Sour Milk Bread Recipe – Two Pound Loaf
Last Updated on October 26, 2024 – Originally posted in June of 2010
Sour milk bread is the recipe that I use most often. We always have it on hand. I love the simple ingredients list and the texture of the bread.
The Man of the House (TMOTH) loves it for breakfast. We don’t have toast every morning, but when we do TMOTH is disappointed if he can’t find milk bread.
What Does Milk Add to a Bread Recipe?
Why would a person use milk instead of water in a bread recipe?
First of all, milk adds nutrition to bread. Beyond that, milk also contributes some great qualities.
The sugar in milk, lactose, isn’t consumed by yeast. So it stays in the bread making it a little sweeter.
Milk improves the bread’s texture and flavor. The bread is softer, fluffier and richer tasting. It enriches the dough with milk proteins and fat.
Should You Scald the Milk?
Some bakers advise that milk should be scalded before it’s used in making bread.
That’s because milk contains glutathione. That’s a chemical that can prevent the dough from rising properly.
However, I’ve never scalded the milk and my bread has always turned out fine. Maybe the preheat cycle helps with this? Maybe scalding milk was necessary before the era when milk was pasteurized?
I’m not sure. I only know that I’ve had no problems with using milk right of out the refrigerator with this recipe.
In a Hurry?
I normally use active dry yeast in this sour milk bread recipe.
If time is short, you can make this recipe with the quick cycle of your bread machine. If you do this, substitute the active dry yeast with three teaspoons of instant yeast, bread machine yeast or rapid rise yeast.
Instant yeast, bread machine yeast and rapid rise yeast can be used interchangeably. If you’d like to learn more about what yeast to use in your bread maker, check out this article.
Bread machines come in different sizes. So I’m frequently asked how to convert recipes into recipes for bread machines of different sizes. Click here to learn how to convert this recipe into a recipe for another sized machine.
Sour Milk
Don’t have sour milk, but want that tangy taste?
To make sour milk, add one tablespoon of vinegar to one cup of room-temperature milk. (Adjust amounts as needed for each recipe.) Stir and wait about 5 minutes.
Note that you can use either white vinegar or apple cider vinegar to sour the milk.
Type of Milk?
For years I made this recipe using 2% milk. It worked great.
I started wondering if the type of milk might make a difference in the bread’s rise. You never know until you try. So I did an experiment.
These loaves of bread were both made with the quick cycle and rapid rise yeast. The only difference is that the loaf on the left was made with 2% milk and the loaf on the right was made with whole milk.
Here’s another look at the two loaves of bread. The loaf in the front (#1) contains 2% milk. The loaf in the back (it’s #4 but the flag got cut off in the photo) was made with whole milk.
You get a slightly better rise with whole milk. Either way though, I think you’ll be thrilled with this recipe.
Oil is Optional
You’ll notice that I’ve added oil as an optional ingredient.
The bread tastes fine without it. However, we freeze our bread. We noticed that after freezing, the toasted crust is a little tough without the oil.
High Altitude Instructions
Note that this recipe was tested and developed at sea level. If you’re above 3,000 feet you’ll need to make adjustments. I have a page that gives general information about using your bread machine at high elevations.
I have since tested this recipe at about 4,800 feet.
After a lot of testing, I can now get a great loaf of sour milk bread at a high elevation.
Here’s how I did it:
- Lowered the amount of yeast to 1 1/4 teaspoons of active dry yeast.
- I had better results using the light crust setting instead of the medium crust setting
- Always check the dough after it’s been kneading for a few minutes! About half the time I need to add a little more flour.
FAQ for This Recipe
Here are some questions that come up for this recipe and articles that should help.
- Converting Bread Machine Recipes for Differently Sized Machines
- Can You Substitute Honey for Sugar in Bread Recipes?
- Bread Flour Versus All-Purpose Flour
Sour Milk Bread Instructions
This is for a two-pound loaf using the basic or white cycle with medium crust.
