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How to make homemade egg bread

homemade egg bread

This has popped up on my menu plan a few times here and there and lots of you have asked for the recipe.   But it’s taken me FOREVER to get around to posting it.

Sorry ’bout that!

This is a soft, slightly sweet white bread. It’s got a more tender crumb than regular white sandwich bread, partly because it’s made with milk, not water, and partly because it has more fat in it, in the form of eggs.

It’s a bit like the dough you’d use to make cinnamon swirl bread, and it’s pretty darn delicious.

two loaves egg bread

I often use it to make panini because it’s firm enough to hold up to the grill pan but also soft enough to compress the way a panini should.

But it’s also delicious as-is, and it makes delightful toast.

To start, combine flour and yeast in your mixer bowl.

flour and yeast

Heat your butter, milk, salt, and sugar to 120°F, at which point the butter should be pretty soft.

heated liquids

Add the warm milk mixture to the mixer bowl, and beat until combined.

The add in the eggs.

eggs

Beat for 3 minutes on medium speed, then stir in enough of the remaining flour to make a soft dough.

(IMPORTANT NOTE: Add only enough flour to make the dough soft. The amount of flour necessary will vary depending on the type of flour you use, how you measure your flour, the humidity of your home, and so on. Go by touch, not by the cups of flour.)

soft dough

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, and knead for 2-3 minutes (alternatively, you can finish kneading in the mixer.)

dough for kneading

When you’re done kneading, your dough should be a nice cohesive ball, but it should not be stiff.

See how this kind of flattens out a bit on my counter in the photo below?

kneaded dough

It should not be firm enough to hold its shape (way softer than cookie dough, for instance.)

If your dough is too hard, it’s not going to rise well and you’ll end up with a dense loaf.  

We’re going for a nice, soft dough here, people! Again, add flour based on feel, not so much on the cup measurements.

Put your dough into the bowl, cover it with a wet tea towel, and let it rise for an hour.

After it rises, turn it out onto a floured surface and divide it into three pieces.

Note: you can make four loaves out of this dough if you don’t want super tall loaves.  

But I like my loaves pretty tall, and besides, three loaf pans fit in my oven better than four.

So three loaves it is for me!

divide dough in three

Roll one piece out into an oblong shape, then roll it up, starting at the short end.  

Place the loaf into a greased 4×8-inch loaf pan, and repeat with remaining pieces of dough.

loaves ready to rise

(I use Williams-Sonoma Goldtouch loaf pans.)

Cover the loaves and let them rise for about 30 minutes, or until they’re doubled in size.

risen egg bread loaves

(I am not the awesomest at dividing dough evenly. And I am also too lazy to weigh my dough!)

Before the loaves are done rising, turn your oven on to 350°F.

You want it to be nice and hot by the time your dough is done rising because loaves that go into a hot oven will rise better and brown better than loaves that go into a cold oven.

Bake the loaves for 25-30 minutes, or until they’re nicely browned.  

Remove the loaves from the pans and let them cool on a wire rack.

egg bread cooling on wire rack

These are the cooling racks I own.  

They are so, so, so much better than the rickety ones I use to own, and I love that the cross-hatch design on these means that baked goods don’t sag down between the bars.

So.

That’s how I make egg bread.   Go make some for yourself!

(By the way, if you’ve been having trouble with your yeast bread and you need some help figuring out what went wrong, read this post all about troubleshooting common yeast bread problems.)

two loaves egg bread

Homemade Egg Bread

Yield: 3-4 loaves
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Additional Time: 2 hours
Total Time: 2 hours 50 minutes

This soft, slightly sweet bread is lovely on its own but also makes great sandwiches.

