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 â…“ 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
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.
Cynthia
Thank you for the lovely bread recipe. I used yeast cake to make it, so I put it in the bottom with the we ingredients. it came out lovely using an artisan bread flour and fresh yeast cake. Have you ever scale it up to a 2lb. loaf? This as a lovely size loaf but for a family, it was gone quickly. I would make this every day. I had used a yeast cake to make this bread. Every use your own yeast? Do you have a sourdough version?
Monique
Bread flour has protein in it. You can just use normal flour if you swap water for milk. Delicious.
arj
I hardly ever cook the bread all the way through in the machine--usually take it out at the dough stage, shape, let it rise again, and cook in the oven because I've never been happy with how bread has turned out cooked in the machine. But with the lockdown, I just need to keep things fast and easy as I'm making a lot of bread now, so decided to try this recipe and let it cook in the machine. Wow! What a surprise. It baked the perfect loaf! I don't know how or why this recipe turns out such a perfect loaf of bread, but I am so pleased, and this will now become my go-to. I think it would also make a great base for cinnamon rolls and intend to try this recipe for that.
Thanks for a seriously great recipe. You've made my life a lot easier!
Sharon Jones
I found your recipe this morning online. I have made bread for years as a special treat and needed a recipe this morning that didn't take too much time and one I could make in my bread machine. Oh my goodness! This is delicious! I am about to put another batch in my bread machine!!
THANK YOU for sharing this recipe with us. I love the crumb as well as crust of this bread.
Devon
This is the ONLY bread machine recipe I have tried that consistently gives me a soft, fluffy, high-rising loaf EVERY time. It even stays soft after a couple of days when stored in a linen bread bag! I use olive oil and I pour my flour Into my measuring cup rather than scooping to make sure it’s not too packed. I also like to let the ingredients sit for about an hour before starting the machine for a rise that literally hits the lid of my machine, but it still rises super high even when I’m in a hurry. On the quick setting this loaf obviously comes out smaller and denser, but still much softer than other recipes, and I think the quick setting version of this recipe makes a GREAT crusty bread to serve with soups and stews and pastas. Thank you so much for such an easy, perfect recipe.
Devon
Just to clarify, letting the ingredients sit for a bit lets everything come to room temp so the yeast can really do it’s thing later.
Michelle
Hello . I've actually been having the opposite issue while making bread. The bread comes out too fluffy . Almost like a dinner role. I use bread flour and fast rising yeast . Could this be why ?
Wilma Grdovic
Oh my !!!
What a flop—
Taste was there!
Robin
This is the best bread machine bread I have ever made. I have stopped buying bread. I rub the loaf with butter when I take it out of the pan, which makes the crust softer. It is much less dense than other recipes and has a lot less sugar.
Amanda
Do you know what size loaf this makes? My bread machine does 1, 1.5, and 2 pound loaves
Betty Smazenko
I only have a 1 lb bread maker. How would you adapt this recipe?
Kim
Fantastic bread - perfectly soft and slightly chewy on the inside and crusted on the out. The directions were spot on. I do think that sifting the flour is a step to not skip. I had to hide it from my family because they wanted to eat the whole loaf over the course of an evening. I let it fully cool, then cut it in half through the middle and then sliced after that. It gave me 19 regular sized slices and made it easier to store in a regular bread bag from the store. Of course, the family asked me to hide it from them (no willpower when it comes to bread)...unless I want to make a loaf everyday. HA - maybe every other day!
Hilary
I have been making bread in a bread machine for years and had almost given up on a recipe for white bread that delivered the texture I really like. The ingredients are pretty much what I had settled on using but the tips on the flour and then using slightly more flour and water than I normally would make the world of difference! It is just what I was looking for, thank you Julia!
Lenny
Megan, you need to use Strong Flour. It is available in white, brown and wholemeal varieties. Good luck
Kathy Mare
Worked a treat - for a novice baker!!! Thank you.
Judy
Thanks! The bread turned out great! I had only bought yeast and bread flour. My other recipe called for other ingredients I didn’t have. I had everything on hand for your recipe. The bread tasted great the next day untoasted.