Bread Machine White Bread is simple, basic and tastes great. This recipe makes a high rising loaf with a soft and springy texture perfect to use as a versatile everyday bread. It's the best white bread recipe for the bread machine that you'll find.
"I got so many compliments from this!!"Absolutely scrumptious! Made 2lb loaf on light crust setting. One of the best white bread recipes I’ve ever tried!"
Table Of Contents
This white bread recipe is perfect for the bread machine. It uses bread flour, which has a high protein content, to give it a soft and fluffy texture. With the perfect light density and a balanced flavor, it makes a great basic bread for sandwiches, toast and more. Spread on some roasted garlic or tomatoes and you've got a delicious snack.
White bread gets a bad name for being boring, but this easy bread machine recipe creates a loaf that is anything but that. Use your breadmaker white bread for cheese and tomato sandwiches in the air fryer or slice it into small pieces, toast it and add it to a charcuterie board for any occasion.
Along with bread machine garlic bread, white bread is delicious dipped into homemade chicken soups, vegetable soups, and minestrone, among others.
Once you've mastered how to make a basic white bread in your bread maker, make sure to check out this whole wheat bread and cheese bread.
Ingredients
Bread machine white bread is made with:
- Bread flour: with it's relatively high protein content, bread flour is preferred for making light, fluffy and airy bread recipes. King Arthur bread flour is my preferred brand. You can use all purpose flour as well, but the texture may be a little less soft and springy.
- Warm water: water should be warmed to between 110 and 120 degrees Fahrenheit. You can also use warm milk for a slightly different flavor.
- Butter: unsalted butter works best.
- Olive oil: I use extra virgin olive oil. Substitute with vegetable oil if preferred.
- Salt: white salt, such as table salt or iodized salt.
- Sugar: sugar helps the yeast activate a little more than without sugar but it's not absolutely necessary to add sugar to bread machine recipes. For a sugar-free loaf, leave it out.
- Yeast: you can use instant yeast, bread machine yeast or active dry yeast in breadmaker recipes. I like the outcome of my bread machine recipes most when I use instant dry yeast, so I stick with this. Do not proof yeast before putting into the bread pan.
Instructions
This bread machine recipe makes a 2 pound loaf. For smaller loaves, see the notes in the recipe card below. It's an effortless recipe where the ingredients get put into the bread pan and the machine does all the work for you.
- Add the ingredients in the order listed to the bread pan. The ingredients are listed in the order that Cuisinart machines require them to go. Check your brand's manual for ingredient order. If it differs, add them in the order that your manual states.
- Select the basic/white bread setting. Choose the 2 lb loaf size and your preferred crust color.
- Optional: At the end of the last kneading cycle, remove the kneading paddle. If you miss this step, remove the paddle using oven mitts after the bread cools.
- When baking is complete, remove from the bread pan immediately. Cool on a wire rack for at least 15-30 minutes before slicing. When the bread has cooled, slice it with a serrated knife. A bread slicer is a great gadget to have to ensure evenly cut slices.
If you'd prefer to bake your white bread in the oven, choose the dough cycle on your breadmaker. Once the cycle is complete, remove the dough from the bread pan and shape or put into a loaf pan. Let rise for 40 minutes, then bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 30-40 minutes.
How To Store Bread Machine Bread
Allow homemade bread to cool completely on a wire rack before packaging to store.
Slice the bread and keep it in a cool dark place, such as a bread box or cloth bread bag. It will stay fresh for up to three days. Homemade bread can also be frozen. Wrap it tightly in plastic and put in a freezer safe storage bag. Freeze for up to 6 months.
Chef's Tip
Don't let the yeast interact with the wet ingredients or salt before the machine starts kneading. To ensure this doesn't happen, make an indent in the flour and add the yeast to it last.
Recipe FAQs
Instant yeast, active dry yeast, and bread machine yeast are all perfectly fine to use in the bread machine. Instant yeast rises and creates flavor with 1 rise, while active dry yeast takes 2 rises. Since the white bread cycle is programmed for 2 rises, either yeast will work. Bread machine yeast is basically the same as instant yeast, but is given a different name due to branding. It is a specially formulated instant yeast that's made to rise faster— twice as fast as active dry yeast. When using the different yeasts, you'll see insignificant, if any, differences in this white bread recipe texture or shape.
For breads that need time to rise, bread flour is the best flour to use. It has a higher amount of protein and gluten, which creates a chewy, airy bread. While you can swap bread flour for all purpose flour, it won't produce the same soft chewy bread. All purpose flour has a lower protein content. This makes it best for breads that are more dense and don't need time to rise, like cookies.
There are many potential reasons for bread machine bread to come out dense. Some of them include: not kneading the dough properly, letting the salt and yeast mix while adding ingredients into the pan, using all purpose or whole wheat flour, an inadequate rise time, and using dead yeast. Making bread in a bread machine should eliminate dense bread resulting from an inadequate rise time and having not properly kneaded the dough. Still, to create a fluffy white bread that is not at all dense, make sure: the salt and yeast do not interact when they are added to the bread pan and that you use properly measured bread flour and fresh yeast.
Recipe
Soft Bread Machine White Bread Recipe
Equipment
- bread machine
- bread knife
- bread storage bags
- wire cooling rack
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cup warm water (approximately 110°F)
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoon butter, room temperature and sliced into ¼ inch pieces
- 1½ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoon white sugar
- 4 cups bread flour
- 2 ¼ tsp yeast instant, active dry, or bread machine
Instructions
- Add the ingredients in the order listed to the bread maker pan. The ingredients are listed in the order that Cuisinart machines require them to go. Check your brand's manual for the correct order to add ingredients. If it differs, add them in the order that your manual states.
- Select the basic/white bread setting. Choose the 2 lb loaf size and your preferred crust color. *see notes for making a smaller loaf
- Optional: At the end of the last kneading cycle, remove the kneading paddle. If you miss this step, remove the paddle using oven mitts after the bread cools.
- When baking is complete, remove from the bread pan immediately. Cool on a wire rack for at least 15-30 minutes before slicing.
Notes
- 1 cup warm water
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoon butter
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ tablespoon white sugar
- 3 cups bread flour
- 2 teaspoon yeast
- ¾ cup warm water
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon butter
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon white sugar
- 2 cups bread flour
- 1 ½ teaspoon yeast
Joan
I just made your bread tonight and it turned out amazing lite fluffy and airy 😋
Kristina Tipps
I am glad to hear that it turned out great! Enjoy 🙂
Nichole
First recipe I found that finally delivers the softest bread!! Thank you!!
Kristina Tipps
I'm glad you liked it!
Erin
Loved this recipe! I just got a bread machine and tried this as the first loaf I have ever made and it turned out delicious. My family is hooked and so am I. The directions were easy to follow and worked for my machine well (I have the Neretva bread machine).
Kristina Tipps
I am so glad you liked it. It's my favorite too.
Linda
I made this recipe and I absolutely positively think it’s the best bread machine bread I’ve ever had. I have been making bread machine bread for so long but This made my bread crust soft for whatever reason. And it was phenomenal to be able to cut the bread and use it for sandwiches or toast and not have the crusty so hard that you can’t chew it. Thank you so much for this recipe. I will pass it on to my family, they’re all looking for something that simple and taste well. Quality with convenience I couldn’t recommend this recipe more.
Kristina Tipps
I'm so glad you liked it Linda, and thanks for recommending it to others. This recipe is a favorite of mine too, and I use the base recipe for many of my other white breads.