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.
My husband always complained about bread machine bread being too dense. I tried this recipe and now he’s constantly asking me to make him a loaf of bread. Aerating the flour is a game changer . Thank you!
I made this today and without a doubt it’s the best best bread recipe I have ever used. I have not used my bread maker in a very long time due to the fact that the recipes I’ve used I wasn’t happy with. You can be sure this is now going to be my “go to” recipe!!
Thank you Julia
Is it 313 calories per slice ?
2020.. so many years later.
I lost my manual that came with my bread maker and decided to look for one, you'rs with the less dense recipe sounded great!!
So I just made up a batch.... only problem is, I misread 2 teaspoons of yeast for 2 tablespoons.. 😮 I hope I did scoop enough out, don't want yeasty tasting bread..
But got it doing it's thing. Problem with the manual recipes is that they really just put anything together, slap the words "best with this item" and it's hit and miss. But then, so is perusing the internet. 🙂 if only books had comment sections!!
Slainte!!
First 2 loaves were perfect. The next 2 rose to old on bread machine and not done. Can you tell me what was wrong?
you need to check the yeast quanlity depending on the weather
I was going to throw away the bread machine after 20+ unsuccessful trials.
Thank you so much Julia, now I am praised each time I bake a loaf. The bread is so soft and fluffy that it gets over in no time.
Please could you share different flavored bread machine recipes
Great recipe! Subbed butter for oil and honey for sugar. The results were delicious! This recipe is a keeper.
Followed the recipe but used butter and honey as you did and it did not come out well. Deeply sunken in the middle.
Hi Julia
Many thanks for sharing your recipe with us, it's very much appreciated. 🙂
I have just "dusted off" and cleaned my Morphy Richards bread maker and followed their recipe to the tee for the re-start of my bread making venture.
I couldn't wait to see how proud of me, my 80 year old mother was going to be, having made her some fresh white bread - Nice when lukewarm... Melting butter!!
I was devastated when (after 3 hours 15 minutes) I went to retrieve this beautiful 1.1/2 lb loaf ; only to find a 3 inch brick of unrisen solid dough :((
Any ideas as to what I might have done wrong?
I notice you don't mention using milk (powder or liquid) - can please I ask why?
I have set the machine away for my second attempt; using the same method and ingredients, just hoping for better results... If this fails i will certainly give your method a try.
I'd appreciate any advice, if there's any to be given.
Thanks for any assistance.
SF
Great recipe.Thank you for sharing. I tried it, but it was bit harden.Any tip for making the bread extra super soft?
I followed your recipe as instructed and my loaf collapsed. What do you think I did wrong? I have read if your loaf collapses it’s because there is too much liquid. It still tastes great!
Love this recipe, absolutely perfect loaf for teh 1st time ever, any chance youj can give recipes for different flavoured bread as well, thank you so much.
Lovely, please can you add the measurements in grams too for the less American of us... thank you very much.
I'm the proud new owner of a hand-me-down bread machine and was looking for a good white bread recipe. This is it! I don't have bread machine flour but AP worked fine. Due to the covid stock-up shopping people did I only had a store brand flour, and I did reduce the salt a bit the second time and it still turned out great The texture is great for dipping in olive oil and balsamic as well as sandwiches... and the best toast! I'm looking forward to making it with a quality BM flour. For now, the 3rd is mixing! Thanks Julia!!
Do you think this recipe will work the same with 1/2 whole wheat bread flour and 1/2 white? Or even more whole wheat in proportion to white? I like whole grain but my bread came out very dense. I'd like it more open-grained like some artisan bread. I'm a rank beginner so I would love your advice on this. Thanks!
Hi, thank you for sharing. The bread I always make gets harden the next day. What should I do so my bread doesn't harden overnight? Is there any tips?
Thank you.
I hope this helps you.
I know this seems like a no-brainer, but it solved the problem for me. I used to pur a towel over the loaf to keep it from drying out, but that just didn't work. So I put it in a plastic bag and, making sure that it was tightly closed. That worked, but sometimes the loaf was too big for the bag. I found plastic bags on Amazon that were specifically made to hold any size of bread loaf, keeping it fresh! The bags come with twist ties. The perfect solution for keeping your bread fresh! No more dried out bread or crunchy crust!!