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
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.
Kellie
Thanks so much for saving my bread making experience. I just purchased a new bread machine, tried two recipes and both delivered blocks of dense bread. This loaf was simply perfect.
Lynne
You mentioned in the beginning of Your directions “5 minutes to put together”Then it was changed to 10 minutes. Please try and be accurate and not all over the map. You have newbies reading that need consistent information.
Manju
Works every single time with perfect bread. Thank you
Lisa
Turned out great! Thanks so much,
Hannes
Hi do I put dry yeast on top or must I leave the yeast in warm water first to activate thanks for your help
Gautam Bose
Your recipe may be given in weight (gram) in output verses input. So that, productivity may be calculated.
Margie
I. Also like to know in gramms
Shweta B
The recipe is absolutely on point. I was having hard time making a good basic bread in my bread machine and honestly I was starting to repent my decision to buy it. Tried these instruction about scooping the flour the right way and it worked like magic! Thank you for the recipe ❤️
Marla
This is by far the softest white bread recipe to be found anywhere! Entire family loved it. We ate half of it straight out of the machine, and probably would have finished it, but it was almost midnight. Thanks for an easy amazing recipe and all the tips. You pretty much made it fool proof.
Alycia
Does the temperature of the water matter in this recipe ?
Jennifer
I always use warm water and it comes out perfect every time!
Cathy
Everywhere ive looked it says lukewarm water but this doesnt does anyone know.
Biddy Gander
Having read the comments this sounds like the perfect white bread but is there any chance of having the quantities in weights rather than cups please. Thanks.
shalom Tan
Can I have the measurements in grams. Many thanks.
Rick
There is an ingredient weight chart at King Arthur Baking with a large list of ingredients converted to grams. Bookmark it because this won't be the only time you will need to use it.
Once I switched to weighing most bread ingredients I never looked back. Makes a huge difference in your bread consistency.
susan
Fantastic recipe, I had all but given up on my bread machine lol but now I am knocking these loafs of bread out like no tomorrow...well done
Alyssa
I’m a newbie to the bread machine. Tried two other recipes and it was a fail. But this!! This recipe was a success. Soooo good. I aerated my flour and followed the directions and it was sooo good. Thank you
Jennifer
This recipe is absolutely delicious! My family devours a whole loaf in one day!