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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.
Just made this basic white bread. I haven’t made bread in a bread machine in over 20plus years. It turned out wonderful. Easy to follow and great tips! Thanks. My granddaughter loved it.
Peggy, what a wonderful comment - thank you! Glad this recipe was a success!
Planning to try this recipe after I had my first fail today. Am I supposed to use warm water so the yeast will activate?
The water should be warm or room temperature - not ice cold.
Followed recipe and bread collapsed. This is the first time that has ever happened.
Here are some troubleshooting tips:
1) Make sure to use room temperature water (not hot and not ice cold)
2) Do not use too much liquid
3) Check the expiration date on the yeast package.
4) And, make sure not to open the lid during the baking cycle!
Thanks for sharing I will try it tomorrow..my last loaf was to dense I always cut back on salt..it that ok?
Wow so easy! Thanks for this recipe. It came out great!
Christina, I am glad you found this recipe helpful! 🙂
Just make sure to aerate the flour really well before measuring - that should prevent the dense texture.
About using salt in the bread-making - here is a great article about it: https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/blog/2020/07/29/why-is-salt-important-in-yeast-bread
Salt doesn't only help taste unfortunately. It is very vital to making sure the yeast works correctly.., I added half tsp more for my other recipe and had way better results
Slightly salty. But I love salt
Aerating flour helped
Diane, I am glad you found this recipe useful!
Would using bread machine yeast the same as regular yeast?
I made this today using all purpose flour, following your directions on how to measure the flour. It turned out great and I can't believe how soft it is!! Thank you for sharing!
Amanda, wow, thank you for such helpful feedback about using all-purpose flour! I am glad it worked!
Hi. Will be trying this recipe as it sounds great from all the comments. Can you use any bread machine recipe in any machine? Thanks.
Hi Cathy! Thank you for your faith in this recipe! 🙂 Yes, this recipe can be used in any bread machine with a similar cycle: Use Basic bread, 1.5 lb loaf, medium crust cycle (3 hrs 15 minutes)
You can also, obviously, use this recipe with different bread cycles, once you adjust the weight of the bread loaf, etc.
Perfect recipe. I think the two main points are measure accurately and use bread flour. Works every time for me.
Yes, great points!
I made a loaf for my neighbour and one for me this recipe is wonderful. Thank you so very much
I am so happy you've enjoyed this recipe - thank you for stopping by and letting me know!
Tried this recipe and very pleased with the result
So glad you liked it - thank you for the comment!
Hi Julia
Do you have a bread machine recipe without any oil or fat?
Thank you, Jeanny
Jeanny, I think if you just skip the oil, it won't affect the recipe drastically. Yes, the bread will be somewhat dryer - but if you don't want to use oil - your bread loaf should still come out pretty good!
Perfect thank you
Glad you liked the recipe!
Hi! I am new to bread machine bread making. Is there a reason you used active dry yeast and not bread machine yeast? I am looking at products now to buy with my new bread machine and I see that there is both active dry yeast and bread machine yeast, so was hoping you could clarify that!
I did use active dry yeast in this recipe but from everything I've read, you can easily use bread machine yeast pretty much in a similar manner for this particular recipe. So, the choice is up to you.
Am giving you 4 ONLY because it's not yet cooked. Got a wee bit discombobulated while putting it together, so it didn't go in while in the right order... Also? The garlic didn't go in until there was a rough ball already made. 😀 Just sprinkled it lightly on the outer sides of the ball as it went about in the machine. It WAS a slower riser, but blamed that on myself. It finally began cooking 5 minutes ago, and while not fully risen, it is looking nice! Awaiting my first taste. Thanks so much for sharing!
So glad you gave this recipe a try! Adding garlic sounds delicious! I hope the bread comes out well!
I made this recipe last night.
I followed your directions exactly.
Bread came out perfectly
Thanks
Shirley, I am so happy to hear it! Thank you for taking the time to share this positive comment!
My brother recommended I might like this website.
He was totally right. The bread came out great!
Hello Julia, so I've been following your recipe with all-purpose flour and it still wasn't the best. Finally, I got my hands on bread flour and it came out perfectly. Thanks a lot!
I have a Baumann Living bread machine and I used the gluten free setting since it follows the same time that the recipe has recommended.
I used olive oil and sprinkled 2 tablespoons of thyme based on the comments. The grams recommendation for the weight of the flour was on point too. Recipe works if followed exactly.
Ann, I am so happy this recipe was a success! Thank you so much for such detailed and helpful feedback - I appreciate it! I love thyme - what a great addition. Did you add fresh thyme or dried?
So happy to hear that! Thanks for the comment!
Any idea about measurements for a 2 lb loaf?
I had tried several white bread recipes and they never turned out exactly how we liked it, then I found Krusteaz artisan white & started making it in the bread machine. It was perfect, but now they don't make it anymore, so I began searching for a replacement. THANK YOU for this recipe!! Believe it or not, it's actually EASIER than the mix we used and it's every bit as good, if not better! I loved the question/answer about adding garlic and/or cheese to a loaf & I believe the next loaf I make, I'll be trying that! <3
Kristen, thank you so much for such a detailed and positive comment - I appreciate it! Glad you found this recipe helpful and that you will be trying it with garlic and cheese additions!
This recipe worked like a charm. The bread itself tasted great and the loaf is the perfect size. I will be using this recipe again. Thanks for posting.
You are very welcome! Glad you found this recipe useful!
Made this simple bread recipe, it was a hit, Thanks. I want to try the garlic and cheese.
Linda, I am glad the recipe was a success! Garlic and cheese bread sounds delicious!