If you love warm bread fresh from the oven (with butter melting on top) as much as we do you'll find tons more homemade bread recipes here.
Table of Contents
❤️ Why you'll love it
- There's nothing like the taste (and smell!) of homemade bread!
- Over 900 5 star reviews plus lots of rave reviews on Pinterest and Facebook.
- This easy bread recipe has been in the top 3 on Google since I published it in 2008!
This truly is a no fail buttermilk bread recipe - millions of readers have tried it and loved it because it comes out delicious, light and fluffy every time!
If you've never worked with homemade yeast dough before take a look at this breadmaking guide before you get started. It answers about any question you could have.
⭐ Readers say
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Definitely 5 Stars Thank You for posting these awesome recipes. Having you with your background and experience post for all of us who are always looking to find a better way of preparing delicious food is remarkable!! I personally want to Thank You for your kindness and thoughtfulness!💕💕💕. Debra A.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Just made this for the first time, I have never made bread like this. I was worried because the buttermilk mixture was so fluffy but this bread turned out AMAZING! Such a good flavor! It’s subtly sweet and has great texture. Thanks for the recipe! Stacy
🧾 Ingredients
This is an overview of the ingredients. You'll find the full measurements and instructions in the green recipe card (printable) at the bottom of the page.
Honey buttermilk bread is so unbelievably light that no one will believe it's made from scratch.
Here are the ingredients for this soft sandwich bread.- I used active dry yeast but you can use rapid rise if you want - just follow the instructions on the packet of yeast.
- Buttermilk in bread adds a little flavor but mostly it creates that soft, tender crumb we all love. If you don't have any you can make homemade buttermilk.
- Salt - kosher salt was used. If you use regular table salt cut the amount by about ¼th or so.
- Bread flour - you can use all purpose flour if you like. There might be a tiny difference in how high it rises. Take a look at this list of different types of flour and how to use them.
🔪 Instructions
This is an overview of the instructions. Full instructions are in the green recipe card at the bottom of the page.
Just follow the images to see how to mix, knead, and shape this easy, homemade sandwich loaf.
Mixing and kneading
- Mix the sugar, ginger, yeast, and warm water in a small bowl and set aside until foamy.
- Whisk the buttermilk, honey, salt, and baking soda together in a large bowl.
- Add it to the yeast mixture.
- Pour into the bowl of a stand mixer.
- Add three cups of flour and mix until smooth, about 3 to 5 minutes on low speed of a stand mixer.
- Pour in the butter and blend.
- Switch to kneading hook (dough hook attachment). Add the rest of the flour, one cup at a time, keeping mixer on low speed.
- When buttermilk dough pulls from the sides of the bowl remove it from the mixer to a lightly floured work surface. Knead it by hand a few times until elastic and smooth
- Place dough in greased
mixing bowl , turn to grease the top, and cover with a clean tea towel. Let rise about 1 ½ hours.
Shaping
How to shape homemade sandwich bread step by step.- Punch dough down. You'll want to give it a gentle kneading for a minute or two but nothing like the first time! Don't over-knead it.
- Shape into loaves.
- Place loaves in bread pans and let rise until double. Bake.
- Remove finished loaves from oven. Brush with butter.
- Cool on a wire rack and slice.
- Perfect!
🍞 Bread machine instructions
Many of you have asked how to make buttermilk bread in a bread machine. One reader, Debbie, did and this is what she said:
"If you want to make it and bake it in a bread machine cut the buttermilk bread recipe in half, set it on white bread setting, and add ingredients in this order (or according to your manufacturer's instructions):
- Water
- Buttermilk
- Butter
- Honey
- Sugar
- Salt
- Flour mixed with ginger and baking soda
- Yeast
🎥 Video
Click on the image to watch me knead this. (Video opens in a new tab).
🥫 Storage
Homemade bread doesn't last long after it's baked. You can wrap it tightly in plastic wrap or place in an airtight storage container and keep it at room temperature for about 2 days.
For longer storage cool completely, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, then aluminum foil, and freeze for up to 3 months.
I like to cut it in slices and freeze with a piece of wax paper or parchment paper between the slices. That way I can just thaw what I need without thawing the whole loaf.
To freeze unbaked dough you'll want to double the amount of yeast called for in the recipe and then freeze the dough after shaping it into loaves.
When ready to bake let the loaves thaw overnight in the refrigerator then finish rising at room temperature. It will take a bit longer to rise than normal.
Bake as directed in the recipe.
