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 and cool 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 1/2-3 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. When I have it perfect, I will return and post. I keep wondering if a moist warm oven for rising will help and if the loaf needs extra yeast because of the wheat flour. I have read that too much yeast can make for a bad flavor though, so I will try it and report. 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. If you have two ovens like I do, a few minutes for the dough cycle is done, turn on your second oven to the lowest setting/warm cycle and place a small baking pan of boiling water inside the oven on second rack to create moisture.
3. When the dough cycle is complete, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, shape into a loaf, and place in a greased loaf pan to rise. Cover with a dish towel and place into your warmed, moist oven. While the bread is rising in the bread pan, preheat your main oven to 350 degrees.
4. If you only have one oven, then just let your dough rise in the bread pan covered with a dish towel in a warm place (on your counter or maybe try in your microwave if your kitchen is cold or breezy). You will still want to preheat your main oven while the bread is rising in the loaf pan. This second rise can take 1/2 hour or more, depending. Just keep an eye on it and when it's doubled in size or just about as big as you'd like it to be, then go ahead and bake it.
1. I have heard if you push on the dough and it springs back immediately, it's still rising.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. Bake at 350 degrees in a preheated oven for 20-25 minutes. Brush the top of the loaf with butter directly from the oven.
6. 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. Thus, I am going to try more yeast and a moist rising place to see if those things make a difference. If not, I guess I just have to be satisfied that my wheat loves will never be as tall as my white.

I have a note to try more yeast (maybe 3 tsp instead of 2 1/2 tsp), but some sites really don't recommend that. Instead, they say to try a longer rise time, so I will do that first and see what happens.