Follow the instructions that came with your bread machine in terms of which ingredients to put in the bread machine first. With most machines, you add the liquids first.
Make sure you check on the dough after five or ten minutes of kneading. It should be a smooth, round ball. If it’s too dry add liquid a teaspoon at a time until it looks OK. If it looks too wet, add flour a tablespoon at a time until it looks OK.
Sour Milk Bread Ingredients
Again, this is for a two-pound loaf using the basic or white cycle. Set the crust at medium.
- 1 ½ cups sour milk (I make mine with regular, not-sour milk and it works fine. See instructions above for making sour milk.)
- 4 cups bread flour
- 1 ¼ teaspoon salt
- 4 Tablespoons sugar
- 1 ½ Tablespoons oil (optional)
- 1 ¾ teaspoons active dry yeast
Sour Milk Bread - Two Pound Loaf
Recommended Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups (354.9 ml) sour milk I make mine with regular, not-sour milk and it works fine.
- 4 cups (500 g) bread flour
- 1 ¼ teaspoon (1.2 teaspoon) salt
- 4 Tablespoons (3.9 Tablespoons) sugar
- 1 ½ Tablespoons (1.5 Tablespoons) oil optional
- 1 ¾ teaspoons (1.7 teaspoons) active dry yeast
Instructions
- Note that this is for a two-pound loaf of bread. Use the basic setting with medium crust.
- Follow the instructions that came with your bread machine in terms of which ingredients to put in the bread machine first.
- Make sure you check on the dough after five or ten minutes of kneading. Just pop the top of the bread machine and see how the dough is doing. It should be a smooth, round ball. If it’s too dry add liquid a teaspoon at a time until it looks OK. If it looks too wet, add flour a tablespoon at a time until it looks OK.
Notes
- Lower the amount of yeast to 1 1/4 teaspoons of active dry yeast
- I had better results using the light crust setting instead of the medium crust setting
- Always check the dough after it’s been kneading for a few minutes! About half the time I need to add a little more flour.
Metric Measurements: This recipe was developed and tested using US customary measurements. Metric measurements are calculated automatically.
Nutrition
All information presented within this site is intended for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and any nutritional information on breadmachinediva.com should only be used as a general guideline. This information is provided as a courtesy and there is no guarantee that the information will be completely accurate. I try to provide accurate information to the best of my ability; however these figures should still be considered estimates.
Can you make this bread using a clabbered milk instead of souring it with vinegar? I’m also going to try mixing it in my kitchen aid mixer with the dough hook and baking in the oven in regular bread pans.
Interesting question. I haven’t tried used clabbered milk though.
I have made several of your recipes and my husband told me to stop baking we are eating way too much bread! Lol. They were all good! One question,on this sour milk recipe you say you use ‘not sour milk’ and its fine. Does that mean you do not add the vinegar? Thanks, just needed a little clarification.
Hi Jane, That’s right. You do not need to add the vinegar. It tastes fine without it.
Excellent recipe. I am at 6800 feet, used soured whole milk, added 1.5 tb rosemary (dried). I lowered yeast to 1.25 tsp, heated sour milk to 100 degrees and set crust to light. Came out Moist with excellent texture
I am making this now every time I have sour milk. I use skimmed milk so when I heat it up I add some butter to it. I make it using my food processor which I have used for years to make other bread. I love it! No more throwing out the milk!
Thanks for the comment. Yes, I love it for this reason too.
I love this recipe. It only uses a few ingredients and always comes out great. I am a very practical gal, and decided to make my own bread mix based on this recipe. I measure out all the dry ingredients and put them in a 1 qt. sealable bag. I make up several bags at a time and store some at room temperature and freeze some. Each bag has a sticker with instructions for adding the milk, vinegar, oil, and yeast. I can then grab a bag, add the liquid ingredients to the bread pan, pour in the bag of dry ingredients, make a well in the flour and add the yeast and gluten. (I add some vital wheat gluten cause I am pessimistic by nature :). The bread machine does the rest and clean up is a breeze!
