A Great Basic White Bread Recipe from KitchenAid
My KitchenAid Stand Mixer, my best friend when I’m baking Bread, deserves a Gold Watch or least a decent burial……
Update- June 2021 – she’s still working, bless her little KitchenAid motor!
Please note that this is not a paid sponsored post but just a case of giving credit where credit is due!
27 34 years of loyal service in the working world used to get you gold watch or an embellished citation suitable for framing. Not so much in the here and now but if appliances could receive such honors, my faithful KitchenAid Stand Mixer deserves one. This tough little stand mixer has been my loyal kitchen companion since 1987. My son gave it to me as a Christmas present after we had just finished remodeling our kitchen. No more wimpy motorized hand mixer for this girl! Me and my KitchenAid mixer have seen many a Thanksgiving dinner and holiday baking marathon together. We’ve kneaded bread, made pizza dough, cake batter, cookie dough by the bowlful and every time I received consistent quality and good service.
I love my mixer so much it was my choice for a wedding present to give my son and his bride, who didn’t know how to cook (at all). I wanted to give them the best start at marital bliss in the kitchen so the KitchenAid was my first choice. So today when I heard a funny grinding noise coming from the motor as it kneaded bread my heart sank. I admit that I have pondered in the last year or so about how much longer she would last (note I think of her as being female – faithful and dependable) knowing that she was a child of the ’80s. I dreaded the thought of replacing her. My mind pondered what changes they might have made to the design and settings that I was so used to with a little fear. We were old friends, the KitchenAid and I. I admit there is a real inconsistency in the fact that on one hand I love new technology but I can also find myself resistant to change in things like a stand mixer. I know that I will buy KitchenAid again but I really would like to have the very same mixer with no changes. After all, how can you improve on the perfect product? But I’m sure there have been advancements, and wonderful new attachments and I will have to move on. So after I finish my baking, I will be surfing the KitchenAid website looking for a new love (sort of “appliance Eharmony”) hoping to hook up with a new companion for another 25+ year relationship. I’ll let you know what I end up deciding on in the future but for now, I’d like to share one of my favorite recipes from the cookbook that came with my mixer – White Bread. This makes a very consistent, tasty product so give it a try and the mixer does all the work. There was a time when I kneaded bread dough by hand ( in the dark ages) but once I connected that dough hook to the mixer, my laborious days of being “kneady” were over.
The Best White Bread Recipe Ever!
I’ve been baking for a lot of years but without a doubt the best bread recipe I have ever found was this one from the cookbook that came with my KitchenAid Mixer so many years ago. The pages of this cookbook are soiled with stains from different ingredients and the pages are getting a little tattered but I will not give it up. I often scan EBay in search of it trying to find a back-up copy. The recipes in it are easy and they always come out right. I have often heard that cooking can be random but that baking is an exact science. Granted that precisely measured ingredients and carefully followed instructions are important but these recipes in this cookbook are so good and so fundamental that it is pretty hard to screw them up. I love this recipe and we must have a loaf count in the 1000’s by now. I have never had a failure. This recipe always turns out the same with consistent texture and crumb. When the smell of yeast bread permeates the Thompson house everyone waits with anticipation. They should make a scented candle called Baking Bread! Thank God the recipe makes 2 loaves because one barely has the chance to cool down before it is devoured. Try this recipe, you’ll love it!
KiitchenAid Basic White Bread
With this recipe I have baked so many loaves of bread over 34 years and all had great texture and taste. I never had a failure with this recipe!
- Prep Time: 2 hours 15 min
- Cook Time: 30 min
- Total Time: 2 hours 45 min
- Yield: 2 loaves 1x
- Category: Bread
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup milk
- 3 tbs. sugar
- 2 tsp. salt
- 3 tbs. butter
- 2 packets (1/4 ounce) of active dry yeast or 4 1/2 tsps. of yeast from a jar
- 1 1/2 c. warm water (one hundred five to one hundred ten degrees F)
- 5–6 c. all purpose flour
Instructions
- Combine milk, sugar, salt, and butter in small sauce pan. Heat over low heat and stir until butter melts and sugar dissolves. Cool to lukewarm (less than 110 degrees F).
- If using active dry yeast, dissolve yeast in warm water in a warmed mixer bowl and let stand for 10 minutes.
- Add lukewarm milk mixture and yeast/water mixture to 4 1/2cups of flour.
- Attach dough hook and turn speed to 2 and mix 1 minute. Continue on Speed2, adding 1/2 cup of the remaining flour at a time until dough clings to hook and cleans the side of the bowl.
- Knead on Speed 2 for 2 minutes longer or until the dough is smooth and elastic.Dough will be slightly sticky to the touch.
- Place in a greased bowl, turning the dough to grease the top. Cover, and let rise in a warm place free of drafts, until it doubles in size (about 1 hour).
- Punch dough down and divide in half.
- Shape each half into a loaf and place in greased 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 2 1/2 loaf pans.
- Cover and let rise again in warm, draft free place till doubled. (about 1 hour)
- Bake at 400 degrees F for 30 minutes.
- Remove from pans immediately and let cool on wire racks.