Ingredients

  • 9 1/2-10 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 2 pkg. (4 1/2 teaspoons) active dry yeast
  • 2 1/2 cups milk
  • 6 tablespoons sugar
  • 6 tablespoons butter
  • 2 scant teaspoons salt
  • 4 eggs

Instructions

    1. In a mixer bowl, combine 4 cups of the flour and the yeast.
    2. Heat milk, sugar, butter, and salt together to 120-130 ° F.   Add to flour mixture; beat until combined.   Add eggs, and beat for 3 minutes.
    3. Stir in enough of the remaining flour to make a soft dough.   Turn dough out onto floured surface and knead 3-5 minutes, or until smooth and elastic.   Place dough in bowl, cover with wet tea towel, and let rise in warm place for an hour.
    4. Turn risen dough out onto lightly floured surface; divide into three pieces.   Roll one piece out into an oblong shape, then roll up, starting with short end.   Place into greased 8x4 loaf pan (or 1-pound Williams Sonoma bread pan); repeat with remaining dough.
    5. Cover loaf pans with wet tea towel; let rise in warm place until doubled, about 30 minutes.
    6. Bake in preheated 350 ° F oven for 25-30 minutes, or until nicely browned.   Remove loaves from pans and cool on wire rack.

Notes

You can make shorter loaves by using larger loaf pans. Or you can halve the recipe and make two loaves in the 8x4 inch loaf pans.

adapted very slightly from my old Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook

How to make egg bread

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Audrey

Tuesday 24th of October 2023

I didn't have the exact ingredients I used coconut oil, coconut sugar and whole wheat flour. But it turned out fabulous!!!!

Harriet

Monday 22nd of August 2022

I looked but no one seemed to comment on this. You list active dry yeast, but the treatment and water temp correlates to what other websites say for using rapid rise/instant yeast in place of active dry. I have TONS of rapid rise because in 2020 during covid that's all I could find, and had to find it online. I'm going to try this recipe as the instructions say, but use rapid rise. Hope it works! My bread tummy is starving!

Kristen

Tuesday 23rd of August 2022

As I understand it, rapid rise is different than instant yeast. I use instant yeast interchangeably with active dry, but I don't use rapid rise.

Hope that helps!

Jen

Monday 4th of July 2022

Thank you for posting this recipe - I was looking for an eggy, more savory, loaf for grilled cheese and this turned out perfectly. I cut in 1/2 and put a loaf in my two 1.5 loaf pans. They puffed perfectly during the second rise and rose like crazy in the oven. I tried 2 different shaping techniques (oblong/roll/roll and stretch/fold/pinch) and the latter actually made for a much higher loaf that was browner on the top - go figure?!

For anyone in higher elevations looking around the interwebz for weights, hereโ€™s what I did: 4 cups (480 grams) APF + 4 tablespoons during the machine knead. After the initial mix of flour and milk, butter, sugar, salt, I kneaded for 4 minutes, let it rest for 3 and kneaded again for 2 at Speed 4 with the dough hook on my Kitchenaid. This made for a perfect loose dough that had no trouble rising. It was oddly humid here - New Mexico - today (33% vs the normal 7 or 8) but I still think the combo would work. Follow the directions for butter/milk/etc..

At any rate, Iโ€™ve bookmarked this goodie. Thanks again. As soon as they cool, slices are going into a cast iron pan with cheese. Yummy yum!

Kristen

Monday 4th of July 2022

Thank you so much for sharing the high altitude tips!

Kristin

Saturday 7th of May 2022

I have a question on the proof time. I made this once and it was amazing. Can I let it proof over night? Also, I am wanting taller loafs, would letting it proof longer produce a taller loaf or am I better off making two loaves instead of three? This is my first bread and it was delicious and so much easier than I thought it would be.

Kristen

Sunday 8th of May 2022

So glad this turned out well for you! Overnight proofing would give you way over-risen dough with this recipe; I wouldn't try it. However, you COULD let the loaves rise overnight in the fridge. Just let the loaves come to room temp before baking.

And if you want taller loaves then yes, I'd do two loaves instead of three.

I hope it goes well for you!

Diana Young

Wednesday 26th of January 2022

You are so detailed! I will try this recipe. Just got chickens and I've been trying to figure out what to do with the eggs! This will do for now.! Thanks so much.

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