What a great idea! Thanks for sharing!
I make a very similar recipe to this using 1% buttermilk (250 gms) and EVOO (45 gms) and find it makes an excellent all around white bread. I also use APF (King Arthur), with vital wheat gluten (40 gms) to make two one pound loaves. Turns out perfect everytime. I use the dough cycle, and bake in covered (1 lb) pullman pans. Bake at 350°F for 40 minutes, and it’s absolutely delicious! My local baker told me that milk also helps in crust development, and giving it a slightly darker shade from the maillard reactions during baking.
Interesting about milk helping the crust color. Thanks for posting!
I’ll be making this tomorrow and have a question. Could I use butter instead of oil? The bottom of the crust I’ve made before I found your recipe, had a hard bottom crust. I have a new ZO. So was wondering if the oil could make the bottom softer. Thank you!
Using butter instead of olive oil should work perfectly. Let me know how the crust turns out. If that doesn’t work you might also try a different crust setting.
I make this as a loaf, I use the dough setting and make dinner rolls, I sometimes even throw in Italian seasoning and use for pizza crust! I use unbleached all-purpose flour. It always turns out great!
What are the types of vinegar that can be used? Thanks!
Great question! You can use either white vinegar or apple cider vinegar. I’ve added that information to the recipe.
Made this recipe without a machine. It’s delicious. Is there something I should be doing differently? Thank you for answering
Going to try it now as whole wheat flour,.
I’m glad you liked the recipe. I don’t know that it will turn out using 100% whole wheat flour though. You’d probably need to add some vital wheat gluten. YOu might enjoy sour milk rye bread. It’s a variant of the sour milk bread recipe.
This was the first recipe in our bread machine that actually worked and made what we would call a real loaf of bread. It has become our favorite and a base for several kinds of bread. We have made wheat bread subbing one cup of whole wheat four and that worked well. We tried two cups of whole wheat flour and that came out dry, so maybe more liquid. I want to try brown sugar when making the wheat bread but keep forgetting. Today we made rye bread subbing one cup of rye flour and adding a couple of tablespoons of caraway seeds. Came out very good.
There are two of us so it take a while to get through a two pound loaf of bread but we keep trying different things, having fun and enjoying bread.
Thanks for a great recipe and website!
Have you tried this recipe with All Purpose flour? None of the stores around here have bread flour. Haven’t seen it since the start of the pandemic. Since we are retired, we cannot use 25lbs of bread flour in a reasonable time. (Costco here has a 25lb bag, but it is bleached flour)
I had a hard time getting bread flour earlier in the year. For about a month I was using all-purpose flour. Here’s the thing about that though, some brands of all-purpose flour will work better than others. It all depends on how much gluten there is in the flour. Here’s an article about bread flour versus all-purpose flour.
How do you substitute honey for the 4 T of sugar?
I’ve got an article on substituting honey for sugar that should help.
Thank you so much for your bread maker recipes. I just received my 1st bread maker and have made 3 loaves so far, including your Hawaiian Bread which was delicious! I’d like to try your Sour Milk Bread recipe next to see if it will work well for sandwich-like bread (my bread maker unfortunately does not have a Sandwich cycle or Custom/Homemade cycle, so I only have the Basic, Sweet or Whole Wheat cycle as options – I have a Hamilton Beach bread maker).
I do have a question about this recipe, and other recipes that include milk as one of the ingredients. Can I substitute Almond Milk for the Sour (or regular) Milk called for in the recipe? I realize that Almond milk has different properties than regular milk, so I just wanted to make sure incorporating this substitution wouldn’t affect the bread making process. Also, if this substitution is ok for the bread making process, would the substitution be a 1-to-1 ratio? Thank you so much for your advice & all of your delicious recipes!