I just pulled out my Kitchen Aid from 1977, a wedding present, instruction book tattered and stained as well. Thought I’d start baking bread again.
Question: your recipe calls for twice the amount of yeast (4 1/2 tsp) as is called for in my booklet (2 1/4 tsp) for a 2 loaf yield.
Is that why my bread isn’t rising sufficiently?
I wonder why my book says that.
Thanks,
Marsha
Hi Marsha’
I have no idea why the recipe changed but the recipe on this blog is from my recipe book that came with my KitchenAid stand mixer circa late 1980’s. For some reason KitchenAid changed the recipe but this is the one I always used.
I want to make this bread but I have a couple of questions regarding two ingredients:
1. You say milk, which milk, skim, 1%, 2% or whole milk?
2. Butter, salted or unsalted?
Both are a matter of personal taste. If you are trying to reduce fat or calories, you might want to use skim or a reduced fat milk. The change will not matter in the outcome of the recipe. I use whole milk. As for salted or unsalted butter, I use salted but you can use unsalted. It’s a matter of personal taste.
I use this as my go to bread for my home. I perfected it during the pandemic and now make it into cinnamon swirl and raisin bread. I let my Kitchenaide do all the work and as usual it gets it right. I want to thank the person who designed these nifty small loaves with their recipe. I tip my hat to you.
★★★★★
I followed this recipe exactly. The bread is extremely hard on the outside and dense. It rose beautifully but just didn’t cone out right. Anyone have any ideas to tweak this?
Without being there with you I don’t have any definite answers. A thick hard crust is often a sign of over-baking, primarily caused by baking at too high a temperature. I use an oven thermometer because my oven tends to run hotter than the temp I set it for. These cost under $10 and set on the oven rack. I got mine from Amazon.
You also mentioned that it is dense. That could be from a lack of moisture which could be caused by adding to much flour in the kneading process. Not knowing where you are geographically, I’m not sure if it would be that your flour was too dry. The humidity or lack of it in your climate can make a difference in your bread baking outcome. Altitude can also have an effect on bread baking. Over 3000ft. above sea level affects the rising of the dough because the lower air pressure allows the yeast to rise anywhere from 25% to 50% faster and the drier air at higher elevations will make your flour drier. Sometimes you have to try different things to figure out what is going on. Start with the oven thermometer. Then if that isn’t the cause, try another possibility with your next batch.
After it cools down, I put my bread into gallon-size Ziplock bags to soften the crust.
Can you us bread flour with this recipe instead of ap flour? Just got my kitchen aid stand mixer and have never made bread. Newbie here.
Yes you can. Lucky you with a new KitchenAid!!!!! I love baking bread because of mine. Kneading dough by hand is a lot of work and its time consuming. If you have any questions just drop me an email at [email protected]
This turned out beautifully! I used the nearly 40-year-old KitchenAid Mixer my mother-in-law gifted me. It also needed just a little bit of oil in the motor a few years ago and still works like a dream. I love being able to make bread with all the benefits of kneading without the workout!
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I was given my Kitchen aid in 1975 After years of bread, cookies cakes including wedding cakes and gallons of cream churned into butter my mixer sounded funny. I called a repairman about getting it fixed. He had my put the phone by it and turn it on then said take the head off and turn it ups]de down. set it to 2 and drip a good household oil where the hook or beater would be attached. It gets flour in it and the oil took care of it This was20 years ago and it has been fine ever since . I would do the oil again if needed.
Thanks for that information. I hate to retire my “old girl” and hope that this hint helps. I appreciate your taking the time to let me know that solution to the problem is something so easy!!!!
I was given my Kitchen aid in 1975 After years of bread, cookies cakes including wedding cakes and gallons of cream churned into butter my mixer sounded funny. I called a repairman about getting it fixed. He had my put the phone by it and turn it on then said take the head off and turn it ups]de down. set it to 2 and drip a good household oil where the hook or beater would be attached. It gets flour in it and the oil took care of it This was20 years ago and it has been fine ever since . I would do the oil again if needed.
I have been using this recipe now for almost 2 years and have made just a few adjustments. With the flour, I use 4 cups of white flour and 1/2 cup of whole wheat, then after beating I add 3/4 cup of whole wheat. Sometime I switch the 1/2 cup with bran flour – I also use brown sugar as it gives the bread a deeper bronze colour. Also, watch the 2nd rise, if too long, yes the bread will rise but fall when baking. This is such an easy recipe to follow.
You follow recipes the way I do constantly making adjustments! Thanks for the hints. I will definitely give them a try.
My dough didn’t rise in the pan. Baked it anyways, bread is dense. What did I do wrong? Thank you
Baking is a more exacting science than cooking. The recipe has to be followed exactly with only a few exceptions. My first thought is that the yeast was not viable. Instruction item #2 mentions dissolving the yeast in warm water. This is the “proofing of the yeast” to insure it is of good quality before adding it to the rest of your ingredients. The 10 minute period is to give the yeast a chance to start to react. That water mixture should not be too warm (more than 110 degrees) as yeast is living thing and if the water is too hot it will kill it. The dissolved yeast mixture should have bubbles as the yeast begins to “grow” and give off gas. My second thought is that the dough was not in a warm enough environment during the “rising” period. In the summer I don’t worry about that too much but I live in very northern Maine (about 20 miles from the Canadian border) so in the fall, winter, and spring I warm my oven just a bit on the lowest setting then shut it off and let it cool a bit while I am doing other prep work. I’m looking for a temp between 80-95 degrees Fahrenheit to put my dough in to rise. I keep the oven door closed so there are no drafts. So are the first things I can think of. Let me know if this helps.
