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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 just made this recipe using All-purpose flour (pandemic... no bread flour to be found!). I aerated it as suggested in a big bowl using a whisk, and used this recipe's exact measurements. This is my first time ever making bread. It came out FANTASTIC! It was a bit dense, but not unreasonably so. I am so excited to make this bread even better by using bread flour! Thank you for the quick and delicious recipe!
Wonderful recipe, although I freely admit I am somewhat "loose" when it comes to accurate measurements. Used my remaining AP flour (I am switching to a local organic flour). This was the very first time I "fluffed" up the flour with a whisk. Added rosemary, oregano, and basil to make a herb bread. It rose well, didn't flop down, and tasted great. I've just made a tasty grilled cheese sandwich.
This recipe turned out perfectly. I followed all of your directions - not always my way - and was thrilled that we ended up with the best loaf of bread ever made in this old bread machine - even when we used the recipes from the company!
Thank you for the tips...i never thought about how i measured the flour...i assumed it was simulard to biscuits .
Julia, thanks so much for this recipe! I followed every part of your instructions to a tee, except that I used the measuring tools that came with my SKG Breadmaker instead of the usual measuring tools we use for baking other stuff. My bread was a success for the first time. It stayed soft and spongy over the next few days, unlike the breads I baked using the manufacturer's recipes that went dry, hard and crusty the next morning! I wish I could show you a picture of my bread but there is no option to do so. I just followed your FB page. I am hoping to find more different bread recipes from you! Thank you again! <3
I pulled out my bread machine after not using it for many years. I did not have the manual and completely forgot how to use the machine. I found this recipe, loaded all the ingredients and plugged it in. Julia's recipe says to set timer to 3 hrs, 15 min. My machine is automatic for basic bread. 3 hrs 50 min. I expected it to be a flop but was okay thinking this first loaf is just a test. Wow, to my surprise it was perfect! great recipe, great bread. it was nice and light. The flour sifting certainly made a big difference. I've just started making the second loaf. I hope it turns out as good!
This recipe turned out to be the best bread I've managed to make in my bread machine.
Made it with a few adjustments after a couple of failed attempts. I used 1.5 tea spoon of Instant yeast and replaced 5 tea spoons of all purpose flour with 5 tea spoons of vital wheat gluten. I used 390 gms of all purpose flour. The best bread ever!
I’ve tried this recipe twice and it collapsed both times.
I’m wondering if I should cut the yeast to 1 1/2 tsp.
Will try again.
Love this recipe! Perfect loaf with a light texture. Crust is wonderful-not too thick. My family loves it. The first loaf instantly disappeared so I had to make another right away.
Please could you convert the ingredients to metric. Every time I look up a conversion table they are always different
I just did it, playing with some of the conversions and did 400g flour, 275 g water. I had the collapse that has been mentioned here, but despite that it's very soft. It wasn't bread flour through, I'm going to be trying 375 g flour,25 g gluten my next attempt.
Quick question - should the water be at a certain temperature? I kinda made a brick, sad face, lol!
Usually bread makers require the water to be room temperature.
Excellent recipe, thank you for posting! We just got a Cuisinart bread maker to replace trips to the bakery during social distancing. I found their recipes to be too dense. I followed your tips such as aerating the flour and using bread flour; the results were amazing! I'm going to repeat with all-purpose flour and see if the results hold up since that is in better supply during these challenging times.
Hello, given the lockdown, all kind of flours are sold out and impossible to get hold of. The only one I managed to get is Polish wheat flour type 500. I am new to baking and have never seen or used this flour before.
I googled for this as a substitution but all recommendations said I have to mix this flour with white flour. I don’t have any other flour in my house. I’d like to adapt your recipe to use this wheat type 500 but don’t know what to do. Could you advice? Thank you very much.
I’ve made this recipe twice, followed it exactly, and my bread collapsed in the middle both times, and seems a little dense. I’ve never made bread myself before so I know it’s going to be some trial and error. Tasted good though
I had the same issue. Mine collapsed and seems dense.
Yes, mine collapsed too. Onto the second round now and have altered the water content slightly. Let’s see what happens...
Altered the water, still collapsed so now I’m going to alter the yeast instead...
I used to withhold salt because my husband is medically prohibited from much salt intake. THAT's when my bread collapsed. As soon as I used 3/4 teaspoon (not a full teaspoon as called for by my bread machine) of salt, the bread no longer collapsed in the center.
I am a first timer and experienced the same issue
Loved the flavor and texture. I made 2 loaves in two different bread machines, both 1 1/2 size. In both machines the bread rose over the top of the pan and mad an awful mess in the top of the machines. Any suggestions?