Bread Machine Bread

Tip (see making a loaf of bread using the dough cycle below): The dough cycle takes about 90 minutes, so with bake time, you can have fresh bread for a meal in about 2 1/2 hours.

This is the recipe that came with our bread machine. I'd like to document it here so it's always readily available.

Bread Machine Bread

Homestyle White Bread 1.5 Pound Loaf

Ingredients:

• 1 cup plus 2 Tbl warm water
• 1 Tbl butter, softened
• 2 1/2 Tbl sugar
• 1 Tbl dry milk powder
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 cups flour
• 2 1/2 tsp. bread machine yeast

Directions:

1. Put everything in the pan in this order and start the machine. 
2. With our current machine: I like to set mine on "light crust" and removed the loaf 20 minutes before the cycle is schedule to end because our machine makes a dark, thick crust that can get a touch over-baked.

Marsha's Notes:

In April 2024 I decided to let the bread machine do all the work of kneading the dough by using the dough setting. When the machine beeped to let me know it was done, the dough was ready to be shaped for the final rise, so I took the dough out of the machine, shaped it (on a lightly floured surface) and put it in a greased loaf pan to rise while the oven preheated to 350 degrees. Then I baked it off like normal, brushed it with some butter when it came out of the oven, and let it cool out of the pan on a cooling rack covered with a dish towel. It looked amazing, but I was nervous about seeing how it looked on the inside... but it looked GREAT! It took about 20-25 minutes to bake. The dough cycle takes about 90 minutes, so with rise/oven preheat time, bake time and cool time, you can have fresh bread for a meal in about 2 1/2 to 3 hours.

Isn't that so much prettier than the funky square loaf that comes out of the bread machine with the hole in the bottom from the paddle? And the crust was so much more tender! I think this is my new favorite way.

I am working on a wheat version, but wheat is trickier because it takes more water, longer to rise, and you can't do a straight over 1-to-1 conversion from white flour to wheat. You need to maybe replace 1/2 or less of your white flour from the recipe with wheat or you will end up with a brick. My first wheat loaf I tried to just make it with straight wheat flour using the same recipe as above, and I came out with a loaf that was edible, but it was a brick and looked a bit like a large potato. Ha, ha! But it's getting better. For now, my wheat recipe looks something like this:

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• 1 Tbl butter, softened
• 2 1/2 Tbl sugar
• 2 Tbl honey
• 1 Tbl dry milk powder
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cups white flour
• 1 1/2 cups wheat flour
• 2 1/2 tsp. bread machine yeast

Directions:

1. Put everything in the pan in this order and start the machine on the dough cycle.
2. When the dough cycle is complete, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, knead for a few minutes, adding more flour until dough isn't overly sticky to handle (maybe 1/4-1/2 cup), shape into a loaf, and place in a greased loaf pan to rise. Cover with a dish towel and place somewhere warm to rise to full height desired. (My loaves of wheat have never risen much more once placed in the oven to bake, so it will probably be about as tall as it's going to get when you place the dough in the oven.)
• Since I have two ovens, I like to let my dough rise in the second oven, covered with a towel, with the oven light on for just a touch of additional heat.

Here is my dough on a floured-surface with that extra 1/4 cup flour dumped right on top. I then kneaded it as much as I could before adding about another 1/4 cup flour to keep kneading, shape and place in my loaf pan. I may try to use a dough hook on my Kitchen Aid mixer next time to see if I can get the dough to be less sticky with more kneading and report on how that changed the texture and rise.

1. While the bread is rising in the bread pan, preheat your main oven to 350 degrees. Second rise can take as long as 20-30 minutes.
• I have heard if you push on the dough and it springs back immediately, it's still rising.
• If you push on the dough and it springs back halfway immediately but then slowly springs back the rest of the way. it's ready to bake.
• If you push on the dough and it doesn't spring back or deflates, then it's overproofed. It's not going to get any better because the yeast has used up all it's energy, so just bake it and try again another time.
• To "push on the dough" to test readiness, one website recommended inserting your finger into the dough up to your first joint, or about 1 inch deep.
2. Bake at 350 degrees in a preheated oven for 20-25 minutes. Brush the top of the loaf with butter directly from the oven.
3. Remove loaf immediately from baking pan and place on wire rack. Cover loaf with a dish towel while cooling.
• If you leave your loaf in the pan, the crush will go soggy from the hot moisture from baking. Don't place your loaf in a bag until it is completely cooled or you will get moisture collecting inside the bag which will make the loaf soggy and mold faster.

One loaf I made... here it is right after shaping.

Here it is after the rise.

Here it is out of the oven. You can see it didn't rise much more when baking. I also didn't take it out of the pan immediately, and when I came back later the crust had gotten all soggy, thus the note above about removing it immediately from the pan.

Here is another loaf. I tried really hard to let it rise MORE...

Here is another angle. But it also did not rise more once it was in the oven.

I did try once to let the loaf rise in a warm oven that had a pan of boiling water placed inside for steam. That did not seem to make any difference in the rising process compared to just using a warm oven/place for the loaf to rise without a pan of water. In fact, it seemed to make the dough too moist and so it couldn't hold it's structure very well. So, instead, the next time I made a loaf, I just kneaded it for a few minutes to give it more structure then let it rise in the pan for about 20 minutes and got better results. Adding an extra 1/2 tsp of yeast also did not seem to make a difference in the rise of the bread.

Here is my loaf prepared with the extra knead before shaping, let rise in my bottom oven, covered, with just a light on, until it was doming above the lip of the pan. It's one of my best wheat loaves. 3-14-25