Amish Milk Bread

By
Elizabeth Yetter
Elizabeth Yetter
Bread expert Elizabeth Yetter has been baking bread for more than 20 years, bringing her Pennsylvania Dutch Country experiences to life through recipes.
Learn about The Spruce Eats' Editorial Process
Updated on 06/30/21
Amish milk bread recipe

The Spruce

Prep: 30 mins
Cook: 40 mins
Rise : 105 mins
Total: 2 hrs 55 mins
Servings: 20 servings
Yield: 2 loaves
Nutrition Facts (per serving)
175 Calories
2g Fat
32g Carbs
6g Protein
Show Full Nutrition Label Hide Full Nutrition Label
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 20
Amount per serving
Calories 175
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 2g 3%
Saturated Fat 1g 5%
Cholesterol 4mg 1%
Sodium 127mg 6%
Total Carbohydrate 32g 12%
Dietary Fiber 1g 4%
Total Sugars 2g
Protein 6g
Vitamin C 0mg 0%
Calcium 38mg 3%
Iron 0mg 2%
Potassium 86mg 2%
*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.)

Amish milk bread is an airy, slightly sweet white bread that is traditionally made in Amish communities in America. It's fantastically moist and ideal for anywhere you'd typically use white bread, like sandwiches, French toast, or bread pudding. Simple ingredients, and a little patience yield a wonderful loaf of bread without the additives or preservatives that are common in store-bought sliced bread.

This kind of white bread is richer in flavor and softer in texture than other sandwich loaves. Its creamy color toasts to a beautiful golden and indulgent slice that is simply perfect when smeared with butter and spreads. This is an easy-to-slice bread, with the perfect hint of sweetness.

For our recipe, we recommend using bread flour, as it has higher protein content and produces a lighter crumb. Bread flour is able to absorb more liquid and moisture, which in return produces a better shape in the bread and also loaves with a higher rise. Lastly, use bottled water instead of tap water to make the bread, as water softeners and chlorinated public water can sometimes kill the yeast needed to make the dough rise. Any milk you have at hand will do fine, from whole to low fat, and even dry milk if needed.

Ingredients

  • 2 1/4-ounce packets dry active yeast, or 1 1/2 tablespoons

  • 1/4 cup water, warm; 95 to 110 F

  • 2 cups milk, room temperature

  • 1 tablespoon brown sugar, packed

  • 1 teaspoon salt

  • 2 tablespoons butter, soft

  • 6 cups bread flour, divided

  • 1 teaspoon vegetable oil

Steps to Make It

  1. Gather the ingredients.

    Ingredients for Amish milk bread
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  2. In a large bowl, gently stir together the yeast and warm water.

    Yeast in bowl
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  3. Add the milk, brown sugar, salt, and butter. Stir well to incorporate.

    Add the milk to the mixture
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  4. Add 4 cups of flour and mix well. Add enough of the remaining flour, a little at a time, to make a dough that follows the spoon around the bowl.

    Add four cups of flour
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  5. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 10 minutes, adding more flour as needed until the dough is firm and smooth to the touch.

    Turn the dough on a floured surface
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  6. Grease a large bowl with vegetable oil and place the dough in it, turning it over so that the top is also lightly greased. Cover with a clean cloth and let rise in a warm, draft-free place for 1 hour.

    Place dough in a greased bowl
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  7. After one hour, firmly punch down the dough.

    Punch down the dough
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  8. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured board and knead for 5 minutes, or until the bubbles are out of the bread.

    Pressing down on dough
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  9. Divide dough into 2 equal portions. Shape each dough half into a loaf.

    Divide dough into two parts
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  10. Place each loaf into a greased 9 x 5-inch bread pan. Cover and let rise in a warm, draft-free place for 45 minutes, or until doubled in size.

    Put dough in loaf pans
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  11. Preheat oven to 350 F. Bake the loaves for 40 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the bread sounds hollow when tapped.

    Bake bread until golden
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  12. Remove the loaves from the pans and allow them to cool down on a rack.

    Let bread cool on a rack
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  13. Serve and enjoy!

Can I Make My Own Bread Flour?

Bread flour has a higher amount of gluten than all-purpose flour. This means that bread made with bread flour will rise higher than bread made with all-purpose flour. But you don't specifically need to buy bread flour to enjoy its benefits when baking. A quick and easy shortcut is to add 1 1/2 teaspoons of wheat gluten to each cup of all-purpose flour to produce bread flour like what you'd buy at the store.

Brush the Loaves

Brushing the loaves before or after baking with different ingredients produces different results. Depending on what you like in a loaf of bread, there's something you can do to enhance the crust texture:

  • Brush the loaves with melted butter immediately after baking to produce a soft crust.
  • Brush the loaves with milk before baking to produce a dark, shiny crust.
  • Brush the loaves with a beaten egg white before baking to produce a shiny crust.
  • Spraying loaves with water while they bake will produce a crispy crust.

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