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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.
Hi! Same question... when the recipe is whith active dry yest i put it on the bottom with the watter and sugar... in conffused
Best bread yet ,fool proof added 1/4 teaspoon yeast improver . Does Julia have a wholemeal or part wholemeal recipe. Ibelieve sifting the flour is a large part of success
Great bread. First loaf we enjoyed from our bread machine. After 5 horrible breads the machine had been sitting for 5 years. With the shelter in place I decided to give it another try. Great bread. Though, I had one question regarding the yeast. Recipe clearly calls for active dry yeast but no need to “activate” the yeast first. I used instant yeast without realizing the difference(novice). Bread did collapse but was still relatively fluffy and delicious. Should I assume that next time I use 25% less yeast if I continue to use instant yeast?
Dear Andy,
I've made many loaves in the past with my Zojirushi and am finally getting back into it. I use Fleischmann's instant dry yeast that I get at Sam's Club. Also, I recommend you get some vital gluten and add 1 tbsp to your each loaf you make. Add at the same time as your flour. That way, you can use all purpose flour. For a large loaf, add 2 tbsps. I suspect your problem was too much liquid. In those cases, just add more flour - little by little - during the kneading process.
Hope that helps. - Herminia Gomez
Thank you. Will try.
My kids love it! Made it 3 times in the last week and a half.
The bread turned out really good and we have been baking bread so frequently. Thank you so much for the perfect bread recipe.
A lovely recipe which never fails, I use all purpose flour and is brilliant, thanks so much
I've used my bread machine weekly for 20 odd years. This IS in fact the lightest loaf recipe Ive found.
Also, remember you can save a lot of flour using your bread machine to make dough. You dont lose what gets stuck to your hands.
Sourdough dough can also be made in the machine, though crust will be better if baking is done in Dutch oven or steamy conventional oven.
I made home made bread for years the old fashioned way then along came the breadmaker. I haven't made bread in a long time and due to Corona I can't get out so I thought today I would try a new recipe. I pulled out the breadmaker and used this recipe. This is the "best" bread I have ever made. Thank you for sharing your recipe.
Made this recipe twice a week since isolation. Perfect recipe, bread is light and delicious. The only thing I had to change was to add 1 Tbsp gluten for each cup of all purpose flour, since bread flour is extremely hard to find. Great recipe, thanks!
So, you're not using Instant or breadmachine yeast??
Made it and it turned out awesome..thank you
Best and easiest recipe ever. I’ve made some in the past and they were dense or didn’t rise. I’d suggest to others to sift the flour, and make sure it’s bread flour. Those are changes I made from previous tries and it was perfect!
I am new to making bread in the bread machine and the loaf kept sinking. I trued this recipe today and it turned out great. Lovely texture and crust and a domed top. Its the only one i will use in future. Great result.
Could we have the amounts for the larger bread setting (2lb)? Thanks for the great recipe.
I second this request.
Thank you for a recipe that is formed like store bought bread, but tastes definitely home made. Do you also have a recipe for a traditional Canadian style white bread? Very glad to have found this for a everyday regular routine recipe. TY
I am about to make it I have always used tepid water so I will again as my water is quite cold I’m surprised you didn’t put that in the recipe I hope I am doing the right thing !
I"ve had my bread machine for years, & used to use it all the time, until I had to be gluten-free. Now with the shelter-at-home in place, I'm using it a couple times a week again for my family. All other recipes I tried have made very dense bread, even the one recommended by the manufacturer. I only buy white flour but it didn't matter -- this was the lightest bread I've ever made in the machine! Thank you for sharing a great recipe!