Best Bread EVER – No Fail Recipe (2024)

One of my most pinned, most viewed, most loved posts is this bread recipe I got from my friend Connie.

You can see the original post here: Best Bread Ever.

After having made this bread countless times over the past almost five years,I’ve learned a few things. I thought the post was due for some new pictures and some added recipe notes.

Since finding out that my daughter is allergic to dairy, eggs, and peanuts two years ago, we have had to set aside many of our family favorite recipes. Fortunately, this one has not had to be one of them! It is dairy and egg free. Not gluten free, of course, but I am confident it could be made so with the right flour.

This bread is a great sandwich bread: soft, and chewy but elastic enough to hold it’s shape and not crumble. The dough is a great basic dough as well. It’s really flexible and can be use for dinner rolls, sweet rolls, swirled breads, etc.

I have made it in a dry, high altitude climate, and now our new high humidity, sea level climate. The recipe has given me no trouble in either location.

Cross my heart, it is a really hard bread to mess up. If you have been looking for a tried and true bread recipe that is easy to make, look no further.

It’s the trifecta of a great bread recipe: delicious, beautiful, and easy to bake.

Hence, why I have called it the Best Bread Ever!

Before we dive into the recipe, I have three notes. One, read carefully. I have included pictures and notes to help you be successful. It’s a relatively very easy breadto make,but you still have to pay attention to certain indicators I will explain in the recipe. Two, this recipe breaks some traditional bread making rules, like putting salt in with the yeast and not proofing the yeast with sugar. Don’t ask me why it works, but it just does. Three, I’m going to take you through the recipe step by step, photo by photo.

If you want an easy to read, printable version, you can print the recipe up by clicking here: Best Bread EVER recipe

Let’s bake!

BEST BREAD EVER RECIPE

Makes 2 large loaves, 3 medium loaves, or 1 large loaf and 2 mini loaves*

*In these pictures, I used two fairly large loaf pans and one mini loaf so I would get nice uniform shaped loaves. If I had just used two large pans, I would likely have had taller loaves that may have risen over the sides a bit…which is just as pretty! It comes down to personal preference.

Ingredients:

**For the 3/4 c. of flour use all-purpose, bread, or a light weight flour. For the remaining flour, you can use a mixture of any flours you like. I used about half and half white bread flour and whole wheat flour (red wheat). I have often used white wheat flour which is lighter than red wheat, often labeled as whole wheat flour, even though they are both whole wheat. Be aware, that using all whole wheat flour will increasing rising and baking times significantly (maybe even double the time). If you use only whole wheat flour, I suggest increasing the sugar or honey content a little bit for good flavor.

This honey was a gift from my friend Katy (No Big Dill).Can you believe she etched that bee on there? <3 (see below)

A range was given for amount of flour instead of a definite measurement, because moisture content and weight can vary between flours. You really need to go by look and feel over amount.

*** Almost any kind of yeast works. Rising times will just vary. I have used Saf Instant Yeastand Fleischmann’s Yeast, ActiveDrywith great results. (Disclaimer: Any links to amazon in this post are affiliate links, which means if you purchase the products I link to, I make a small commission).

1. Whisk together in large bowl: Water, oil, sugar/honey, and salt.

2. Add: 3/4 cup flour and whisk for 30 seconds then yeast and whisk for 30 seconds more.

3. Add 2-3 cups of flour and mix together with a spoon.

If using a mixer (Kitchen Aid or Bosch),add the rest of the flourand mix for about 5 minutes with the dough hook.

The total flour should amount to about 5-7 cups—this does not include the flour used in step 2.

If mixing by hand (how I prefer to do it), add the rest of the flour and mix until shaggy looking and hard to work with a spoon. Knead in the bowl a few times and then turn the dough out onto a floured counter.

It will look like a bit of a floury mess at first. If it doesn’t, and you didn’t exceed the 7 cup limit, add another cup of flour and keep another cup in reserves off to the side if you need to add more while kneading.

Knead for 5+ minutes. I personally shoot for 7-8 minutes so I can get a nice elastic dough.

I like to put on a timer, then put on music or a show to keep me entertained. Then I just knead like it’s a really good arm work out…because it is. 🙂

Be careful not to add too much or too little flour. Flour theboard/counter and your hands very well at the start. Then add light dustings of flour to the board as you knead it when it gets too sticky. If you add flour in this manner, you should do fine.

The resulting dough should be soft and a little tacky but notsticky.

You can testto see if the dough is readyby giving it an assertive but gentle two finger press/poke (don’t dig and jab). If the dough bounces back fairly quickly, you’re ready to go. If it sags and sinks in without much resistance, then keep kneading. For reference: I kneaded for about a minute or so longer after these pictures.

4. Let rise in a clean, greased, covered bowl for about 30 minutes or until doubled.

You can let it rise on a warm, sunny counter, but it will also rise nicely in the oven. Set your oven to 450 degrees for about a minute then turn it off before placing the oven safe bowl inside. If the oven feels too hot, leave the door open, to vent some of the heat out first. You just want it to be warm, not hot.

I like to use professional grade plastic wrap as a covering (it’s less likely to melt in a warm oven than the cheap stuff). I then cover the bowl tightly, with a few spots at the edges left open.

Be sure that the dough doubles in size, but does not over proof (rise too high, peak, and then deflate).

5. When the dough has doubled, remove from the oven and preheat it to 175 degrees.

6. Grease your bread pans with spray oil. Divide the dough.

7. Now grease your counter top with more spray oil. We are using oil at this step, instead of more flour, so the bread will stay moist and not dry out. (note: I found that butcher block doesn’t really need as much or any oil for this step, but most other, non porous counter tops will).

Roll out the dough with a rolling pin into a long oblong shape. You should hear air popping out of the dough as you roll it. That’s good! Roll all the way to the edges and roll it out until all air bubbles are gone.

Ideally you want your dough to roll out to the width of your pan. You can narrow the dough by squishing the sides in as you roll it out if you need to.

8. Roll the dough into a tight cylinder. If your dough roll is too long for your pan, tuck the ends under to get it to fit. This creates a less uniform looking loaf, so if you can narrow the dough at the rolling out stage, that is ideal. (see step 7)

9. Place loaves in warm 175 degree oven for about a 1/2 hour or until the dough has risen to fill the pans (almost doubled).

Turn the oven up to 350 degrees and cook for about 30 minutes.The bread is done when you hit the top and it sounds hollow. Don’t worry about the baking time as much as this indicator. The bread isn’t done until you hear the hollow sound.If you are worried that the crust is getting too brown, cover it lightly with a piece of foil.

If you have different sized loaf pans baking at the same time, you will likely have to remove smaller pans before removing the larger ones. I removed my mini pan at least five minutes before the larger loaves were done.

10. Turn loaves out on a wire rack. Smother the top of the loaves with butter if you desire. We use dairy free, Earth Balance butter sticks.

Let the bread coolcompletelybefore slicing…if you’re that patient. 😉

Enjoy!

For an easy to read, printable version of this recipe click on the download button below: