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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.
Tastes great but I cannot get a nice loaf out of my Emeril machine. I have tried it 4 times seeking to avoid a sunken middle. I give up.
Hi Connie, sorry to hear about your bread collapsing. What kind of yeast are you using? Is it fresh? What kind of flour did you use? Bread flour or regular flour?
Julia, I used white flour with 1 T of gluten added, and my yeast is brand new. I read about "big valley" fails and tried sifting my flour. That made it worse! I love the flavor so will adapt the flour mix to my regular recipe from the Emeril book!
Even though the recipe didn't work, the flour mix I used (1/2 c oat flour, 1/4 c whole wheat) added in made a delicious bread.
Oat flour combined with whole wheat flour does sound delicious! Maybe, those flours are tricky to work with. Whole wheat flour has lower gluten than regular flour, and pure oat flour I believe is gluten-free? One of the main reasons for the bread to collapse is not enough gluten. It seems the solution is to mix the flour with weak gluten with strong flour. Here is a helpful article: https://thebreadguide.com/why-does-my-bread-collapse-or-flatten/
Thank you thank you for this bread recipe! I’ve been looking for a recipe like this forever. Turned out just the way you described!
Debby, I am so glad you found this recipe useful! 🙂 Thank you for a nice and positive comment. 🙂
Thanks Julia! Just emoved the first bread loaf of many I will bake with your recipend it's perfect!!
Sandri, I am so happy you found this recipe useful! Thank you so much for your comment! 🙂
What if I only have quick-rise instant yeast?
Thanks Julia. Have tried your recipe today and the bread is still too hot to cut. Fresh from the bread machine.
You are very welcome! So happy to hear you tried this recipe!
Just about to try this recipe
Enjoy!
I am a 63 yr old retired construction worker
I have never made bread before. The only help I have is pancho my border collie and you. I put everything in the way you laid out. The machine is a zojirushi I bought from thrift store with no directions. I will keep you posted
Thank you, William, for stopping by and leaving a comment! I hope the bread turned out well! 🙂
The first recipe that worked perfectly in my thrift store bread machine. Nice texture and flavour. Thanks!
So happy to hear that! Thank you, Joyce, for sharing your feedback!
How could I adjust this to make a 2lb loaf? Trying it right now on 1.5 🙂 very excited! Thank you
I just bought a bread machine and after 2 loaves that were hard as a rock, this recipe came through. Cannot wait to make variations with olives, chocolate chips, etc. Thank you, Julia's Album!
I am so happy to hear you found this simple recipe useful! Thank you for taking the time to share such a positive comment!
Same here @Kelli. This recipe was perfect!
Happy to hear that! 🙂
My bread machine only makes 2, 2.5 and 3 lb loafs. Your recipe is 1.5 lb. I would love to ty your recipe but I am new at this and am not sure just what to change. Can you please help me?
I think you can go ahead and use this recipe for the 2 lb setting. It should work - the only thing is that the loaf might not be a perfect shape.
Finally a recipe where the bread is not so dense and actually rose up. Thank you!
So happy to hear you found this recipe useful! :). Thank you for your positive feedback.
I also had coniderable flour buildup on the ends
Newbie. First recipe I tried. The bread tastes perfect, but was a nightmare to slice (using a regular bread knife and used all purpose flour). Should I try low for crust or invest in an electric bread ?
Homemade bread does tend to be very soft and could be a challenge to slice. Do not slice the bread when it's hot or warm. Let it cool completely. The homemade bread is more prone to being squashed when it's hot or freshly warm. When slicing, don't use much downward pressure. Slice the bread by moving the knife back and forth. And, of course, make sure you use a good serrated knife. Hope this helps.
Wow i had no idea sifting the bread flour would make such a huge difference. Love the recipe and finally have a nice light loaf of machine bread.
Thank you, Cindy, for sharing your feedback! So glad you found this recipe useful! 🙂
This is theeeee BEST recipe out there. I have tried several and this one hits the spot every time. I follow the directions to the “T”. “Fluffing” the flour really makes a difference in the finished product. BEST recipe HANDS DOWN! (I also use Great Value All Purpose Flour and I can’t keep a loaf long enough to make grilled cheese sandwiches!”
Elisa, your comment made my day! Thank you for taking the time to share such positive feedback! Good to know that All-Purpose flour works in this recipe!