📖 Variations
This is one of those easy bread recipes that you can change up by adding other ingredients.
- Knead in raisins and add sugar and cinnamon before shaping for a wonderful cinnamon raisin bread - use shaping instructions in this cinnamon swirl bread recipe.
- The rich texture of buttermilk bread makes it perfect for slicing thickly and making into French toast.
- If it gets a bit stale make it into bread pudding. Yum!
- This makes a great buttermilk dinner rolls recipe, too! Just shape into rolls and bake at 375f for 10 to 15 minutes.
💭 Things to know
Expert tip: You may need more or less flour than called for in the recipe. Weather and climate can affect your ingredients - humidity will often mean you'll need at least an extra ¼ cup or so of flour. If you bake bread on a rainy day it will rise higher than on a clear one due to air pressure!
- Make sure all ingredients are at room temperature.
- Use yeast that is within the sell by date. If your bread dough isn't rising well it could be that the yeast is too old.
- If you're short on time you can let the bread rise in the refrigerator overnight for either the first or second rising time.
- The baking soda does two things… It works with the acid in the buttermilk to help the bread rise high and light and balances any off tastes from the acids in the buttermilk.
- Make sure your liquids are not hotter than 110F. Check with an insta-read thermometer. If the liquids are too hot the yeast will die.
- Be sure to fully knead the dough. It develops the flavor and texture - and will take 8 to 10 minutes by hand of kneading vigorously.
- Grease the top of the dough before rising.
- Let dough rise in a warm spot. A draft-free place is best.
- If you like the crust a darker golden brown brush it with egg yolk mixed with a teaspoon of water just before putting in the oven.
- Cool the baked bread in the pan for 10 minutes then turn out to finish cooling.
- Brush the loaves with butter while still hot and then cover with a clean tea towel while cooling for soft crusts.
- Here's how to use up that leftover buttermilk!
Troubleshooting
If you're having problems with yeast doughs and homemade bread I have answers!
Also - these tips on getting your homemade bread to rise properly are what keep mine high and light!
👩🍳 FAQs
Yes! This bread recipe is made with honey but you can use sugar in it instead. Use an equal amount or slightly less sugar.
My favorite is glass.
The loaves bake evenly and the crust is perfect. I've heard good things about cast iron but I haven't tried it yet. Aluminum or metal pans are fine if that's what you have - your crust may brown faster so watch it.
Rub the crusts with butter and cover with a tea towel as soon as you bring them out of the oven if you like soft crust.
If you want a crusty bread don't cover it as it's cooling. You can also brush it with egg white blended with 1 teaspoon of water before baking.
You can use an insta-read thermometer if you like. Push it into the side of the loaf - the center of the bread should be about 200F.
You can also turn the loaf out and tap the bottom. It will sound hollow. After you've baked bread a few times you'll just know.
Try removing a tablespoon of flour and adding a tablespoon of wheat gluten for every cup of flour you add to the bread. This helps it rise better and stay light and fluffy.
Sure, you'll need to halve the recipe and follow the manufacturer's instructions. Be careful not to overknead.
📚 Related recipes
🍽️ Serve with...
This bread makes delicious sandwiches! Try it with -
📞 The last word
This country white bread is a classic recipe that you'll use again and again!
If you click on the number of servings in the recipe card you can adjust the measurements up or down for the exact number of servings you need. Don't forget that you can click on "add to collection" to save it to your own, private recipe box!
If you love this recipe please give it 5 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
📖 Recipe
Honey Buttermilk Bread
Print Pin Recipe Save Recipe Rate RecipeIngredients
- 1 tablespoon yeast, or 1 packet
- 1 pinch powdered ginger
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- ¼ cup water, warm, 105F - 110F
- 2 cups cultured buttermilk, warm, 105F - 110F
- ⅓ cup honey
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt, if using table salt use ¾ teaspoon
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- 6 cups bread flour, you may use all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup butter, melted and cooled so that it is warm to the touch but not hot.
Instructions
- In a medium sized bowl mix the yeast, ginger, sugar, and 110F water.
- Set aside for 5 minutes or until foamy.
- Whisk the buttermilk, honey, salt, and baking soda together and add it to the yeast mixture.
- Add three cups of flour and mix until smooth, about 3 to 5 minutes on low of a stand mixer.
- Pour in the butter until it is totally mixed into the batter.
- Add the rest of the flour, one cup at a time, keeping mixer on low speed.
- When dough pulls from the sides of the bowl remove it from the mixer to a lightly floured surface. Knead until elastic and smooth. You can also knead in your mixer according to manufacturer's directions.