Hi AJ, I’ve only substituted almond milk for milk once and it worked out fine. I used a 1-to-1 substitution.
Made this recipe last night using buttermilk and oil. Has a very good taste without overpowering the flavor of the sandwich fillings. A little chewy around the crust but when toasted it is perfect. The crumb is perfect for sandwiches, holds together really well. Will definitely make this again.
I’m making this now in my bread machine. I used buttermilk instead of sour milk. Everything else is the same including the oil. I’ll let you know how it turns out.
Marsha, should this dough be sticky once it’s combined? The reason I ask is I have been adding a little more flour before it finishes mixing because it looks a little wet. (2 tbsps.or so)
I think a little sticky is fine.
I went ahead and made it without adding extra flour and the loaf turned out with better texture…But thanks so much for answering my question, even if I was impatient in trying it. Love what you do, we have been using only this recipe since this virus started and I am so happy I found your site…God Bless
Just wondering if buttermilk can be used successfully as its a little different than sour milk. I’m dairy intolerant but found a buttermilk with “Bulgarian culture in it that I don’t react to. It would be great if this would work!
I’m not sure if it will work or not. It might. I’d give it a try and see what happens.
Just wondering if you tried the buttermilk and did it work??
You can make a fast buttermilk by adding vinegar to milk. So I think it’s the same thing.
I made this last night although I don’t have a bread machine. I read all the comments first and baked it in an oval dutch oven. It turned out so good I am making another loaf today, but with one cup of rye flour. Thank you so much!
You’re so welcome!
Just made this and it’s delicious—thank you!
I’m so glad you liked it! I make this ALL the time!
I’m back to baking bread again in my Zoyrushi. I am at just under one mile high and have figured out the high altitude adjustment. However I am wondering about salt. After my equal half’s heart operation salt was not used in anything. The recipes I find all use salt. I understand that 1 1/4 teaspoon doesn’t seem that much, but considering that salt is in everything (even organic and very little processed food) it would make a difference. Suggestions please.
I’m so sorry, but I don’t know of a salt substitute for bread. 🙁
My breadmaker died part way through so I transferred the dough to a bowl. I let it rise, punched it down and put it in my cast iron skillet and once it rose again, I baked it at 350 for 30 minutes. I brushed the top with butter as soon as I took it out of the oven. We had company for dinner and everyone loved it!
Wow! Quick thinking on your part. I’m glad it worked out. Thanks for letting me know about this alternate way of finishing the bread!
First-time bread machine owner here and I made this for my second EVER loaf. It came out absolutely amazing – perfect texture and crumb. SO excited to try more recipes. Thank you for taking the fear out of using a bread machine for us newbs! 🙂
Thanks so much for leaving a comment. You’ve made my day!
I’m going to give this a try with out the machine. Proof yeast, Mix wet ingredients add flour little at a time.Kneed 5to 10 min. Let rise in the bowl about an hour. punch down and put into pan bake about 30 min. Let you know how it turns out.
Naomi, thanks so much for this. Yes, please let me know how it turns out.
Do you have directions to make without a bread machine?
Hi Mary, I’m sorry, but I don’t have directions for that.
Mix the indgredients well and knead the dough for a couple of minutes. Cover the dough and let it rise about an hour until doubled in bulk. Punch it down. I formed a ball and put it in my 10″ skillet, but you could divide it and form 2 loaves and put it in loaf pans. Let rise about 45 minutes. Bake 30-35 minutes at 350. I like a softer crust, so I brushed the top with butter as soon as I took it out of the oven.
What type yeast do you use for the basic setting? I have Bread Machine Yeast..will that work?
Hi Donna, bread machine yeast will work fine, but I use active dry yeast. Here’s more info on that.
If I may make a couple of suggestions, try souring the milk using apple cider vinegar or rice vinegar, and sub 1 cup of flour with rye flour. Really kicks it up a notch!Thanks for the recipe!
