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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 waited until I made this recipe 6-7 times and really got the ingredients perfected before I wanted to comment. I found that using King Arthur bread flour in this recipe yields the fluffiest loaf rather than being dense with other brands I tried. The biggest change I made is instead of using vegetable oil, which I found causes the crust to taste like oil, I substituted for 1tbsp unsalted butter and 1 tbsp olive oil. The only other change I made was 3 tablespoons of sugar rather than 2. Definitely take the time to sift or whisk the bread flour because it makes a huge difference. My family has requested a loaf of this bread every day with dinner. Thank you!
Thank you so much for such helpful and detailed feedback! Love the idea of using 1 tablespoon of unsalted butter + 1 tablespoon of olive oil instead of 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil. I am sure that changes the subtle flavor of the bread. The addition of one more tablespoon of sugar is another nice change that will add subtle sweetness (without making the bread actually taste sweet). Love your experiments with different brands of bread flour.
Hi Julia,
I tried your recipe and it worked out amazingly well! I set it at 750gms and medium crust and did the rest of the process exactly as you suggested. Enjoyed eating it immensely. Thank you so much, it's been very helpful for me.
Thanks again.
Tanya, I am so glad you found this recipe useful. Thank you so much for stopping by and taking the time to share your review. 🙂
How many grams is a cup?
Hi Irina! 1 cup of white bread flour weighs 130 grams or 4.6 ounces. 3 1/4 cups of white bread flour weigh 422.50 grams or 15 ounces.
Please check your weights, as bread flour is 136 grams per cup. I used your measurements and fouled the recipe.
Thank you for the great recipe! This recipe worked very well in our 2001 vintage Breadman machine. The bread was as light and fluffy as described.
We used to use boxes of pre-mixed ingredients for bread machines. Those products have become difficult to find lately.
I followed this recipe exactly and measured the flour by volume twice to make sure it was correct. Aerating the flour made a difference. It yielded an extra 1/3 cup of flour that we put back.
One thing to note is water temperature. This recipe does not mention what the temperature of the water should be. The pre-mix boxes all seem to call for water temperature between 80 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit to activate the yeast. So from habit I microwaved the water for 15 seconds to a temperature of 88 degrees. That worked great — but I don’t know if it was even necessary.
Geoffrey, thank you so much for such a helpful and insightful comment! I am so glad you found this recipe useful.
I tried this recipe but it didn't rise. Used bread flour and brand new yeast. Whisked the flour. Maybe it's because I'm at high altitude? What would the adjustment be for that? Thanks so much!!
Loved this recipe! Can you tell me the measurements for a 1 lb loaf? Would it be 2/3 of each ingredient?
Also - is there a rye bread version for this?
Was given a 1lb bread maker , make a great loaf of bread but have a lot of trouble getting it out of the canister! I don’t want to stick a knife in to loosen the sides: Is there a special trick of getting it out in one piece??
Hi Iris, do you let the bread completely cool off before trying to get it out? I would turn the canister upside down, place it on a plate, and let it sit for a while, letting the gravity do the work. Maybe, shake the canister after it's been upside down for about 30 minutes to help bread release.
I used self rising flour and my bread still comes out 1/2 flat and not mixed up good
This recipe is fantastic! I’ve tried many others but this one is by far the best. Do you have any other bread machine recipes?
Thank you, Robyn! Unfortunately not. But planning to.
Perfect, perfect, perfect! Pretty loaf and just what I’ve been looking for as I’ve had soooo many mishaps. Thank you! Do you have any more tried and true bread machine recipes?
Stephanie, I am so glad you found this recipe useful! Unfortunately, I don't have other bread recipes, but planning to.
Do you have this recipe with how much the flour should weigh? I think I would like to see the difference between measured and weighed flour.
Hi Tina! 1 cup of white bread flour weighs 130 grams or 4.6 ounces. 3 1/4 cups of white bread flour weigh 422.50 grams or 15 ounces.
What are the modifications to the recipe to make a 2lb BASIC WHITE BREAD instead of 1.5lb?
Thank you
Hi there! I just got my bread machine and purchased bread machine yeast. Can I use that as the yeast for this recipe? R
Thanks!
Yes, you can use bread machine yeast in this recipe.
This recipe is perfect! It made making bread a breeze.
Thank you Julia!
Angela, you are very welcome! So glad you found this recipe useful.
So I thank you again for the inspiration. I used the same flour mix for a loaf of sourdough yesterday and it is delicious. I think all bread machines are not alike!
Thank you, Connie! Glad you found this recipe useful! Love sourdough bread!