There are many bread machine recipes out there, but if you’re looking for just basic and simple homemade white bread – this is the perfect recipe for you!
This is my reliable, “boring”, proven recipe for a basic white bread. And, I also provide tips on how to make a homemade white bread less dense in a bread maker. In this recipe, all you do is spend 5 minutes to add ingredients to the bread pan and the bread machine does all the work, on an automatic cycle that is already programmed. That’s the whole purpose of the bread maker, right? The end result is a tasty loaf of white bread just of the right density.
I do believe that the day will come when I will use a bread machine for something more sophisticated, but for once this week I am sharing the recipe that doesn’t require too much thinking or meddling. Sometimes it’s just nice to make certain foods almost on auto-pilot, especially for basic stuff, like white bread.
In the last 3 months I hardly bought any store-made bread, baking about a loaf every week at home, using bread machine recipes. And, I’ve noticed a couple of trends/issues when making bread: sometimes the bread comes out way too dense, or the loaf does not rise enough and, as a result, comes out even denser. So, here I will describe the homemade bread recipe that works for me to produce a less dense bread in a bread maker, using a basic cycle.
While making bread in a bread machine, make sure to consider these points:
MY OTHER VIDEOS– When you measure flour using cups, make sure not to pack flour too dense in a measuring cup, otherwise you will end up with much more flour than you need, and, therefore, the bread will come out denser. Measuring flour correctly will solve a lot of “dense” issues. The trick that works for me is that I use 1/3 measuring cup to carefully scoop all flour I need into the bread machine (usually about 3 cups), without over-packing it. Another way would be to weigh flour, which I don’t do, but it’s a solution.
– Use bread flour, not regular all-purpose flour for all bread machine recipes. Bread flour contains a higher percentage of gluten than regular all-purpose flour. Using bread flour will produce taller, less dense loaves. If you use all-purpose flour (which has smaller percentage of gluten than bread flour), your loaves will be flatter and denser.
– When adding yeast, make sure you add it last, and add it on top of dry ingredients (flour). Make sure the yeast does not reach wet ingredients. Basically, make a small indentation on top of flour and add the yeast to the indentation, just like this:
And here is the simple white bread recipe. I started with the recipe that came in a little booklet together with my Williams-Sonoma bread machine, and I tweaked the ingredient measurements based on my preferences. It takes 10 minutes to prepare all ingredients together, and then it takes 3 hours and 15 minutes to bake the bread in a bread machine.
I've tried many bread machine recipes, and this one works perfectly for me to make simple white bread. The bread is tall, not dense, of perfect composition. Basic recipe for a bread maker machine.
- 1 cup and 3 tablespoons water
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 3 1/4 cups white bread flour
- 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
The proper way to measure flour using measuring cups is to aerate it first. This is done either by sifting flour, or aerating it by fluffing it up and whisking it well, then spooning it into the measuring cup, then carefully removing any excess flour with a knife. If you just stick that measuring cup in the bag of flour and scoop some out, you will get a lot more flour than what the recipe calls for. Do aerate the flour, or you will end up with dry dough!
Add water and oil into the bread pan. Add salt, sugar. Add flour.
Make a small indentation on top of flour and make sure it does not reach wet ingredients. Add the yeast to the indentation.
Keep yeast away from the salt.
Insert the bread pan into the bread machine, press it down to snap. Close the lid.
Use Basic bread, 1.5 lb loaf, medium crust cycle (3 hrs 15 minutes)
When bread is done, remove the bread pan using oven mitts. Turn over the bread pan and shake it to release the loaf. Let the loaf cool on a wire rack for about 30 minutes.
The recipe is adapted from Williams-Sonoma bread machine booklet.
I have made a lot of bread in my lifetime. Correction, I have made a lot of BAD bread in my lifetime. This recipe is absolutely incredible! It is soft and fluffy. It slices beautifully. But most importantly, it is insanely delicious! This WILL be my new go to bread recipe. This is the FIRST loaf of bread I am actually proud to say I baked!
Diane, I am so happy to read comments like yours! Thank you for stopping by and taking time to leave such a kind comment! 🙂 So glad this recipe was useful for you.
Thank you so much for the basic recipe. I’ve got the bread machine from a friend and was following the recipe that came with it. The bread always came out too dense and on a dry side. Used yours and it is a perfect bread, soft and springy like it’s suppose to be!
Svetlana, I am so happy to read comments like yours! So glad you found my recipe useful.
I have a similar recipe for a Shiner Bock Beer bread that uses 1/3 cup of honey that turns out very nice. I recommend heating the honey to make it runny to it combines more evenly when mixed. Here’s the full recipe:
1.5 Lb, Light Crust, Basic White Setting
1 cup warm, flat Shiner Bock Beer
1/3 cup honey
3/4 tsp salt
3-1/4 cup bread flour
2-1/4 tsp (1 packet) yeast
After measuring 1 cup of Shiner Beer, pour beer back and for between two cups to accelerate the release of the carbonation. The carbonation will have adverse effects on the rise. Heat up the honey a bit to get it runny and mix well with the beer, pour in bread pan. Add remaining ingredients in order and set machine for Basic White, 1.5 lb, light crust.