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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:
- 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 ⅓ 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.
Bread Machine Recipe: How to make homemade white bread less dense
Ingredients
- 1 cup and 3 tablespoons water
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 3 ¼ cups white bread flour
- 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
Instructions
Important note about properly measuring flour using measuring cups:
- 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!
How to make bread in a bread machine:
- 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.
Notes
- The recipe is adapted from Williams-Sonoma bread machine booklet.
- I have recently tweaked this recipe and made a delicious rustic Bread Machine Garlic & Herb Bread (with fresh rosemary and thyme) - worth checking out!
My Other Bread Recipes
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer:
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed. It should not be used as a substitute for a professional nutritionist's advice.
I'm confused. I've never made bread from a machine and steps 1 and 2 just has us adding to a bread pan, do we combine all ingredients and mix the dry ingredients also, the eggs before putting in the pan, whole or beat?
This particular recipe uses no eggs.
Re: your question about combing the ingredients - you don't mix the ingredients. Keep the wet ingredients separate from dry ingredients. First, you add wet ingredients. Then, add salt and sugar. Next, add flour (without mixing it with wet ingredients). Add the yeast to the small indentation on top of the flour and make sure it does not reach wet ingredients. Then continue on with the recipe.
Just made this and it is fantastic! Thank you!
You are very welcome!
what changes need to be made for high altitude on this recipe?
I tried this last night and it worked for me
Bread turned out amazing
Glad to hear that! 🙂
Have not used my bread maker in years so I pulled it out of the closet. Looked up a recipe for bread and yours came up!! So excited!!
I am glad you found my recipe! 🙂
The bread come out okay but I didn't get those lovely air pockets displayed in the photo. It was more dense. Maybe I should have used 2.5lb setting instead of 1.5lbs?
I followed the instructions exactly
Not sure why your bread had a denser texture. Did you aerate the flour before measuring it in cups? I would suggest sifting the flour next time before measuring it in cups for the recipe.
The setting should be 1.5 lb loaf, medium crust cycle (3 hrs 15 minutes)
WhT temperature does the water need to be? Is this regular yeast or quick rising yeast? Thanks!!!
Water should be at least 100 degrees but not hot hot. Either of the yeast will be okay in most cases. I do prefer regular myself
100 degrees will kill the yeast stone dead, it should be tepid , look warm , about 21 to 28 degees !!
It's room temperature water. Use active dry yeast.
I just got a new bread machine and made 2 loaves of bread that was supposed to be soft bread but it wasn’t. Then I found and tried your recipe. It was the best homemade bread I’ve ever made. Thank you so much. I took your advice on the flour and sifted, then spooned it into my cup. I’m so happy that I finally have a recipe that makes bread that can be used for sandwiches and doesn’t need to be toasted to taste good. You made my day Julia!
And, you made my day with your comment! So happy you found this recipe useful! 🙂
Best bread recipe! Have made 3 loaves and will be making more!
I am so glad you to hear that, Jane!
Fabulous! I've been trying different recipes to find a suitable everyday/sandwich bread. I substituted whole wheat flour for one of the cups of flour and it was the best! Thank you!
So glad you liked this recipe! Good to know that you use 1 cup of whole wheat flour in this recipe and it worked well!
Perfect bread every time using this recipe!
Could I use the same recipe for buns?
I have experimented with bread and this machine in the past. This is the first loaf of bread that I made that is ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY THE BEST BREAD EVER!!!!!!!
This will be our go-to recipe from now on. THANK YOU for sharing.
Your comment made my day! Thank you so much for taking the time to leave such a kind comment!
what is the conversion from white to wheat flour for this recipe?
Hi... I'm excited to try this recipe! Lots of useful tips. What temperature should the water be though?
One more question, my bread machine doesn't have a 1.5lb bread option. Only 2, 2.5 and 3. What do I do?
The water should be room temperature.
First time making bread in my new machine. The kids ate the whole loaf. I will try a slice from the new loaf I’m making right now :)!
I am glad you tried this recipe and liked it! Thank you for the comment!
Best bread I’ve ever made in my machine!
Happy to hear that!