If you knew any Romanian, you’d know we are very particular about our bread. Closer to the French baguette, or the Italian ciabattas in taste, our bread is fluffy, crusty and NOT sweet. When you enter a Romanian bakery, it smells like a dream.

For us, new immigrants back in 2019, getting used to the sweet American bread was a challenge. Let’s say my daughter spent three months eating very little bread, as none was acceptable to her taste buds. Not even Panera bread seemed acceptable for her (and it was sooo expensive).

Finally, my husband discovered an Italian bakery in the area and began purchasing from it.

And then .. pandemic hit and we decided that he will not risk getting COVID over bread, so we finally took the bread machine off the shelf and started using it.

Easy White Bread Machine Recipe

I could call it like this, but truth be told I am using the bread machine only to knead and prove the dough. Back in Romania, we used the bread machine for the entire process, but here in the US (probably the voltage is the issue), the bread didn’t properly bake.

We also used a fairly expensive one (Zojirushi BB-CEC20 Home Bakery Supreme 2-Pound-Loaf Breadmaker), but to no avail.

So, the solution we found was to use the bread machine for the first prove and kneading, then get the dough out for a second prove (while the oven is getting hot), then bake in the oven.

The bread smells AMAZING and is incredibly tasty.

Here is how it’s made:

Homemade White Bread

Recipe by Maria

Servings

servings

Prep time

minutes

Cooking time

minutes

Calories

300

kcal

Homemade White Bread Ingredients

350 ml warm water
560 grams white flour
8 grams salt
1 pack instant yeast (7 grams)
1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

How to Make Homemade White Bread

put 350 ml of water in a container and microwave for 50 seconds. The water has to be WARM. Not hot to kill the yeast, but warm.
in the meantime, weigh in the flour.
put the water (now warm) into the bread machine.
add the salt
add the flour (sift once or even twice, to make it fluffier)
on top of the flour put the yeast and sugar.
start the dough program (in my case it’s about 1:40 (an hour and 40 minutes).
as it starts to mix the ingredients, add the olive oil.
let the bread machine do its thing and, when the dough is done, get the dough out.
usually bake it in a non-stick bread loaf pan. You can also bake it free form, whatever works for you.
start the oven at 450 °F
as the oven gets hot, put the bread for its second prove in a warm area for 40-50 minutes (or until double the size)
when proving is done put it in the oven (add a tray with water on the rack below, makes a nicer crust)
set the timer for 35-40 minutes and see when it’s golden brown.