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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.
I tried and very excellent my bread taste good and soft
This is my go too bread machine recipe. Today made vegetable soup. And made this bread. I've used this recipe 10 or more times. My family loves this bread so much where lucky if lasts for 2 days. 5 stars. Thanks
5 star recipe! Thank you!
I've tried many recipes .this is the best .Lovely soft bread not dense
at all.
What size loaf does this make?
Love this recipe I like how the measurements are all in cups and spoons It makes it so much easier I tried the raisin but made the silky mistake of putting the raisins at the beginning of main mixture instead of adding them to the automatic dispenser I’m yet to try the raisin again Every white basic loaf I have done has been amazing Thankyou
I checked and rechecked at least 3 times and measured all the ingredients correctly. I suspected early on that something was not right! The batter was far too wet and never made a nice dough. The only thing I can guess is that when sifting the flour, it was TOO sifted and therefore not enough flour. Anyway, a total fail.
Can I use bread, Fleischmanns bread machine yeast?, and how much is a serving?
I’ve tried many bread machine recipes and this one is PERFECT. The bread is so soft and fluffy. The taste of the bread is perfect. It makes amazing bread for sandwiches and my family is obsessed with it!
I got a bread machine for Christmas and the recipe book it came gave pretty intricate recipes. I came across this recipe on Google and WOW. I am so impressed!! My first ever homemade loaf of bread came out fantastic. I will be using this recipe weekly. Thank you so much!!
What is the difference between active dry yeast and active dry yeast for bread machine? Making bread in bread machine following your white bread machine recipe.
I’ve tried several different white bread recipes in my new bread machine over the past few weeks. This one is so easy and makes a perfect loaf that whole family loves. Definitely a keeper! Thank you
This is the first loaf of bread I made in my bread maker and it is exactly what I was hoping for. I wanted a basic white bread to make sandwiches for my kids. I have 4. Can you provide the recipe adjustments to make a 2 lb loaf please?
It just tastes like great white bread without all the chemicals. I use melted butter instead of oil. Delicious
Glad you liked this recipe, Lisa! Good to know that melted butter works just as well as oil!
We love this bread, it comes out fluffy and not dense. Can I add bananas to this recipe
Thank you, Sherry! I have never added bananas to it, but here are the variations that I tried:
➡️ 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).