Julie Clark
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Country White Bread
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My grandma’s easy country white bread recipe. Soft, sliceable homemade white bread with perfect texture and flavor. Make in the bread machine or in the oven.
Homemade bread is one of our favorite things, whether it is homemade dinner rolls, wheat bread or sandwich buns. Today we’re talking all about classic perfectly sliceable Country White Bread.
Our go-to recipe is a beautiful golden brown country loaf. This buttermilk country white bread is my grandma’s recipe and we have memories of this fresh bread being served at her dinner table alongside family favorites like slow cooker pork chops, Italian meatballs and roast beef.
And as you can see from this picture, it also makes a perfect white sandwich bread! Just imagine the soft crumb with peanut butter and jelly. 🤤
White Bread in a Bread Machine
What’s to love about this bread recipe?
The great thing is that it is simple and easy. If you have a bread machine, you can throw the ingredients in based on your bread machine specifications, and a couple of hours later you’ll have the perfect loaf of bread.
This is how my grandma makes this buttermilk bread. It’s a great country bread machine recipe.
Ingredients
- Water. Using water means the bread will have a light texture.
- Yeast. I make this recipe with active dry yeast, but instant yeast will work as well. It’s especially good to use instant yeast if you choose to make the bread in the bread machine.
- Butter.
- Bread flour. Bread flour gives the bread a nice rise and a sturdy structure. All-purpose will work, but the bread may end up softer and not as “chewy”.
- Dry Buttermilk Powder. This is a unique ingredient, but it helps give the bread a classic buttermilk flavor. Buy buttermilk powder on Amazon, or if you can’t do that, use regular dry milk powder instead.
- Sugar & salt. Just a touch, for flavor.
✨ See the recipe card for the full recipe and ingredients. ✨
How to Make Country White Bread
You can knead the dough by hand if you prefer, but you can also let the stand mixer do the heavy lifting when it comes to kneading.
Activate the yeast. Pour the warm water (between 100-115 degrees F) in a stand mixer bowl. Sprinkle the yeast on top of the water and wait about 5 minutes for the yeast to activate.
Mix the dough and let it rest. Then add the rest of the ingredients to the mixing bowl. With the paddle attachment, mix the ingredients until they are just combined and completely moistened. Then take off the paddle attachment and let the dough rest for 15 minutes. This stage, called autolyse, gives the flour time to absorb the water and allows the gluten to relax.
Knead the dough. Place the dough hook on the stand mixer. Knead the bread on low speed for about 5-7 minutes. The dough should be slightly tacky to the touch.
Let the dough rise. Put the dough in a greased bowl and covered it to let it rise in a warm place. If your house is cold, use the oven to rise the dough. Turn it on to the lowest temperature setting for a minute or two to get it warm. Then turn off the oven and place the covered bowl of dough in the oven to rise for until it is doubled. This usually takes about 30 minutes. A sunny spot on the counter works, too.
Bake the bread. Take the dough, form it into an oblong shape and place it in a greased 9″x5″ bread loaf pan. Cover the bread again and let it rise while you preheat the oven to 375ºF. Bake the bread for about 40 minutes.
Internal Temperature of Bread
How can you be sure the country white bread is done? Use an internal probe thermometer. Our favorite is the Thermoworks Thermapen. The internal temperature of yeast bread should read 190ºF.
Toppings for Homemade Bread
- cinnamon butter
- sweet apple butter
- honey
- peanut butter
- lemon blueberry refrigerator jam
- guacamole
- pimento cheese
Other Homemade Bread Recipes
You may also love our peanut butter sandwich cookies and our Amish recipes!
Country White Bread
My grandma's easy country white bread recipe. Soft, sliceable homemade white bread with perfect texture and flavor. Make in the bread machine or in the oven.
