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
Can you just use liquid buttermilk? Same amount? I always have buttermilk in the fridge.
Best bread recipe! Wonderful texture and flavor. This is now my go to recipe.
I love your recipes,can I reduce the amount of sugar in the white bread recipe to half a tablespoon as we don’t like it to be sweet, Thanks you’re the best
Hi! Gonna make this Sunday, we are getting snowed in possibly lol! Is there a favorite method you use when greasing the bowl. I am very inexperienced with breads but want to give it a try! Do you use a certain spray or butter? Sorry if that is a silly question..lol
I love making bread I have my mom bread recipe I don’t use a bread machine I make all by hand. can you tell me why sometime after I cook it . It dry could you tell me why it does this ? My grandma would make her bread and freeze it and it would be like she just made it but I don’t have her recipe . I really hope you can help me.
Where do I find dried buttermilk. I haven’t seen it in the grocery store
Can I make the dough in my bread machine.
Fantastic !!!!! I followed the recipe exactly as written with perfect results on my first loaf. I have made this many times as written and a few times using regular buttermilk I needed to use up. This resulted in a bit different texture crumb but wonderful flavor. Than you for sharing your family recipe!
This looks so fluffy and tender! I love baking bread and I love buttermilk too. I’ll be trying this really soon. I bet it would make amazing BLTs.
Fresh homemade bread warm from the oven slathered with butter – that is my number one weakness! And even with white flour, homemade is still so much better than anything you can find packaged. Your loaf looks lovely – grandma recipes are always the best 🙂
Love recipes that are associated with such great memories! I could go for a big hunk of this bread right now!
This looks so great and super easy! There’s nothing like homemade bread!
I love to bake fresh bread–so great and does remind me of my grandparents as well. I have to give this a try with the dry buttermilk–I have yet to use that product.
Could I substitute dry buttermilk with dry milk powder instead?
My mixer doesn’t have paddle attachment, just a dough attachment and whisk attachment(not the wire but a more steady and harder one) and I do have a hand whisker. What do I use in place of the paddle attachment? I really like your recipe and can’t wait to bake ! Thank you 🙂
I don’t have a mixer! Is there any way to do this recipe by hand or would it be too difficult? Thank you and I’m a big fan of your site! Love all these recipes! My family is also trying to go on a grain free diet and it seems so bland until you see great recipes like the ones on here! Thank you!