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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 used butter instead of oil it came out better.
How much butter did you use and did you melt it first?
Our bread makers basic setting comes out to a little over 4 hrs. Does this matter?
Hi there can you use this recipe to make flavoured bread like sundried tomatoe bread or garlic bread
thanks
Do you remove the paddle before baking?
julia...lend out my breadmaker to my granddaughter a while ago...got it back...deceided to try itjust for fun...i am old....was bored...tryed your basic white bread...absolutely awesome!!! got anything for raison bread?? thanks!!
Just baked my first loaf ever using a Panasonic bread maker and this recipe. Using the basic white bread cycle on the machine (4 hours 15 mins) has produced a fantastic result with soft white bread and a medium crust. Really pleased, I just need to replicate next time to prove this wasn’t a fluke!
Finally a great recipe for fluffy breadmaker bread that works! Thank you very much!
Hi julia, thanks for the recipe.
Since we bought a bread machine, we always do this receipe and it turns out perfectly each time!
I have been looking for a bread machine bread recipe. I have had a few terrible disasters. My breadmachine was given to me at Christmas. I felt real hope when I found your recipe. If I knew how to say Thank you in every language, I would. I just stared at my loaf and I will use your recipe from now on!
My bread machine has spent the last 10 years in the back of the cupboard. This was a great and super easy recipe to get me started again. I didn't have bread flour but I did throw out my old flour and open a new bag of King Arthur and took your tip to fluff it. What a difference from the old bricks I used to make! Thanks for the recipe and all the tips, my machine is back in use.
What is the temperature of the water you add (meaning are you using warm water around 110 degrees)? Thank you!
I am so happy you emphasized to aerate the flour. I did this and it's the first time I made perfect bread, in size, texture and taste. We're so used to the sweet soft doughy bread from the supermarket that many want to recreate that, but real homemade bread is what your recipe offers.
Can I use fast acting yeast make for bread machines instead of active dry yeast?
Thank you so much for this recipe! My bread has always come out too dense and this recipe plus method produced a perfect loaf.
This recipe came out perfect! I've made it twice. My husband complained about the heavy dense bread I made in the past but this was much lighter. Thank you!