Servings 12 servings
Prep Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 55 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cup warm water 10 ounces
- 2 teaspoons active dry yeast 6 grams
- 2 tablespoons butter softened, 28 grams
- 3 1/3 cups bread flour * 433 grams
- 2 tablespoons dry buttermilk ** 12 grams
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar 24 grams
- 1 1/4 teaspoons salt 7 grams
Instructions
- Pour the warm water (between 100-115 degrees F) in a stand mixer bowl. Sprinkle the yeast on top of the water and wait about 5 minutes for the yeast to activate. 1 ¼ cup warm water, 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
- Then add the rest of the ingredients to the mixing bowl. With the paddle attachment, mix the ingredients until they are just combined and completely moistened. Then take off the paddle attachment and let the dough rest for 15 minutes. 2 tablespoons butter, 3 ⅓ cups bread flour *, 2 tablespoons dry buttermilk **, 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, 1 ¼ teaspoons salt
- Place the dough hook on the stand mixer. Knead the bread on low speed for about 5-7 minutes. The dough should be slightly tacky to the touch.
- Place the dough in a greased bowl and cover it with a towel or plastic wrap. Let it rise in a warm space for about 30 minutes or until nearly doubled in size. Punch the dough down.
- Take the dough ball, form it into a loaf and put it in a greased 9×5" loaf pan. Allow the dough to rise while you preheat the oven to 375ºF.
- Bake in the pre-heated oven for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown. Allow the bread to cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then move to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
The internal temperature of yeast bread should read 190ºF when done.
The calories shown are based on the bread being cut into 12 pieces, with 1 serving being 1 slice of bread. Since different brands of ingredients have different nutritional information, the calories shown are just an estimate. **We are not dietitians and recommend you seek a nutritionist for exact nutritional information.**
Nutrition
Calories: 155kcal | Carbohydrates: 28g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 6mg | Sodium: 263mg | Potassium: 56mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 61IU | Vitamin C: 0.1mg | Calcium: 18mg | Iron: 0.3mg
You begin by talking equally about making this in a mixer and with a breadmachine, but then no breadmachine instructions are given. What settings do you use? Also, what crust setting is best?
Ive been making a lot of bread, but this one smelled and tasted the best of all Ive tried. Thanks for posting recipe
Looks real good. Do not have bread machine anymore. Do not like to knead have bad shoulder and fingers. Do you have no knead yeast bread??
I just made this bread recipe. I had been looking for a bread I would be happy to call my every day bread, and never get tired of. This is it!! Thank you so much for sharing! BTW; I made it in my machine on the dough cycle. Perfect!
I have so much trouble with making bread. I have a bread machine that should be the simplest… but nope not with me. I have a kitchen Aid stand mixer still nope not me either to wet or to dry. My ingredients are fresh and what it calls for. I have tried many different ones. Same thing. Why am I such a bread failure?
Why bread flour? I am quite sure in my grandma’s day there was no such thing, she just used plain flour. Doesn’t bread flour contain more protein and there create more gluten?
Perfection. Full of body, bakes evenly, slices cleanly. This is the one sandwich bread to make. Thanks!
I have a problem with my bread rising any suggestions
Hi.
Can I use Baker’s Special Dry Milk from King Arthur Flour instead of the dried buttermilk? That’s what I have on hand.😃
Thank you for the bread recipe but it would be more inviting and accurate if you also included the main ingredients in grams or oz. More and more home-bakers are using inexpensive digital scales for their flour and other dry ingredients…some even for liquid one’s too. Once you reveal what your ” 1 cup of flour weighs” it would be easy for you to include flour weight in your recipes. Like 3 1/3 cups of flour ( 14 oz), that is if your 1 cup of flour is 4.25 oz. Some baker’s cup of flour weigh 5 oz! More and… Read more »
I want to use fresh buttermilk but don’t know how much will equal 2TBSP of dry.
I now live in the UK I had brought the dry buttermilk with me but have used it all up and can not find it here. I live by Hull in East Yorkshire England. I make buttermilk using milk and lemon juice could I use that instead of the dry and water? Kim
I made this today! It turned out wonderful! Bread is tender & slices up nicely. I love recipes that have buttermilk incorporated. I took a picture, wished I could show you. Thank you so much for perfecting these recipes before we make them. Just perfect!
Can you just use liquid buttermilk? Same amount? I always have buttermilk in the fridge.