I just got my kitchen aid stand mixer I basically drooled over a picture of one for 3 months lol my husband knew I wanted it bad and he took me to pick it out I was blessed I’ve been doing bread by Hand for years my husband said now you can do it with ease
He is a good man! Be sure to bake him lots of bread!
Not sure why but this recipe didn’t work out for me. The dough did not form and remained very flaky. I wonder what I did wrong.
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This recipe has worked for a lot of people so I don’t think it is anything to do with the basic recipe. Its sounds like a moisture issue which can happen with recipes containing flour. Depending on a number of different factors (time of year, weather, humidity, etc.), flour can require a little more moisture than is called for in the recipe. While still in the mixing mode add one teaspoon of lukewarm water at a time. Let it mix thoroughly and if needed continue to add more, one at a time and mix thoroughly after each one. You want the dough to pull together but you don’t want to add too much moisture. The dough should be pulling away from the sides of the mixing bowl and clinging to the dough hook in a somewhat smooth solid clump.
Never mind – your website has an error: when you double or triple the recipe by clicking on 2X or 3X, whatever program your are using also doubles or triples the temperature.
Also it’s unclear if you are using yeast in a jar, instead of the packets, whether it’s 1/4-oz in total or if each packets are 1/4-oz.
Thank you very much for alerting me to the flaw in the recipe software I am using. I was unaware that it multiplies every number in the ingredients list. I just changed the water temp info to words rather than numbers. It looks a little strange but it eliminates any confusion.
As for the yeast, it is 1/4 ounce packets that I was using but I will correct the instructions to make this part of the recipe more clear. Again, thanks so much for your input. It helps me to provide my readers with the best information when I receive helpful info from thoughtful folks like you.
I am anxious to try this recipe for bread.
I have been struggling to find one I like for my new mixer my son and daughter-in-law purchased me.
I have been successful making bread by hand, so I am getting discouraged not finding a recipe I like.
It is the first bread recipe I have used. Excellent texture taste and quality
★★★★★
I am so glad this worked out for you. its been my go-to bread recipe for a long, long time. Thank you for stopping by and letting me know it about your success.
Hi, I tried this recipe and was thrilled, so, I decided to improvise. I added at the start some grated chocolate and some chili flakes (to taste). Trial and error to your palate, but lovely ! Jimmy Munday, Shotley, Suffolk, England
Thanks for the input. Sounds like an interesting addition. I will definitely try it. Its nice to hear from the UK. My father was born in Ipswich, England.
All the bread recipes i find with using my KA mixer yields two loaves of bread.
Is there a recipe to make just one?
Thanks
John
Just reduce the measurements by half. You could also take the second loaf and freeze it to use later.
Used this recipe and omg! The bread turned out amazing! Do you have any other bread recipes? Like a whole wheat? Or a multi grain?
This is the best bread that I have tasted ! Wow and thank you. Meanwhile could this dough be used to make bread rolls as well as a loaf please ?
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Sure can! It makes great rolls! I divide it up and place it in muffin tins to bake.
Im such a sap that I held back tears reading about your kitchen aid. I waited 30 years to finally get mine. I found her on sale and am I love my friends tease me about my kitchen aid. When I bought her a cover my husband husband teased that I was buying her clothes. He calls the cover her dress.
Well my first bread with her will be this one dedicated to your “girl”.
Thanx for a great story and a great recipe
Thanx from one Kitchen Aid girl to another.
Exactly the recipe I wanted ! I don’t have my kitchenAid mixer cookbook here with me in Florida but I do have my “blue baby “ here!
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My husband made two loaves today! Turned out perfect!
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My bread is in the oven! Haven’t tasted it yet but it sure looks and smells delicious!!
Got my Kitchen Aid as a wedding gift in 1979 and used this white bread recipe so much, the cookbook disintegrated. I have looked for it everywhere for several years now. Thank you so much for posting it!
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Hi, I loved reading your stand mixer story. I have baked bread in a bread machine several times and didn’t like the hole in the middle from the paddle. So then I would just use the machine to knead the dough and do the first rise and bake in regular loaf pan. Worked fine but hate the big appliance just for bread.
This Christmas my hubby got me the Kitchen Aid stand mixer!! I love it thus far whipped up cookies like no one’s business!!! Now I’m going to try baking some bread with your recipe. My mixer didn’t come with a cook book. Thanks for posting
Made with your recipe and loved it.. It was my first bread. Thanks
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Thank you for this. I am definitely going to try it as I have not been happy with the way my bread has been turning out so I stopped making it.
Glad I could help! If you have any problems with your baking just let me know. I am always here to answer questions and lend advice.