This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy.
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 am still doing something incorrectly. Still fell. I really appreciate the info on how to manage the flour. I did exactly what you suggested. Any other suggestions would greatly be appreciated. I am about to return this machine.
Thanks Mel
I'm having the same issue. What kind of bread machine did you use?
Julia, Please forgive the question but in regard to the flour do you use All-Purpose or Self Rising in this recipe?
It’s written bread flour
It is mentioned in the article...Bread Flour is used
I used all-purpose flour, didn't add anything besides what the recipe called for, and my bread turned out great!
None, Bread flour.
Self-Rising means it has starter yeast included. Since she adds yeast it is not Self-Rising
All-Purpose work for bread but it is recommended you use bread flour instead. Article mentions some of the reasons why.
This turned out PERFECT! All the other recipes I tried collapsed, but this one came out with a nice domed top. It is light, with the best crust I have ever had on any bread. it is almost like a pastry crust. I did not have bread flour so I added 3 tablespoons of vital wheat gluten, reducing the flour by that much. I have found that homemade bread keeps fresher longer if you store it in a paper lunch bag.
Thank you so much!!
I am finding hard time to find the right bread machine. what do you recommend?
I'm a single guy so I made a half loaf. I subbed one egg for part of the liquid and I subbed 2 TBs potato flakes for part of the flour. It came out nice, tasty, and light. It made wonderful toast. Only caution with a half recipe, the dough ball is so small it tended to just spin instead of kneading so I helped it with a rubber spatula.
My bread machine technique is to start it up with ONLY all the dry ingredients and after a few turns of the beater get the stuff mixed, I trickle in the liquids.
Making a full size loaf will avoid the kneading problem encountered with a half loaf.
Made this bread yesterday to go with homemade soup - it was wonderful. Great recipe. Maybe I will keep my bread machine more available after quarantine
I've had a bread machine for a long time but never really put it to full use so decided during the current Covid-19 lockdown to brush the dust off. I came about this recipe as anything I made was very dense. OMG !! This recipe is gorgeous. I've made 5 loaves over the weekend and each one turned out perfectly and the family have loved it!
THANKS
This recipe is awesome! I substituted butter for vegetable oil, my water is between 80 and 85 degrees. I added the salt and sugar to the flour in a large ziplock bag and mixed it together and fluffed it before putting it in the machine. I also added one less tablespoon of water since I live in a little higher altitude. Then I put the yeast in last just before starting the machine. It came out perfect the first time! Thanks Julia!
I used butter as well. I used unbleached Occident flour which is a higher gluten all purpose bread flour. Omg, best white bread I ever made in my old Oster machine.
It ruined my breadmaker it a the flowed in started smoking in my house smoke alarm went off I followed the recipe per your suggestions I did everything as suggested in it I think I'm gonna have to throw my breadmaker away cheese
Since the ‘Shelter in place’ order took effect, I haven’t been able to get my favorite bread machine mix. I tried and failed with several recipes before having success with this one. I appreciated the advice on the flour. I was able to use all purpose flour, but I sifted it, and it turned out great! I also didn’t know the order of ingredients mattered, but apparently it does. After several dense loaves with other recipes, my loaf was almost too tall for the machine. No more experimenting, I’ll be using this recipe from now on.
Best I've ever made,un like claire !
Well thanks for that pointless screed Carol! I actually made the recipe and it did not rise. I’m wondering if perhaps you used instant yeast and forgot to mention it. Otherwise how does the yeast activate? I’m no baker but I had the impression that you needed to mix the yeast with warm water (@ 110°F) in order to activate it before baking. Thank you for you time and work in posting this! I’m really trying to nail the perfect bread recipe.
Absolutely delicious and so easy to throw together. It was so tall and fluffy, loved it. Thanks so much!
Follow Julia than you for taking the time to post your recipe! I follow the recipe exactly and your explanation about the flour helped immensely. I love white bread and it turns out perfectly!
Very good recipe, I swapped 1 cup strong flour for 1 cup spelt flour and the bread is awesome. Thank you very much for sharing this recipe five stars
I just made this with my daughter and her friend. It was simple yet delicious. I asked them to rate it and they both said they couldn’t give it a high enough rating. So cute, they are eleven.