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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.
Alton Brown says to use filtered water. Clorin can hurt the yeast. I wonder about what different kinds of water could do. Maybe stay away from distilled water too?
How about the temp of the water? Can I just use tap temperature water (it's winter, it will be colder now)....or do I need to heat it a bit?
Use room temperature water.
I make all my bread in a bread maker but I use the bread maker instant yeast but I bought the wrong yeast today the normal active yeast and my bread was a disaster totally inedible with a crust like concrete. On sawing it open the bread looked very airy and open but was tough and inedible even the birds are ignoring it. I see you mention active yeast and use it the way I do are you using the INSTANT active bread machine yeast?
I have been doing this for a couple of weeks just love love it I make about 3-4 loaf of bread a week give to the neighbor and our son everyone love it if you don’t like this recipe something is wrong.
So happy you've been making this recipe many times! Thank you so much for taking the time to share your feedback! 🙂
For an Italian bread just add 1/2 teaspoon Italian dry seasoning in EACH cup of flour. Makes great Italian bread for sandwiches or with soup.
Great idea! Thank you!
I just made a YouTube video making this recipe, it turned out great. I linked this recipe in my videos description. Thanks!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2rpnR1H6DM&t=7s
This will be the first time i use my bread machine and im curious, when the ingredients are in the pan do i need to mix them?
No need to mix the ingredients. Just layer them in the sequence indicated in the recipe. The bread machine will do the rest of the work!
This recipe is absolutely delicious. We recently got a bread machine, and I was very disappointed by the instructor's recipes, and all the recipes I found online all lacked something, flavor, shape or structure. They didn't quite taste like bread and today we said we'd give it another go with your recipe. It. Is. Perfect. Fluffy, warm, with a perfectly crunchy but not too bitter crust.
5/5, will make again & again. Thank you ♡
Anna, I am so happy to hear that! Comments like yours make my day! 🙂
What American recipes really need is to start using weight as a measurement instead of cups.
A cup is a volume measure and will only ever reasonably accurately measure a liquid.
No matter how you describe how to use a cup or fill it, you get 10 people - you will get 10 different amounts.
Love this bread thanks so much for sharing!!
My question is, what’s the best way to store this delicious bread? I read through the comments about freezing, do I just stick it in a gallon size bag?
Thanks again for the best breadmaker recipe!!
Donna
Donna, thank you for such a kind comment! I am glad you liked this bread! You can freeze the whole loaf, your slice the loaf in half or in 3 parts and freeze them separately. And, yes, freeze the bread in an airtight plastic bag.
How do you keep the bread dough paddle from baking into the bread.
Or get it out without damaging the loaf
You take it out before the baking cycle begins. Be careful as the pan may still be a little hot due to the heat needed for rising the bread.
After the first rise in a bread machine, the machine kneads one more time and then beeps before it starts the second rise. When that happens you can pop the dough out on to a floured or oiled surface and shape the loaf, remove the paddle and put the dough back in for a second rise.
Thanks so much...this is going to be my go to recipe for bread after so many experimentations and failing.
I am very happy to hear that! Thank you for stopping by and leaving your kind comment!
Deliciousness...
Does the water need to be warm?
No, room temperature.
Glad I found you video and info on baking bread. I have been trying for the past few days to bake a lighter loaf of white bread and not succeeding. I go by the instructions for a bread machine, use bread flour, try to measure correctly, and all the other things, except I only knead the bread in the machine and then bake it in my oven. The bread is beautiful and taste good, but seems dense and moist. Please give me your suggestions, as all the comments about your bread is A+.
Great recipe. I made this yesturday and wow much better than the loave I made using the recipe that came with the machine. It was light and airy. It rose right to the top of the lid on my machine. The crust was perfect. Will definitley make again.