Great tips! I’m going to try the rye flour in this recipe. Thanks so much for sharing!
I just made this bread, because egg nog season is past, and I could not make the egg nog bread. So I made this bread instead, using 2% milk (not sour). Would skim milk make a difference?
I did a 75% recipe to fit my 1-1/2 pound bread machine (vertical pan), and that reduction worked pretty well. The loaf was just below the top of the pan, so I think I can add a little more yeast (I used 1-1/2 teaspoon of yeast), or less salt (I used slightly less than 1 teaspoon), to get more rise.
The bread is denser on the bottom and more airy on the top. Not sure how to even that out.
The bread is really good 🙂
My wife liked it at the medium crust setting. She said the crust was good, and she normally does not eat the crust.
Now that it worked, the next time I plan to do a 50/50 white/wheat mix, to get wheat fiber into the diet.
I’m glad that you guys like it. It’s a favorite at my house.
BTW – I do have a recipe for a 1.5 loaf of the bread in case you’re interested. – http://www.breadmachinediva.com/2010/04/sour-milk-bread/
I haven’t tried it with skim milk, but I think it would be fine.
My reduced recipe almost matches your 1-1/2 pound recipe. I just just a tad short on the salt. So I guess I was using your 1-1/2 pound recipe, without knowing it 🙂
Any idea why the top of the loaf would be more puffy than the bottom in my vertical pan Zojirushi?
The loaf should be gone in a couple more days, then I’ll be making another one.
It would be helpful if you would give direction re. which cycle/program is best to use for this recipe. I ill try “basic white” with “med. crust”.
You’ve got the right settings. And I’ve added that information to the recipe. Hope you like the bread!
From one Marsha Perry to another – Yup! My maiden name. Thank you ever so much for this! I made some yesterday and it’s wonderful! You can be sure I’ll be making this many many times.
One of the best breads I’ve ever made! Making a second loaf in 3 days. Kids had it for breakfast lunch and dinner. I halved the sugar and it still has enough sweetness for kids. It came out so soft, yet easy to slice. I made to 2-lb loaf in order to have some a couple of days later for french toast, but they ate it all. Great use for the milk!
I’m so glad you like it. It’s our “regular” bread. I make it all the time.
Bread flour must be used in a bread machine. All purpose flour doesn’t have the necessary gluten.
Your comment is misleading. I make this bread weekly and virtually never use bread flour. Instead, I use 4 cups of all purpose flour (measured by weight) and add to it 1/4 c vital wheat gluten (ie, 1 TB per cup of flour) plus 4 tsp dough conditioner (ie, 1 tsp per cup of flour). Excellent quality APF can be found at incredibly attractive prices (WalMart had a 25 lb bag of their store brand flour with a bit over a year on its “best before” date for $5 and change in a store just outside NYC. No critters or off odors and great results. And vital wheat gluten may be obtained economically at various places (I use amazon; when bought in bulk it only adds pennies to the ingredient cost of a loaf).
I only have all purpose flour could I use that instead? And if so how much wouldn’t use?
I got into using a bread machine a few months ago. Good bread but I didn’t like the mixer paddle being left in the loaf. I found a used mixer with the same kind of pan (horizontal) and drove out the shaft with a punch, having the round part of the pan spanning a partialy open vice. I replaced the shaft with a 5/16 x 11/2 stainless carriage bolt and nut, letting the square part of the head push through the plastic seal and the dome of the head filling the hole.
I use the dough cycle in an unmodified pan untill all of the mixing is done and the loaf reaches about 1/2 raised. I then dump the loaf into the modified pan, pull out the paddle and lightly punch the loaf a little till it smoths out. Then run the bake cylcle, watching till it raises and the crust is done. The loaf just has a small indentation where the bolt head is. First loaf looked and tasted great!
Jeez… That’s… sure industrious.
