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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 go too now for my bread machine. Its delicious I have tried it with butter and olive oil. Both turned out amazing. Thank you for sharing this. If you have any other bread machine recipes, I would love to know.
Chante, I am so glad you loved this recipe! Good to know it works well with butter or olive oil.
Here are some other variations that you can do using this recipe:
➡️ 1) Cinnamon raisin bread. You can add about 3/4 cup raisins (even pre-plumped ones) and 1 teaspoon cinnamon to the flour (dry mixture). And, proceed with the recipe as is.
➡️ 2) 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.
➡️ 3) 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.
➡️ 4) Garlic bread. Add the crushed or minced garlic (about 2 or 3 tablespoons) 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).
Do you remove the paddle in the machine after kneading so you don't have a whole in the bottom of the bread? Thank you
My 12 year old made this recipe in our machine and has never made it before. It was so soft and delicious!! Thank you, this recipe worked perfectly, tasted amazing and my daughter was pretty proud of herself!
Stacey, I am so glad your 12-year-old daughter successfully made this bread. Thank you for this fantastic feedback! ❤️
Best bread I've ever made in a machine. Tip on sifting bread flour great. I used brown sugar (out of white...lol) and it was awesome. So soft, yummy and we'll worth it. A must try! Thanks so much. Now my go to.
Dina, thank you for this excellent and helpful feedback and the 5-star rating! ❤️
Best bread machine recipe for less dense white bread that I have tried. I make a loaf every Sunday....we love it for sandwiches and toast. I think the sifting/measuring tip makes a big difference. Thanks.
This turned out so good! Like a giant dinner roll….nom nom. Best way to store after cooling and slicing?
Made it, and it looks and tastes good. But I had to guess for the flour. Would be nice if the recipe was done in grams for water and flour - cooking is an art, it's said, but baking is science.
It's hard to know how much 3.25 cups of aerated flour, sifted, whisked, flour actually is - it could lead to inconsistent results. Next time, I'll measure with a measuring cup, and then weight the results.
Can you freeze the bread once it’s cooked?
Finally a perfect, tasty and beautiful loaf! Thank you so much for this recipe.
what are the measurements for a 2lb loaf?
This is the softest bread I have made. Instead of sugar though I use honey.
Rachel, thank you for the feedback that using honey worked great!
I have a Williams Sonoma machine and this is my first time using it. I have 3 hrs 10 minutes or 3 hrs 20 minutes. Which is better?
I Made it and I really enjoyed the simplicity of this recipe and the bread was amazing!
Randy, that makes me so happy! ❤️
Can I use soy milk instead of water or 50/50?
Hello! How much is one serving?
Ashley, this recipe makes 6 servings.
Perfect recipe! Thank you!
So glad!