- Place in greased bowl, turn to grease the top, and cover bowl with a clean tea towel.
- Allow the dough to rise for 1 ½ hours, or until double.
- Punch down and form into two loaves. Place each in a greased loaf pan with seam sides down. Grease tops.
- Cover, and allow to rise in a warm place for 45 minutes, or until it is just about to the tops of the bread pans.
- Preheat oven to 375F.
- Bake for 30 minutes. You can cover the tops with foil if they brown too fast.
- Remove from oven and brush top of the loaves with melted butter. Place on cooling rack.
- Allow to cool in pans for 10 minutes.
- Gently run a knife around the edge between the bread and the pan to loosen it.
- Turn out and cool completely on a rack.
- Cover the loaves if you want soft crusts.
Notes
-
Expert tip: You may need more or less flour than called for in the recipe. Weather and climate can affect your ingredients - humidity will often mean you'll need at least an extra ¼ cup or so of flour. If you bake bread on a rainy day it will rise higher than on a clear one due to air pressure!
- Make sure all ingredients are at room temperature.
- Use yeast that is within the sell by date. If your bread dough isn't rising well it could be that the yeast is too old..
- Make sure your liquids are not more than 110F. Check with a insta-read thermometer. If the liquids are too hot the yeast will die.
- Be sure to fully knead the dough. It develops the flavor and texture - and will take 8 to 10 minutes by hand.
- Grease the top of the dough before rising.
- Let the dough rise in a warm spot.
- If you feel the bread gets too brown at 375f bake at 350 f.
- Cool the baked bread in the pan for 10 minutes then turn out to finish cooling.
- Brush the loaves with butter while still hot and then cover with a clean tea towel while cooling for soft crusts.
Nutrition Facts
Nutrition information is estimated as a courtesy. If using for medical purposes, please verify information using your own nutritional calculator. Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
This recipe has been undated from the original 2008 version to improve reader experience. Last updated June 26, 2022 for more information and better instructions.
Julie says
Well... you're going to laugh... but, fighting a migraine, I messed up and put in a quart of buttermilk rather than the called for pint.
The recipe said 3 cups flour and the dough would pull away from the sides of the mixing bowl... I kept adding and adding flour, thinking, what the heck?
After 6 cups of flour, I was able to turn my soupy dough onto my counter and slosh it around in more flour. After a total of 8 cups, I had a very soft dough, but it went into the pans well enough. I got 2-2 1.2 lb loaves and 1- 1 1/2 lb mini loaf.
THEN I reread the recipe and discovered my error. Everything rose well enough and baked even better, I was counting my lucky stars. What emerged from my oven was bread with a marvelous texture and interesting taste. Toasted, with grass fed butter, it almost tastes like the cheese toast from my favorite restaurant. (haha - because buttermilk is practically cheese, eh?)
I ended up enjoying this recipe so much that I'm planning on using it for my Thanksgiving Day rolls - but just a pint of buttermilk this time. Thank you for sharing.
terri says
Just made this and it is wonderful! Probably best bread I have ever done!
Emily says
can you use a cast iron Dutch oven to bake the bread? like, if I wanted to make it a round loaf?
Marye Audet says
I've never tried but I'm sure you could.
Mark says
Amazing bread! Just made it today and got a huge thumbs up from the wife!
I've only baked about 12 loaves since I started baking and found this to be an easy one to follow.
I used milk with lemon juice in to substitute the buttermilk because being from the UK, its not something thats readily available
Thanks for the recipe. I'll definitely be baking it again...soon!
Ella says
Great looking bread! Could you tell me what type of honey is best for making this bread? Thanks.
Marye Audet says
Hi Ella. Thank you! Really any honey that isn't too strongly flavored. Good choices are: local honeys, wildflower honey, orange blossom honey, clover honey...Hope this helps.
Victoria says
I live in high altitude (5500 ft), and I wasn't sure about the best way to make this bread, I was supposed to make so many changes due to the altitude that I decided to follow the recipe just as it was. It turned out great! Thank you so much for sharing it!
PS I only added one additional step, I punched the dough twice instead of once, I read that helps develop the flavor in high altitude.
Rosemary says
I made this today, except I mixed the rapid rise yeast in half the flour and heated up all the liquids to 120 and added them to the flour, mixed, then added the rest of the flour.
It was outstanding!!!!
Thanks for this recipe!