I just take out the paddle right after my machine does it’s punch down thing. Just take the pan out the machine, hold the pan in one hand, turn it over, dump the dough ball in your other hand. Remove the paddle, shape the dough ball a bit with both hands and put it back in the pan to continue the final rise & bake. End result? “The loaf just has a small indentation”
This sounds more complicated than it really is. It takes less than one minute to do. The hardest part is knowing when your bread machine cycle does the punch down. My Oster user manual lists the time line for all cycles right to the minute so it’s easy to do.
Made this today and had to come back to say thanks! The kids loved it.
Thanks alot!
Lewin, You’re so welcome. The sour milk bread is one of my favorites!
This sounds absolutely delish, specially for making french toast! My question is how to get the sour milk (other then the obvious) as milk never lasts in our house long enough to go sour. Thanks!
Great question! To make sour milk add one tablespoon of vinegar to one cup of room-temperature milk. (adjust amounts as needed for each recipe) Stir and wait about 5 minutes.
Finally made it!!! My family loves it and I love it!!! I sliced it and froze them. You Rock!!! I’m going to try your other recipes 😀
NUTS!!! I wish I found this sooner…I just threw away 1/2 gallon of milk because it passed its expiration date 🙁 Will definately try it out!!!
Susan, It’s a great recipe, even using milk that’s not sour. (Although I like it best with sour milk.) I make a loaf of this at least once a week.
I am a 52 year old father of a 2 year old. He loves homemade bread! We had a little milk that got old and soured and I tried your 1.5 pound loaf recipe last night. Tonight now that loaf is all gone, so I will be making the 2 pound loaf with the remainder of the sour milk. Incidentally, my son loves it (as do I)! if we dont have homemade bread every morning, he is a little disappointed. One of the first words out of his mouth in the mornings (besides “eeeet”) is “Bbrrread?”
So cute! Thanks for commenting and making my day. I’m glad you and your son enjoyed the bread.
So if you have mike that goes bad you can use it in this recipe
I found this a very sweet loaf. I had concerns about the volume of sugar, which appear to have been confirmed.
I shall try again with half or even quater sugar
Der, Let me know what you find out. Others may have this concern too.
Thank you for this recipe! This one turned out beautiful! I credited you on my blog post!!
Thanks for the kind words and for the link! And guess what I’ve got in my bread machine right now? Yep, it’s this recipe.
Thanks for a great bread machine recipe… I had a LOT of sour milk to use up, and this was a delicious soup-dipping bread. Really easy to slice, too.
It got “yums” all around. 🙂
Marsha, thank you so much for this recipe! I’ve been eating this bread every morning for the past two weeks – it’s such a delicious way to use up extra milk! 😀
FYI I’ve also successfully made it with whole wheat flour (1/2 whole wheat and 1/2 white flour to be exact) and it came out great that way too.
Teagan, I’m so glad you like it. And thanks for the variation of the recipe! I’ll have to give that a try.
Tried this recipe two times last week. I needed to use up some sour milk! I substituted 1 tablespoon butter in each of your recipes (1 1/2 lb. and 2 lb.). As the smaller size seemed too sweet for our taste, I reduced the sugar to 2 tablespoons in the larger loaf. Perfect taste and love the crumb. My hub says it tastes like cake, but he means that as a good thing. He hates American bread!
Linda, I’m glad you and your husband like it. We make loaves of this and then slice it and freeze it. That way it’s always on hand.
Marsha, it’s me again….can you use buttermilk for this recipe? Do you use the basic white setting?
I haven’t used buttermilk a lot so I’m not sure. If you try it, be sure to let me know.
I tried this recipee with 1% buttermilk. I had to add 8 tbsp. buttermilk for my bread machine. I also modified your recipee and added 1/4 cup dried cranberries mixed with chopped apples, a little less sugar with 1/4 tsp. molasses. It turned out to be an excellent bread. I will keep this recipee, ty, from Canada
Franchesca, Thanks so much for sharing your version of this recipe. That sounds great!!