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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.
My family loves this recipe. This bread is so light and ‘bouncy’ (as my kids say). Thank you for the great recipe!
This was my first time making your bread. And let me tell you. It came out prefect. I love it.
Thanks for the tip. I was ready to throw away my bread maker. All my bread came out so dense. I’ve been really disappointed in it. Can’t wait to try it again.
Great recipe. thanks for posting. Have tried many others with poor results until now. look no further people. I used olive oil and my bread maker timer only allowed for 3 hours and 5 mins, but turns out perfectly Every time. I’m on my 4th loaf and it’s been consistent every time. I did weigh everything and sifted the flour.
Thanks for the recipe! I live at 6500' elevation so I had to adjust it for high altitude. I prepared it on the dough setting of the bread machine but baked it in my oven. This was the first time my bread has come out without big holes in it and without caving in on top. It looks like Artisan bread. It was perfect for French toast this morning. I'd send a picture but don't see a way to do that. Stay well.
Note for Carol: Why waste everyone's time with a useless review of something you never even tried? Get a life.
Wow Carol, harsh.
I hope you feel better now, having vented your negativity here. Mom always said "if you have nothing good to say, say nothing. Seriously, if you have not tried the recipe, no one wants your opinion. Also, if you are having gum issues, perhaps you should go see a dentist.
And have a wonderful day.
I have read that you can use regular yeast in a bread machine (not rapid rise yeast though) by proofing it in water with a teaspoon of sugar and waiting 10 minutes as you do when making a non bread machine loaf. But I’m not sure when to add it to the bucket once proofed. On top? Or first perhaps. The main thing is to keep it away from the salt.
Do I measure the flour out then sift or sift then measure the flour?
Hi, I made this bread yesterday and it was fantastic. I thought it tasted a wee bit sweet though. If I reduce the sugar will I need to increase the cooking programme time to allow longer for the yeast to do It's job?
Wow Wow! Just made this in our old, little used bread man breadmaker, using standard white flour from a local mill. Followed the recipe, taking care to follow the sifting directions, and used the light white setting as the bread maker seems to be a setting off. It is the first time we’ve made a white bread that came out just perfect! Instead of putting the bread maker back, we started another loaf! Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Great recipe. I used King Arthur I bleached bread flour and it was absolutely perfect. I used an older White Westinghouse WWR- 7000. My wife absolutely loved it!
Fun to find your recipe to make bread again. It's cooking now!
I have tried lots of bread machine recipes and all of them have been quite dense, this is the first one that has actually been really soft and fluffy, just as you would buy in a store. Thank you so much for this recipe and the simple trick of making sure your flour is aerated.
Love this recipe. The breadmaker bread was light and fluffy for the first time. We had quit making bread due to repeated failures. Too many heavy brick loaves. For the past 5 years we have only used our bread maker for making pizza dough. But after finding this recipes we have enjoyed fresh bread every morning this week. I highly recommend it..
Julia,
Just want to thank you for your bread recipe. During quarantine our family has been making bread daily with our bread machine. At first all the recipes made the bread so heavy that it was difficult to make sandwiches and It was very filling. I found your recipe and haven’t made anything else. During tough times it’s the little things that truly matter. Thank You