3. Cover the bowl tightly and let the dough rise for an hour.
Step #4. Divide the dough into two even pieces and form each piece into a loaf.
Step #5. Put each loaf in a greased loaf pan and let rise in a warm place for an hour.
Step #6. Bake at 375℉ for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown on top.
Recipe FAQs
The best mixer is a Bosch stand mixer or a KitchenAid stand mixer. If you don’t have one, you can hand mix the dough by hand. Don’t skip the long kneading time, it’s what develops the gluten and helps the bread to not be crumbly.
There’s a few things that really help. Sticking with white flour and adding a few extras like potato flakes, vital wheat gluten, and kneading it a long time are the keys to making a really soft bread that hold together well.
Vital wheat gluten is the powdered form of the gluten protein found in wheat. Adding extra gluten is one of the secrets to getting this bread to have such great texture. You can usually find it near the specialty flours at the store or order it on Amazon.
To keep bread soft you will want to store it in an airtight bag or container. You can order bread bags online that will keep the bread fresh as well. Homemade bread also does well in the freezer when stored properly.
Expert Tips
- Make sure the warm water isn’t too warm or you will kill the active dry yeast. Between 105° and 110°F is enough to activate the yeast but not kill it.
- If you use the dough hook on a stand mixer, there is no need for additional kneading for this bread.
- If your dough is too gooey, keep adding the flour. I generally add 5.5 to the full 6 cups total flour for this recipe. How much you need will depend some on your kitchen conditions and flour.
- To check for doneness, you can tap the bread lightly – it should sound hollow when it’s done baking.
- Do not slice, store, or freeze homemade sandwich bread until it’s completely cooled.
More Yeasted Bread Recipes to Consider
Homemade Bread
100% Whole Wheat Bread Recipe
Homemade Bread
Soft Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread
Yeast Bread Recipes
Brioche Bread
Yeast Bread Recipes
Challah Bread
Did you make this recipe? Leave a ⭐️ review and share it on Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest!
Extra Soft White Bread Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ cups warm water
- 4 teaspoons active dry yeast
- ¼ cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons vital wheat gluten
- 2 teaspoons salt
- ¼ cup nonfat dry milk
- 3 tablespoons butter or oil
- ½ cup potato flakes
- 5-6 cups all-purpose flour
- stick of butter, to butter the tops of the bread
Instructions
- Add water, yeast, sugar, wheat gluten, salt, dry milk, oil, potato flakes, and 4 cups of flour to the bowl of a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment.
- Mix on low for 10-12 minutes (this is machine kneading).
- After the mixing time, add additional flour, 1/4 cup at a time. The dough is ready when it isn’t too sticky and can be handled. Give the dough time to work the flour in before adding more.
- If it is gooey, add flour and mix after each addition, until the dough can be worked with your hands without sticking to them. I generally add 5.5 to the full 6 cups total flour for this recipe. It will depend some on your kitchen conditions and flour.
- Form the dough into a smooth ball and add it back to your mixing bowl. Cover tightly with plastic wrap.
- Let the dough rise for 1 hour.
- Remove it from the bowl.
- Divide the dough into two even pieces and form each piece into a loaf.
- Place the dough in 2 greased loaf pan and let them rise in a warm place for 1 hour or until the dough is about 1 inch above the rim of the bread pan.
- Bake at 375℉ for 20-25 minutes until golden brown and sounds hollow when lightly tapped.
- Remove from the oven and grease the tops of the loaf with a little bit of butter.
- Remove the bread from the pans and allow to cool on a wire rack before slicing (you can slice warm but the texture is best once it has cooled and the bread has set).
- Once the bread has completely cooled, store leftovers in an air-tight container at room temperature for up to 3 days, in the fridge for up to 5 days, and in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Notes
- Non-fat dry milk can be found near the canned evaporated milk and sweetened condensed milk. You can also find it near specialty flours (sometimes it’s called baking milk blend).
- I just use normal old potato flakes, like the kind you would make instant mashed potatoes with, for this recipe.
- Vital wheat gluten is usually near the specialty flours or just in the baking aisle. You can also get it from Amazon.
- The few specialty ingredients are worth their investment for this white bread because they’re shelf stable. You’ll make this bread often enough to use them up!
If this recipe were divided in half, could it be totally made in the breadmachine? If not, you’re using 9×5 loaf pans?
Sadly, not a good substitute for the old fashioned hot white bread our mom or grandma would get from Super Value
Tell me more! I just made it yesterday and it’s SUCH a good bread. I’d love to know what you didn’t like.
I have everything for this bread on hand besides the ‘vital wheat gluten’, does this recipe still turn out good without it? I understand it probably makes it better, but has anybody experimented without it? Does it turn out too crumbly, or does it work? I’m using bread flour instead of all purpose, will that make any difference?
It’s still a great bread, just slightly more crumbly. With the gluten there are basically no crumbs… I make it still when I run out 🙂
what does vital wheat glutton do for the bread
It improves the texture and helps it to not crumble at all, it’s a really great sandwich bread.
Can I use powdered whole milk in place of the powdered non-fat milk?
Yep!
Thank you for sharing this lovely recipe. I halved the ingredients as my bread maker is one of the smaller ones. It came out perfectly. This will definitely be a firm favourite go to recipe from now on. No need for the storage instructions as with Cornish butter it was gone in a flash.
I love this bread and its simplicity. ” Problem is, it seems to be for a shorter pan and I wouldd like to make this loaf in a bigger pan!my daughter and son’in’law brought their newly married daughter and her husband out so we could meet us, I made two loaves thinking it would last the last two days of their visit, but it was gone in two meals and i made another two for supper and breakfast the last day. i offered to show them the ones I usually make, but my granddaughter insisted, ‘i want this one, just this one!
I bake this in a 9×5 pan but you can put it in something smaller if you’d like!
Potato’s flakes? Is that like instant potatoes?
Yep, instant mashed potatoes work great!
Can the dough be frozen after the rise?
I haven’t played with it. If you do will you let us know how it turns out?
🙏. I did make it and it was great. Forgot to add the butter at the beginning. Scared, I added it after all the flour was in. Stand mixer on medium 5 min and all was well! I will try freezing a loaf next time.
Vinegar is mentioned a couple times in the post but is not in the ingredients list. Is that missing or just a mistake? About to put 4 loaves in the oven so hoping it was just a mistake 😊
Thank you for saying something! The vinegar is in the whole wheat version of this recipe (coming soon!) and I just got them mixed up while writing. The recipes doesn’t have vinegar in it, so you are good to go! I can’t wait to hear how it turns out for you!!!
Oh that sounds amazing also! All 4 loaves turned out great, hooray! One already almost gone, two in the freezer, and one to share with a neighbor. Thanks for another winner!
I made a double batch this morning! One for lunch, one for tomorrow, one in burger buns (I’ll let you know how they turn out!) and one to save to take to church for the sacrament on Sunday (communion). It’s so nice to have a solid recipe that you know will work. I’ve made this one so many times and never had a flop batch!