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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 is my first breaker maker recipe that I actually liked! It’s so good! I was just wondering, how much is a serving? Approximately how many grams/oz is the 310 calories for?
Daniel, I am so glad the bread turned out well! The total amount of servings in this recipe is 6, so 1/6th of the bread loaf equals about 313 calories (and these values are not 100% accurate - they are approximations).
I would love to be able to convert this to a 1lb loaf.
Betty, if you want to adjust this recipe from 1.5 lb loaf to 1 lb loaf, simply multiply all the ingredients by 0.7 (reduce the amount of all ingredients by a third (1/3)).
Hi Julia, I'm looking forward to making this bread. Please can I just check the metric conversion- if a US cup is equal to 240 grams and I'm using 3 and a quarter cups, then it adds up to 780 grams. On the metric converter is says an amount of 406.25 grams. Or am I not understanding something. Look forward to hearing from you. Thanks, Lynne
Lynne,
A cup of bread flour (or even all-purpose flour) weighs 4 1/4 ounces (or 120 grams).
3 1/4 cups of bread flour will convert to 14 ounces (or 390 grams which we can round up to 400 grams).
I used this source as a reference:
https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/learn/ingredient-weight-chart
And using that ⬆️ is pretty close to the metric converter on my site.
My husband can’t have salt. Is the lack of salt the cause of the dense bread?
Pam, salt is important for bread making, especially making a tall loaf in a bread machine. One option for you can be to use the bread machine for the dough kneading cycle only and then transfer the dough into a flatter (not tall) baking dish and bake it in the oven.
Here is a nice article that explains what happens if you bake bread without any salt:
https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/blog/2020/07/29/why-is-salt-important-in-yeast-bread#:~:text=If%20you%20bake%20bread%20without,proofing%20means%20lighter%2C%20fluffier%20bread!
Hi julia
First time I’ve made a successful loaf in my morphy richards fastbake I thought there was a fault with the machine thanks a million for this last ditch attempt for success.
John, I am so thrilled that your last-ditch attempt at baking bread was successful! Thank you for taking the time to share such a positive comment.
Julia! A million thnknyoua! Finally a fluffy bread from the machine. I replacedone cup of white flour with whole wheatand used creamed honey instead of sugar. It was delicious.
Kasha, thank you for your enthusiastic review! ❤️ Good to know that whole wheat flour worked just as great as bread flour and that creamed honey worked instead of sugar!
I pulled out my bread maker for the first time in years to make white bread for my grandson. I tried your recipe and it was easy, tasty, light, and just perfect. Now if I could learn to slice it like a professional loaf, i would really be in bussiness.
Diane, I am so happy your bread turned out well on the first try in years! Thank you for this wonderful 5-star feedback! 🙂
I think cooling the bread completely (for about 1 hour) in the loaf pan and then using a serrated knife should make slicing the bread really easy!
Excellent recipe. I am using an older breadmaker and not wa not having the success I wanted! However, using this recipe (and abiding by the tips) I have had success .
Highly recommended -p
I am so glad my tips were helpful and practical to make a successful loaf!
Wonderful
Thank you! 🙂
Can you make with regular flour? Or does it need to be bread flour.
Abi, ideally, of course, using bread flour is your best choice. Here is the reasoning behind it:
- 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 a smaller percentage of gluten than bread flour), your loaves will be flatter and denser.
- However, I did have comments on this recipe when people used all-purpose flour, and the bread turned out well and tall, albeit a bit denser. If using all-purpose flour, use only 3 cups of flour, don't put the last 1/4 cup of flour. And, of course, aerate the flour before measuring it.
This bread was great! Do you by any chance have the amounts for a 2 lb loaf??
Marcia, glad you loved it! 🙂 For a 2 lb loaf, just increase the amount of all ingredients by a third (1/3). Or, multiply each ingredient by 1.33 - Enjoy!
Does the water need to be warm or room temp or can you use cold water?
Kim, I used room-temperature water (not refrigerator-cold).
Love this recipe. How would it look to bake it in two loaves in the oven to make smaller loaves ?
Double everything
Love making this bread started with one now I'm up to making two a week
Donna, homemade bread is the best! ❤️
Delish!!
Thanks, Sandra! 🙂
Very easy and turns out great. Ive done it in my bread machine on the basic setting. Mainly Ive been just using the dough setting and either making dinner rolls or loafs baked in the oven. Its become a family favourite! Ty
Rachel, thank you for this glowing review - I really appreciate it! 🙂
I'd had no good loaves from my bread maker, they were just solid lumps thick and doughy dense.
Just put your recipe in and its having a last chance
Penny, I hope your loaf turned out well!
Best bread ever. My 3 and 1 year old sons LOVE it. So do my wife and I. Thanks for sharing!! We make a couple loaves a week.
Jonathon, homemade bread is the best! Glad everyone loves this recipe!
Love this recipe, my forst couple of loaves turned out but were so dense. I'm not sure if it's the oil instead of butter or sifting the flour but that made so much difference and is so much better!! Thank you!!
Keri, I am so glad you found this recipe helpful! Thank you for this wonderful comment and the 5-star review! 🙂