Easy Honey White Bread

Easy Honey White Bread

The Spruce / Julia Estrada

Prep: 30 mins
Cook: 40 mins
Proving : 105 mins
Total: 2 hrs 55 mins
Servings: 20 servings

Bread and honey are a combination made in sweet and chewy heaven. The sweetness of honey gives the bread a fantastic taste, color on the inside, and a beautiful golden hue to the crust. Our recipe for honey bread needs just seven ingredients and will deliver to your table a wonderful loaf that's difficult to beat in texture, color, and flavor. Honey bread is great for sandwiches, French toast, or bread pudding. A slice of it with butter is a great snack or breakfast, and the ease of making it will make this bread your new family favorite.

Honey has been used in baking and bread baking for centuries as it adds moisture to the dough or batter. Because of its sugars, it can help the yeast grow when used adequately. Its antibacterial properties can retard mold growth, so its use in ancient recipes was key to extending the shelf life of baked goods before refrigeration was invented.

Our simple recipe is ideal for beginner bakers. Don't let the number of steps in the method fool you. In bread making, attention to detail is key, but it doesn't necessarily mean the end product is difficult to achieve. Proofing the bread is the longest part of the process, and the recipe is more hands off than it is hands on. For this recipe, you need two bread tins—9x5-inch ones are great—and close to three hours from beginning to end. Finally, we recommend using bottled water instead of tap water to make your bread. Water softeners and chlorinated public water can sometimes kill the yeast needed to make your bread dough rise.

Ingredients

  • 1 1/4 cups water, warm

  • 2 1/4 teaspoons dry active yeast

  • 1 cup whole milk, room temperature; or skim, or non-fat

  • 2 tablespoons honey

  • 2 teaspoons salt

  • 3 tablespoons butter, softened

  • 6 cups bread flour, divided

  • 2 teaspoons vegetable oil, divided

Steps to Make It

  1. Gather the ingredients.

    Easy Honey White Bread ingredients

    The Spruce / Julia Estrada

  2. In​ a large bowl, mix the warm water and yeast. Ideally, the water temperature should be between 95 F and 110 F.

    In​ a large bowl, mix warm water and yeast

    The Spruce / Julia Estrada

  3. Add the milk, honey, salt, and butter. Stir well to roughly incorporate.

    Add the milk, honey, salt, and butter to the mixture in the bowl

    The Spruce / Julia Estrada

  4. Add 4 cups of the flour and mix well. Add in enough of the remaining flour to make a dough that follows the spoon around the bowl.

    Dough in a bowl

    The Spruce / Julia Estrada

  5. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead the dough for 10 minutes, adding more flour as needed until the dough is firm and smooth to the touch. If using a standing mixer, mix on high for 3 to 5 minutes.

    Dough on a floured surface

    The Spruce / Julia Estrada

  6. Grease a medium-sized bowl with 1 teaspoon of the vegetable oil. Place the dough inside and turn it over in the bowl a few times so that it's lightly greased all over.

    Dough in a greased bowl

    The Spruce / Julia Estrada

  7. Cover with a clean cloth and let rise in a warm, draft-free place for 1 hour.

    Dough in a bowl covered with a towel

    The Spruce / Julia Estrada

Shape and Bake the Dough

  1. Punch down the dough. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board and knead for 5 minutes or until the bubbles are out of the bread. If using a standing mixer, mix for 2 minutes at medium speed.

    Dough on a floured surface

    The Spruce / Julia Estrada

  2. Divide the dough into 2 equal parts. Shape each dough half into a loaf-shaped oval ball.

    Divide the dough into two equal parts, and each shaped into a loaf

    The Spruce / Julia Estrada

  3. Grease two 9x5-inch bread pans with the remaining teaspoon of vegetable oil.

    Dough in loaf pans

    The Spruce / Julia Estrada

  4. Cover with a kitchen towel and let rise in a warm, draft-free place for 45 minutes, or until doubled in size. Around 15 minutes before the time is up, preheat the oven to 350 F.

    Dough rising in loaf pans

    The Spruce / Julia Estrada

  5. Bake the loaves for 40 minutes or until the bread top is golden brown and the loaves sound hollow when tapped on top. Remove the bread from the pans and allow them to cool on a rack.

    Easy Honey White Bread on a cooling rack

    The Spruce / Julia Estrada

  6. Enjoy.

Choose Your Favorite Crust

Depending on what you do before or after baking the loaves, you'll end up with a different type of crust:

  • Brush the loaves with melted butter immediately after baking to achieve a soft crust.
  • Spray the loaves with water while they bake for a crispy crust.
  • Brush the loaves with milk before baking to get a dark, shiny crust.
  • Brush the loaves with egg whites before baking to get a shiny crust.

What is bread flour?

Bread flour has a higher amount of protein than all-purpose flour, from 11 to 13 percent. Having more protein helps the dough to also have higher amounts of gluten, which gives the dough stretch and elasticity. This means that bread made with bread flour will rise higher and have a chewier bite than bread made with all-purpose flour.


You can make your own bread flour by adding 1 1/2 teaspoons of wheat gluten to each cup of all-purpose flour you use in your bread recipe.

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
183 Calories
3g Fat
32g Carbs
6g Protein
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 20
Amount per serving
Calories 183
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 3g 4%
Saturated Fat 1g 7%
Cholesterol 6mg 2%
Sodium 232mg 10%
Total Carbohydrate 32g 12%
Dietary Fiber 1g 4%
Total Sugars 2g
Protein 6g
Vitamin C 0mg 0%
Calcium 21mg 2%
Iron 0mg 2%
Potassium 63mg 1%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)