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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 was delicious! I used all purpose flour, so I added another 3/4 tsp yeast and used my bread machine to make the dough. Once that was complete, I took it out of the machine and let it rest for 20 minutes before baking at 400 degrees for 35 minutes. It turned out fluffy with a nice thin crust.
Will definitely keep this recipe!
Heather, thank you for your feedback - so helpful to me and others who might want to try similar changes. ❤️
Do you know what changes need to be made for the ultra fast option on the bread machine?
Maria, I haven't tried this recipe in the ultra-fast option.
313 calories..is that per slice?????
Sandy, no, the recipe makes 6 servings (2 slices). I think this loaf makes total about 12 slices, so the approximate calorie count is for 2 slices of bread.
I don't like using the bread machine to bake so what would the temperature and baking time be for the oven? I've been using 375° and 35 minutes baking time.
Sandra, baking the bread in the oven at 375 F for 35 - 45 minutes sounds about right! Below is a great article with good tips about baking bread machine dough in the oven:
https://www.thespruceeats.com/oven-baking-bread-machine-dough-909022
I tried this today it is really good thank you for the recipe! I used monkfruit sweetener instead of sugar it still taste great!
Aleli, I am so glad the bread turned out great! 🙂 Thank you for the feedback about using monkfruit as a sweetener.
The bread smelled amazing when it was cooking but it completely fell apart and collapsed at the end. Now this may have been user error. I had read in another recipe that you can mix white and whole wheat flour together. So I used 2 1/4 cups white bread flour and 1 cup whole wheat flour. I also used cold water. Could one or both of these things caused this collapse?
Looks like a great recipe. Does this work for the delayed cycle? I would like to put the ingredients overnight and get fresh bread when I wake up in the morning.
First attempt in my bread machine and this loaf turned out perfect!
I’ve tried a couple of other recipes since as i was after something flavoured but they were all a bit of a disappointment 🙁
Thank goodness i saved this link, I’ll take perfect white bread over dense flavoured bread any day!!
Caz, thank you so much for your rave review - I so appreciate it❤️❤️
This recipe certainly creates a hi-rise airy loaf of bread. But Three times throughout the rising stage I had to slice the top in thirds because it was excessively rising. I followed the recipe exactly along with the 1 1/2lb selection. Not too sure why this happened?
My bread fell about 3/4 the way through. A total nightmare!
It doesn’t specify the temperature of the water. Is it cold? Hot? Luke warm?
Missy, I used room-temperature water.
Hi- can I substitute olive oil for vegetable oil?
Thanks!
Rachel, yes, you can use either. 🙂
All I have is quick rise yeast. Will that work? Thanks
I have Fleischmann bread machine instant yeast..says ideal fir all rapid rise recipes. Can I use that for this recipe
Joyce, yes, you can use bread machine instant yeast in this recipe without making any changes.
Here is some quick background about different types of yeast.
➡️ There are, basically, just two types of yeast. Instant yeast and active dry yeast. I used active dry yeast in this recipe.
➡️ Bread machine yeast, rapid rise yeast are both just varieties for instant yeast.
➡️ Active Dry Yeast (that's what I used) is preferred for normal or basic cycle (which is what this recipe uses). Rapid rise yeast and Instant yeast is prefered for a quick cycle.
Because this recipe is so basic , you can use all these yeasts here interchangeably without making any changes.
Enjoy!!
Thank you so much for this awesome recipe !! I was almost ready to sell my machine until I found your bread recipe. I have tried all your variations, and love them all. How would I alter this to make 60% whole wheat bread.?
This is the best bread recipe I’ve used in my bread machine! So soft and delicious. I added an extra 1/2-3/4 teaspoon of yeast. Turns out perfect every time! Thank you
Cheryl, thank you so much for your great review and the 5-star rating! ❤️ Happy Thanksgiving! ❤️
This recipe is absolutely perfect. I am SO THRILLED with how it turned out. It rose so well and was airy and light. Makes fantastic toast and lovely sandwiches. Woohoo!!!
Rebekah, I am so happy to see your rave review - thank you for taking the time to share it! ❤️
I bought my bread machine just over a year ago and I was so excited to use it but then recipe after recipe, loaf after loaf just disappointed and frustrated me. No flavour, pale etc etc. I put it away in the cupboard and gave up. Finally pulled it out last week and decided I'd try one more loaf and if it was still not great, I'd give the machine away. Your recipe saved my bread machine! Turned out perfectly! I'm so happy that I finally found a basic recipe that works! And thank you for the tip about sifting the flour before measuring!
Stephanie, this must be one of the best comments I've ever encountered on my website. ❤️ So glad you are no longer giving away your bread machine - homemade bread is the best!
Here are some other easy variations that you can do using this recipe:
➡️ 1) Cinnamon raisin bread. 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 (Parmesan or Asiago) and add it 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).
thank you so much for these variations! I can't say enough nice things about this recipe, I really can't.
Thank you again, Stephanie! 🙂
I use this recipe all the time, sometimes I add walnuts, chopped or pecans, also chopped. I have even add raisins. I follow the directions and at the end I add my extras. It always turns out wonderful. No need to adjust the other ingredients. Then just let bake as normal. Nothing like hot nut bread anytime of the day.
Fran, thank you for sharing your helpful tips about how to add nuts and raisins to this recipe! ❤️
Will there be much difference using breast machine yeast or dry active yeast?
Megan, yes, you can use bread machine yeast, in the same amount, without changing the recipe.
What type of machine to use with this recipe? make and model? some are pre programmed to have specific time for kneading and rising and baking?
Aly, this is an old, average size Williams Sonoma bread machine.
There are much better machines now.
As long as your bread machine has a Basic bread cycle, for 1.5 lb loaf - this recipe would work on any machine!
I have Zojirushi that makes 2 pound loaves. Does anyone have the increased recipe to make a 2 pound loaf??