Julia Child’s White Bread

Prep Time: 1 hrs 40 mins

Total Time: 3 hrs 25 mins

Serves: 16,Yield: 2loaves

Ingredients

2 1/2 cupswater( 105-115 F)

1tablespoonactive dry yeast

1tablespoonsugar

7cups bread flour or 7cupsall-purpose flour

1tablespoonsalt

1/4-1/2 cupunsalted butter, softened

Directions

Pour 1/2 cup of the water into a bowl and mix with yeast and sugar til foamy.

Let sit for 5 minutes until creamy.

Put the yeast mixture, rest of the water and 3 1/2 cups of the flour into the mixer with the dough hook.

Mix slowly until blended then add the rest of the flour.

Increase speed and scrape down the sides til the dough comes together.

(If it doesn’t add a tbsp of flour at a time til it does.) Add salt and mix at medium speed for 10 minutes (or do half in mixer and half kneading) til dough is smooth and elastic.

Back in mixer add butter 1 tbsp at a time (dough may come apart, but mixing will pull it back together).

Turn dough out on lightly floured surface and shape it into a ball then place in a large buttered or oiled bowl.

Turn dough so it is completely coated in the fat, then cover in plastic for 45 minutes to an hour, til it has doubled in size at room temperature.

Butter 2 loaf pans.

Deflate the dough, cut in half and turn out onto a lightly floured surface.

Roll out into a 9 x 12-inch rectangle.

With the short end facing you, fold the dough into thirds like a sheet of paper to go into an envelope, creating a roll.

Pinch the seam closed, and pinch the ends enough so it will fit in the loaf pan.

Drop in the loaf pan seam side down, and repeat.

Cover the loaves with buttered plastic wrap and allow to rise again in a warm place (80°F) for 45 minutes, until they double in size.

Preheat the oven to 375°F and put the rack in the center of the oven.

Bake for 35-45 minutes til they are honey brown.

Immediately turn out of pans onto a rack to cool.

Once almost completely cool, they can be cut.

Store in a brown paper bag for a day or two.

Once cut, turn cut side down onto a cutting board and cover with a kitchen towel.

Reviews

“I just prepared it, today.The bread turned out great.I don’t know if its the climate, but I didn’t have to put in the last half of cup of flour for the two loaves.They both rose beautifully and the second rising was huge and fluffy.I have to say, the consistency is quite nice and great for sandwich bread. Thanks for sharing such a simple recipe.I used my Kitchen Aid with a dough hook.I did notice that I had to intermittently use my hands to kneed just like the recipe called for.It is unusual to add salt later and the butter last.I just went along with it as strange and as unusually elastic and seemingly stiff or rubbery as the dough seemed.So, I was a bit worried.But, to my amazement, after the first rising as it doubled in size, the dough was relaxed and easy to work with just like other more complicated white bread recipes I’ve worked with, for example; The Joy of Cooking recipe book, which calls for more sugar or eggs, etc.Because I wanted to use a 5’11” bread pan, I only had one… I wrapped the other half of the bread dough in saran wrap and put it in the freezer temporarily to stop it from rising until I finished baking the first loaf. After I was ready to run errands and do the second loaf, it warmed up to room temp and rose just as good as the first loaf. I am saving one finished loaf in the freezer, now and the other one we will slice into during dinner, tonight.Thanks for posting the recipe.”

“I make this all the time. It is awesome and with Julia, you can’t lose!”

“OMG, this bread is wonderful!It came out golden, honey-colored, nice, crisp outside crust, and best of all, has great taste!Loved working with this dough.Didn’t need to put in additional flour, at all, after I added the butter.The mixer whipped it right back into shape, pretty as you please!Most definitely a keeper!Thanks for sharing, GayLaudee C.”

“Just wanted to add my thanks for the great recipe.”

“I DO NOT have a bread maker, or any kitchen machines (other then a blender and a hand mixer). I did this from front to back with my hands and both times it turned out perfect! I also used less butter just to save money (about 3/4 of a stick) and it was still great.”

“Be super careful if you edit the servings size for this recipe. I cut it down to one loaf, but the instructions didn’t update. I’m more than confident that not knowing that the measurements didn’t change in the body of the instructions is going to screw up the whole recipe.”

“This bread is so good! The loaves are the same size as the store. I love this recipe, but I do feel like I should say it tastes like biscuits. Its so good, and I know will make great grilled cheese and sandwiches. I will never buy store bread again.”

“I’m clearly in the minority here, but I dislike this recipe. There’s something to be said for bread that rises/ferments for longer periods of time – the resulting fermentation and enzyme/bacteria activity produces a deeper flavor, which isn’t possible to attain in a quick-rising bread like this one. It was okay, but the flavor was extremely flat. I love Julia Child, but this one’s a miss for me.”

“First attempt at making white bread at home today, and it is WONDERFUL! Super easy to work with, two beautiful loaves of bread – hubby is definitely impressed :)”

“Delicious. I made one loaf and then used the other half for cinnamon buns.”

“Very good recipe. I don’t have a mixer with a dough hook, so I divided the dough into two batches, and put each batch into the food processor to work everything together a bit. After doing that with both batches, I finished kneading the dough by hand. This bread had a very nice texture, and would be good for both toast and sandwiches.”

“Excellent Bread.Easy to make. I used the kitchaid mixer. Sweet, buttery and light bread!
I will make again. Thanks Gay Gilmore.”

“I’ve never baked anything in my life, and I made this Friday night, and it came out great! I only made one loaf, and it got inhaled, so I made the full batch of two loaves today.We made BLT’s for lunch with the bread, and it was fabulous.We will never buy bread at the store again!”

“I made the bread this morning and it turned out wonderful.I use my mom’s 60 yr.old mixer and let it do all the kneading and it was very easy to make.The bread came out perfect.I will be using this recipe fro.m now on.Thank you for posting and thank you Julia Child”

“I don’t have a mixer, so had to knead the old fashioned way.Once I introduced the butter, the dough was slip sliding away, and it was a fun challenge to stay with it each tablespoon until it did, indeed, come back together.It baked beautifully, and my daughter and I enjoyed a warm loaf with our pasta tonight.Thansk Julia!”

“This is the best white bread ever!! I have a stand-up mixer and started out using the dough hooks; however, by the time I put the 7th cup of flour in, my dough had “rode” all the way up the dough hooks and was starting to take over my mixer.I looked at the mess in disbelief.I then finished mixing by hand mixing the softened butter by hand and kneading until smooth and able to be shaped into a ball.The bread still turned out WONDERFUL!It was worth all the trouble.I will definitely be making this bread again.I did made 3 loaves instead of 2.”

“I’ve made this bread 3 times so far and it always turns out perfect exactly as written. (I use a stand mixer)I’ve never had to add more flour like I usually do with most bread recipes.It has an excellent crumb and very good flavor.I’ve used it for sandwiches, toast, and french toast.The only thing that I do differently is to split the dough into 3 loaves instead of 2.When I did 2 the first time, the loaves were HUGE on top!”

“This was really great– the perfect white bread and really easy to do in the stand mixer. Thanks!”

“This bread turned out great!!! I did it all by hand because I do not own a stand up mixer and my hand mixer is old and doesn’t work well in thick batter or dough.The texture and flavor were just right!Best toast ever!”