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This bread machine bread recipe is the foolproof method for getting perfect white bread every time! Just dump in all the ingredients and let the bread maker do all the work! With about 5 minutes of minimal effort you can have soft, warm bread in just a couple of hours!
The Best Bread Machine Bread Recipe
My good friend Abby makes THE BEST bread. A few years ago I convinced her to let me in on her secret, and to my surprise, she simply stated that the secret is that she uses her bread machine. Seriously!? I honestly didn’t believe her at first, because bread machine bread just isn’t usually good (compared to the classic, manual-rising, oven-baked variety)! I’ve attempted making bread in a bread machine at least a dozen times and it always came out dry and hard, and just not quite right. Well, she proved me wrong. Now making bread/dough in the bread machine is my VERY favorite way to make homemade bread. Trust me, you are going to love how easy and delicious this recipe is!
The Secret to Bread Maker Bread
Bread machines are SO convenient. You just put everything right in, push go, and they do all the work for you! The mixing, the kneading, the rising, the baking – everything! Where a bread machine falls short is in the “baking” part. When it comes to baking bread, the bread machine is not your friend. So what is to be done? Shhh.. I’m going to let you in on the secret. Here’s what you do: Let the bread machine do all the mixing, kneading, and rising. Then dump the dough in a bread pan, put it in a COLD oven (no preheating, YAY!), turn the oven on and bake. It’s THAT easy. Just these few little steps make a world of difference!
How to Make Bread using a Bread Machine (Step by Step)
- First, place 1 cup VERY hot water, 1 egg, 4 tablespoons cold butter, ¼ cup sugar, and 1 ¼ teaspoons salt in the bread machine. No need to mix or anything, just put it all straight in.
- Next, Add 3 cups flour directly to the bread maker. Make a small well in the flour with your hand and add yeast to the well.
- Set bread machine to “dough” for 90 minutes (it should default to 1 hour 30 minutes) and press “start”.
- When your dough is finished, pour it straight into a greased bread pan. If you want to make it look pretty, you can turn it so a smooth side is facing up. Then just tuck down any unruly edges.
- Place the bread pan in the COLD oven. No preheating necessary!
- Set temperature to 350-degrees and set timer for 30 minutes. The bread will rise and bake in this time.
- Remove baked bread from the oven and remove quickly from pan. Place on a cooling rack and brush with butter. Cover with a towel or place in a plastic Ziplock bag to keep from drying out.
What Bread Maker is Best?
Honestly, it doesn’t really matter what kind of bread machine you have. We got the cheapest bread maker on Amazon that had decent reviews. I think it was under $100. Any basic bread maker will do the trick. Just make sure it has a “dough” option so it will stop once the dough is done.
Adapting to Make More Bread Machine Recipes:
We have used this exact dough recipe for all sorts of recipes. Sometimes you have to knead it with some flour to get the right consistency depending on what you are making, but it works like a charm in these recipes:
Gino’s Deep Dish Pizza
Homemade Cinnamon Rolls
Parmesan Pull Apart Bread
Pani Popo (Samoan Coconut Rolls)
BBQ Cilantro Pizza
Quick and Easy Calzones
Monkey Bread
Pesto Rolls
Fry Bread
Breadsticks
Read more: 35+ Dinner Ideas
Frequently Asked Questions
Bread machines usually call for ‘bread flour’. The main difference between bread flour and all-purpose flour is the gluten content (bread flour has more gluten). All-purpose flour is absolutely fine to use! Your loaf of bread may not rise as spectacularly as it would with the bread flour, but there really isn’t much of a difference.
YES! Not only is it cheaper, but you know exactly what is going into it! No mystery ingredients in your sandwich bread.
Broken down, the savings look like this: The average cost of a loaf of basic white bread is around $4 (more or less), making it yourself costs about $1.
(It also tastes better!)
Nope! Just make sure you are using a quick-rise yeast for it to work best. In this recipe, we just use all-purpose flour. No need to spend extra getting special ingredients.
Bread Machine Bread
Video
Equipment
- Bread Machine
Ingredients
- 1 cup water (very hot)
- 1 egg
- 4 tablespoons butter (cold- not softened)
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
- 3 cups flour
- 1 tablespoon quick-rise yeast
Instructions
- Place hot water, egg, butter, sugar, and salt in bread machine.
- Add 3 cups flour. Make a small well in the flour and add yeast.
- Set bread machine to "dough" for 90 minutes (1 hour 30 minutes) and start.
- When dough is finished. Pour directly into a greased bread pan. If needed, gently turn the bread or tuck in the edges so the top is smooth (it's ok if it is sticky).
- Place bread in COLD oven and set oven to 350 degrees. Set timer for 30 minutes.
- When finished baking, remove from oven and carefully remove bread from the pan.
- Place on a baking rack to cool and brush the top with butter. Place a towel over the bread or place in a plastic Ziplock bag to keep from drying out.
- Serve immediately or place in a plastic Ziplock bag to keep from drying out.
If Making Rolls:
- Remove dough from bread machine and place on a floured surface.
- Knead in a little flour if dough is too sticky to handle.
- Divide dough into 12 equal pieces. Fold and pinch into dough balls and place in a greased 9×13 glass baking dish.
- Place in a COLD oven and set to 350 degrees. Set timer for 25 minutes.
- Remove rolls from oven and brush with butter.
