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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.
This bread was delicious. It got a huge thumbs up from everyone in the house. I see a lot of tasty fresh bread in my future. Thanks for this recipe and the tips for the flour. Game changer.
Michelle, I am so happy you found this recipe useful! Thank you for such a positive and enthusiastic comment! 🙂
Bread rules. Yeah
Enjoy! 🙂
Thank you for your recipe. I used the bread machine recipes before, and the bread came out very dense. It was good, but not exactly a favorite. Then I gave your recipe a try, and voila, this is our go-to recipe now. The bread is fluffy, tasty and delicious. Aerating the flour is probably the best thing I learned from here, and I think it made all the difference. Five starts from us.
Evgenija, I am so, so happy you enjoyed this bread recipe and found the tips in the recipe useful! 🙂 Thank you for stopping by and sharing such a positive and uplifting comment - comments like that make my day and make me want to do more recipes!
I looked and looked and didn't see anything about water temperature.. maybe I missed it somewhere?
Eric, water should be at room temperature.
Hello! Just wondering if I could substitute whole wheat flour instead? Thank you!
I would use half whole wheat flour, half the bread flour (used in the recipe) and add an extra tablespoon of water. It should produce a delicious bread that is not dense.
My husband, who is SO PICKY, said that this was the best bread I’ve ever made! I’ve made it three times now and it’s just so delicious. Try and you for the recipe!
Jodie, thank you so much for taking the time to share such a wonderful comment! 🙂 I really appreciate the feedback, especially the positive one! 🙂
Wow, this recipe is fantastic!
I got my bread maker yesterday and made a loaf from the recipe that came with the machine. It was ok, but not great. I looked for an alternative recipe online and decided to try yours. I put it on to bake overnight, and the loaf it produced is AMAZING! Super, super light instead of the normal dense loaf that bread machines tend to produce and with a beautifully golden and crisp crust. This will now be my regular white bread recipe. Thank you so much!!! (I wanted to post a picture but it doesn’t seem to have that option on comments)
Fiona, I just love your comment - it made my day so much better!!! I am glad you found my recipe and that it worked well for you! 🙂
Hi Julia,
This is in my bread machine as I type. I followed your instructions to the tee. I'm nervous using "active dry yeast" In its dry state but I hope by all the positive comments that I see that this dry active yeast will do it's job with out being mixed in some sort of liquid first to get moving. 🙂
Doug, I hope the recipe turned out well for you!
hi ive tried some of your other recipes and everyone has been great and very easy but this bread machine thing huh first your right about how the prep in bread is so important so im still experimenting 1) alot of them say use butter you use oil why? 2) i have also heard that it rises better when you take out of machine rise and oven bake but i dont know after which rise to take it out any ideas 3) have you tried any cin/ras bread how does that work??? prethanks for everything
Jeff,
1) Oil vs. butter. Baking bread with vegetable oil produces a more tender and moist loaf. Butter is solid at room temp, and bread made with butter tends to be drier.
2) You can certainly use the machine only for kneading - and let the bread rise outside of the machine and then bake it in the oven at 350 F for about 25 mins. Also, for the baking cycle, move the bread dough into a bread loaf pan (oven-safe) and bake it in the oven.
3) Cinnamon raisin bread. You can certainly add raisins (even pre-plumped ones) and cinnamon to the flour (dry mixture). And, proceed with the recipe as is.
BONUS VARIATIONS
4) Bread with herbs. Another variation is to add about 1 tablespoon of Rosemary and 1/2 teaspoon of Italian seasoning (or some other combination of dry herbs, such as thyme) to the flour mixture.
5) Garlic bread. Yes, you can add crushed garlic! Add the crushed garlic together with the LIQUID INGREDIENTS, then add dry ingredients (just like the recipe states), then add the yeast last (making sure the yeast is not touching the liquid ingredients).
6) Cheese bread. If adding cheese, I would use about 1 cup of shredded cheese (use Parmesan or Asiago) and add it together with the DRY INGREDIENTS (bread flour). Add the bread machine yeast last. The yeast should not touch the liquid ingredients.
Hi!! Making the original version now. For the garlic bread, how much would you add? I have minced black garlic that I want to try. What would be your recommendation? Thanks!! So excited to try this bread
I would use 2 or 3 tablespoons of minced garlic. Enjoy the bread! 🙂
Thank you for this and for unlocking the key to my many, many, many failed loaves of bread...may sound silly but I was never told to aerate the flour and now I know to do this, I have yet to fail! You are a genius!
Jo, thank you so much for such an enthusiastic comment - it made my day and made me smile at the same time! 🙂
Hi, I've just put the ingredients together but I am unsure which setting I should use for the size of the loaf?
I have Medium, large or extra large
Sarah, I am sure the instructions for your bread machine should have the exact measurement for each loaf size, but I would imagine that 1.5 lb loaf (in this recipe) would fit the medium size.
This is the first time my bread is soft, loose, it came out perfect. I will keep on using this recipe, best bread my machine has ever baked. Thank you!!!
Maria, you are very welcome! Glad you found this recipe helpful!!
Can you substitute olive oil for vegetable oil?
Yes, you can use either olive oil or vegetable oil.
My bread machine has the basic cycle, medium crust option as 3 hours, not 3 hr 15 min. Will this be an issue? Thanks!
Made this four times now and it is brilliant, best recipe I have used
Chris, thank you for your generous comment. I am glad you found this recipe useful.