9 Healthy Bread Recipes for the Bread Machine

I always thought bread machines were extremely unnecessary until a friend of mine convinced me to get one.

The main reason why I bought a bread machine is because as a mum, I need to know what is in the food my kids eat. Also, it saves me money and I can make just enough bread I need instead of buying a pack and not being able to finish the whole thing! What a waste.

So, I surfed the internet for healthy bread recipes I can use for the bread machine and these are the ones I’ve tried. These are super delicious – let us know how it went for you!

1. Four-Ingredient White Bread

2. Quick Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons molasses
• 1 1/2 tablespoons honey
• 1 large egg
• ^{1 1/3} cup water
• 1 cup sourdough starter
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, unbleached
• _3/4 cup rye flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt or 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons caraway seeds
• 1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
• 4 teaspoons vital wheat gluten

Method 

• Put all ingredients in the bread machine in the order specified by your machine’s manufacturer.
• Set on the dough setting. Let it do it’s thing, checking after 10 minutes or so to see if you need to adjust the liquid or flour.
• Let rise, take out and form as desired.
• Let rise again, and heat your oven to 350.
• Slash and bake for 15 minutes, turn and bake another 15 minutes. Test for doneness. I use an instant read thermometer, and shoot for 195-200 degrees.
• Let cool completely, slice and enjoy!

4. Honey Oat Bread

Ingredients

• 1 cup water
• _1/4 cup honey
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil or 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 3 cups white bread flour
• _1/2 cups rolled oats uncooked
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Methods

• Combine ingredients in breadmaker per your manufacturer’s instructions.
• You can replace 2 cups white bread flour with 2 cups whole wheat flour but include 1 tbsp vital wheat gluten (the original recipe suggested this).
• Makes a moist, sweet loaf.

NOTE: cook time is for the basic/white cycle (medium crust; 1½ lb loaf) using a BreadmanPlus bread machine; your machine may differ.

5. Seeded Twirly Buns

Ingredients

• ¾ cup warm milk
• 3 tablespoons water
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1½ teaspoon salt
• 3¼ cups bread flour (if you must substitute all-purpose flour, you will need a little more)
• 3 teaspoons instant or bread machine yeast

• 1 egg + 1 teaspoon water

Method

• Place ingredients in order listed into your bread machine (or follow the order specified in the manual for your machine). Always check to be sure the blade is in place before you start. Set on the DOUGH cycle.
• When cycle is complete and dough has risen almost to top of the pan, remove dough to floured board or silicone sheet. Divide dough into two parts then each of those halves into 4 pieces making a total of 8. Loosely form each piece into a fat, rope shape. Then, STEP AWAY! Let the dough relax for about 10 minutes and life will be easier. Well… maybe not, but your dough will be much more agreeable about shaping.
• Using your hands, roll and pull each rope into an elongated piece of dough approximately 12 inches long. It doesn’t have to be perfect. Then starting at one end, roll up like a snail. Place about 2 inches apart in a large pan or on a greased cookie sheet. Even better if covered with parchment paper or a silicone sheet. Tuck the end of the coil underneath the roll as you place it in the pan. With the palm of your hand, flatten coil slightly. Cover with towel.
• Let rise in warm place till double. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Flatten rolls with palm of hand again down to about 1 inch thickness. Don’t worry, they will pop up in the oven. Brush each roll with egg wash. If desired, sprinkle buns with sesame seeds or poppy seeds.
• Bake in preheated oven for 10-12 minutes until golden. Cool on wire rack. When cool, split with a serrated knife to make sandwich buns.

6. Easy Tomato and Basil Bread

Ingredients

• 2 cups tomato-basil flavored spaghetti sauce
• 2 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
• 3-4 cups bread flour*
• 1 package (2¼ tsp, ¼oz, 7g) Red Star Active Dry Yeast

Method

• Place spaghetti sauce, Parmesan cheese, 3 cups bread flour and yeast in bread pan. Select White or Basic cycle and start machine. Keeping the lid of the machine open, gradually add enough of the additional bread flour until mixture forms a smooth, soft ball. Close lid. When baking is complete, remove bread from machine as soon as possible. Cool on rack. See our Bread Machine section for more helpful tips and information.
• You can substitute Instant (fast-rising) yeast for Active Dry Yeast. Traditional methods- replace 1:1. Expect your dough to rise faster; always let your dough rise until ‘ripe’. Bread Machines- use ½ tsp Instant yeast (or ¾ tsp Active Dry yeast) per cup of flour in your recipe.

7. Grandma’s Christmas Bread

Ingredients

• 1-1/4 cups warm milk (70° to 80°)
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons butter, softened
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1-1/2 teaspoons salt
• 3 cups bread flour
• 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 3/4 cup golden raisins
• 3/4 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup dried currants
• 1-1/2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
• GLAZE:
• 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 1-1/2 teaspoons 2% milk
• 1 teaspoon butter, melted
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method

• In bread machine pan, place the first seven ingredients in order suggested by manufacturer. Select basic bread setting. Choose crust color and loaf size if available. Bake according to bread machine directions (check dough after 5 minutes of mixing; add 1 to 2 tablespoons of water or flour if needed).
• Just before the final kneading (your bread machine may audibly signal this), add the raisins, currants and lemon peel. In a small bowl, combine glaze ingredients; drizzle over cooled bread. Yield: 1 loaf (about 2 pounds).

8. Apple Butter Bread

Ingredients

• 1 cup water at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 cup apple butter
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 2 cups bread flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of yeast

Method

1. ADD the following ingredients, in the order above, to your bread machine
2. SET breadmaker to 1.5 lb regular white bread loaf setting

9. Soft Garlic Sticks

Ingredients

•  3 cups bread flour
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons instant yeast
• 1-1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons lukewarm water

Glaze

•  2 cloves garlic
• 3 tablespoons melted butter
• 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning

Method

• Reverse order of ingredients so water is first. Flour will be next to last with yeast being the final ingredient added.
• No need to reduce this recipemy machine will handle 3 cups of flour just fine. Yours probably will too.
• Add up the liquid in the original recipe and you get 1-1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons. That’s likely too much for a bread machine. I cut the milk in half and subtracted 2 tablespoons water leaving me with 1-1/8 cup liquid-theoretically perfect according to principle #2. (Oil and butter are not included in liquid measurement)

If you have a recipe you can recommend, let us know in the comments!

Do you have a bread machine at home? Which one of these recipes have you tried?