Notes
- using as a crust to spread with jams, from raspberry to fig to cherry, and drizzled with honey
- toasting and slathering with garlic and cheese, and pairing with soups, salads, and vegetables
- your favorite new sandwich
- French toast, a morning staple
- and finally, the classic bread and butter, not to be overlooked.
Best bread machine bread ever. Follow the recipe and I bake for 35 min starting with a cold oven. I use dough cycle, bread flour and quick rise yeast . I do not buy bread any more at all.
Great tasting bread but it didn’t rise very much and didn’t cook all the way through after the recommended 30 minutes starting in a cold oven.
Best bread maker recipe I have found! This is my go-to recipe for baking bread. The crumb is perfect and allows you to thin slice for sandwiches. Make according to recipe and you can’t go wrong. I scrape down the flour during the first couple minutes. Dough will seem very sticky and wet but that’s ok. Don’t add anything! I love that you can pop it into a cold oven and it bakes perfectly. Looking forward to using this recipe for rolls for Thanksgiving.
My husband says I knocked this one out of the park. It looked so good I couldn’t wait until it was cool for me to have a little slice with butter. Great recipe!
I make this bread twice a week now. I add 1/3 whole wheat flour to my three cup mix. I also add a heaping tablespoon of gluten flour to help it rise better with the whole wheat. I let my incredible Breville machine do all the work. I end up with a 3 lb loaf . My my machine allows for three different size loaves and I set it for the 2 lb but always end up with three. The loaves come up to the top of the window and are perfect in every way! Thank you so much for this great recipe that I will use forevermore. I’m planning to try rolls, cinnamon rolls, Pizza and anything else I can think of with this basic recipe. I’ll let you know.
So glad you like our recipe! Thank you!
Help please !
I followed your recipe as shown but the dough did not form. I added 6 more spoonfuls of baking bread mix and it just stayed like a thick pudding.
What a waste.
I am getting so frustrated as this is my third unsuccessful attempt
Diane
What is the baking bread mix that you added?
So far, my favorite bread recipe. I made it exactly as directed and it turned out perfect. Very soft but dense at the same time. Will be making again and I’m going to make it into buns too. Wondering how this recipe does after freezing?
We haven’t tried freezing this bread, but most bread does great in the freezer!
Best bread machine dough recipe I’ve tried!!! So good! Thank you!!
Can I sub milk for water in this recipe?
We haven’t tried it that way, so I can’t say for sure. Let us know how it turns out if you do try it!
I have made this recipe twice with milk and and it turned out great both times. The second time, I used a little less sugar, salt, and yeast to satisfy my personal taste. You may know that substituting milk gives breads a softer crust. It may not rise quite as high as with water, but it will still have decent oven spring (if not over proofed in the machine – use the “poke test”) and a soft interior with no large holes. It will also brown more quickly. Keep an eye on it near the end.
I have made the bread machine bread my grown son’s love it. Of so do I an it’s so easy. So fluffy and better then the bread machine bread ever was. Thank you so much for this recipe. I have told several friends how good and easy it is
Wow, my bread turned out amazing!! I had to alter recipe a little since I’m at a high altitude…3 extra tbsps H2O, 25% less yeast, and increased temp to 375…turned out just perfect!! Finally found an easy recipe to follow, thank you! New to this and had been struggling and thinking of giving up…not anymore!
So tried this 3 different ways and all turned out good
First followed recipe exactly and baked in the oven.
Next followed recipe exactly but cooked it in the bread maker entirely ( was good but think I preferred the suggested way though)
Next again followed recipe but added 2 tablespoons of everything bagel seasoning half to the liquid and half to the flour as I wasnt sure which tonadd it to (cut the salt back slightly as its in the everything mix…and cooked entirely in the bread maker…Husband and I both thought it elevated the bread even more…think I will try adding a bit more next go round (it was an experiment lol)
How long for 2 mini loaves? I’d like to try and divide the dough, in 2 loaves each 5 x 3 pans, to give to some folks who live alone.
We haven’t tried it that way, so I can’t say. Maybe look up a recipe for mini loaves and base the baking time on that?
Wonderful recipe. Thank you for posting. Followed recipe to the letter and baked a delicious soft load.
Do we also turn the roll dough in the greased pan before baking (to coat all sides), like the bread loaf?
You don’t need to add that step in for the rolls, just make sure you place them in smooth side up!
What size bread machine is this recipe made for? Mine is only a 1.5lb bread maker.
That should work!
If I wanted to bake it in my bread machine, what size loaf is this recipe?
I’m not sure since we don’t bake this recipe in our bread machine.
I cannot get over not having to let the dough rise a second time; ie: remove dough from machine, knock down and let rise again. Have I missed something, or do I take the dough from the machine, straight into bread pan and then into the oven? Thank you, from London, England.
Question. So I do not let it rise twice in the breadmaker?? I take it out after the first rise?
Thank you
Amazing recipe! I substituted bread flour and let the machine do everything with the basic, full program adding a tiny bit extra flour during the first kneading cycle. The bread texture, smell, color and everything was picture perfect. So soft, fragrant and beautifully plump and delicious. Love that this is just 3 cups of flour too! Thank you!
I made this bread Saturday and it is absolutely delicious. I just let my bread maker do the whole thing (bake it as well) and it is the best bread I’ve made since I got the machine 4 months ago. Thanks so much!
I followed the directions exactly and my bread is not very sturdy. It’s really falling apart even with thick slices. Anybody have any suggestions on what I might have done wrong? I used APV and quick rise yeast
I let mine cook 36 min you might try that.