Elise says
This looks so yummy! I'm going to try this for my first bread! My question is what do you grease the pans with? And what is a tea Towel? 🙂
Marye Audet says
Grease the pans with cooking spray or butter or oil. 🙂 A tea towel? Oh, it's just an old fashioned name for a dish towel. 😉 Let me know how it goes! And.. if you have any problems just message me on the Facebook page.
Melissa says
I have been baking bread now for 10 years. We don't eat anything bread related from the store, including buns. So I feel like I have experience enough to say that this is an excellent bread recipe. 99% of the time I use my old stand by for white sandwich bread, but I had some good buttermilk, saw your recipe and thought I'd give it a try. The dough was so nice to work with. The bread has great texture and really great flavor. I'll definitely make this one again!
Kathleen says
I make my own Greek style (strained) yogurt. I mix some yogurt with the whey liquid I strain off. I use this in place of the buttermilk called for in the recipe. I also use the whey in my other baking
Roberta C Caudill says
I've been searching for a good bread recipe. I can tell by just looking at the bread that this is good! Going to give it a whirl! Question: do u think I could use this to make burger buns also?
Marye Audet says
🙂 yes it makes great buns.
Marla says
Made the Honey Buttermilk just like you instructed and turned out beautifully! My husband was so surprised. Love this recipe! Will make again. Thank you for sharing. Through sharing we learn and grow.
Stephanie Whitehouse says
I made this using 1/3 natural yoghurt and 2/3 skimmed milk instead of the buttermilk, and it worked beautifully. I baked one standard loaf, and rolled out the other half of the dough onto a sheet of silicon paper, spread it with more honey and chopped apricots and then rolled it up and coiled the roll to give a round sweet bread. A tasty, light loaf in both versions.
Christie Smith says
I used to love when my mom made bread. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to cook and bake son naturally I started making bread. No one in my family, including my husband, cared one way or the other so I stopped making it. I just recently started making bread again, just because I LOVE dong it and to me it taste SOOOOOOOO much better. I can't wait to try this and I will also make my own buttermilk. Thank you again for sharing...................
Valerie Lemus says
I didn't have time to search every comment so maybe this has already been answered...sorry.
What is the powdered ginger and is it necessary. I actually work at the only grocery store in our town. I do know what ginger is and we do carry it but I don't think we carry powdered ginger. Is it something that would be in the spice section or in the Asian section? If I can't find it would it be ok to leave it out. Is there something I can substitute. What is its purpose.. thanks so much.
Valeriel8669@gmail.com
Marye Audet says
Powdered ginger is in the spice section. It is ginger root that has been dried and powdered. It acts as a booster for the yeast but you could leave it out if you like.
Katie says
Well this is going to be my go to recipe from now on! The only thing, I do not own a bread baking dish! So I made these into rolls. While they are fantastic, I'm going to get some glass bread dishes like you have and make this again! My grandsons were here after school. After they had their snacks, I pulled these rolls out of the oven. Of course they wanted one and all I heard was mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. lol. Thanks for a wonderful wonderful recipe!!
RachelBarnes says
I made this bread this am, and it is easily the best bread I have ever made. It is fluffy, it is very tasty and it came out great. I think I had it in the oven a little too long as the tops of my bread was a little on the darker side, but nonetheless, the inside is so soft and moist and just perfect.
If you're reading through the comments and you're trying to decide if you want to make this, I would strongly recommend doing so. It's incredibly easy and it gives phenomenal results. This is easily going to be my go to bread recipe. Thank you so much for giving us a treasure. 🙂
kristy kay hess-poff says
I used sour milk and the bread had a weird flavor it also tasted like baking soda. I am going to re-make it with actually buttermilk. i am guessing the sour milk was a bad idea?
Marye Audet says
Yep. Buttermilk means buttermilk, not sour milk, not milk and lemon juice. 🙂 also double check your measurement on the baking soda... it should not taste of baking soda at all ... it's just 3/4 a TEASPOON for 6 cups of flour so the flavor is minimal.
Suzanne Dube says
Wow this is a fantastic recipe. I was a little worried when my butermilk curddled but I just read your other viewers comments , and it's okay !!! Thank you for your time to read and answer our questions. Hey everyone you must try this recipe you will not have any regrets . Bye for now !!
Claudia says
I just started baking this year. Your recipe was the fourth white bread recipe I tried, and now I make it almost every week! My family loves it. Thank you for sharing it online! Could you share how you heat the buttermilk? I have done it both on the stove and in the microwave and feel like it curdles at times, but thus far it has not seemed to affect the final product.