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My bread machine has become one of my favorite appliances in my kitchen lately.
When you’re feeding a large family, you quickly realize just how much bread disappears in a single week. Toast for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch, bread becomes one of those foods that quietly holds everything together.
Today, I wanted to chat about how I’ve been making more bread at home, why I think homemade bread still matters and how my bread machine has become one of the hardest working appliances in my kitchen.
I’ll also share the simple every day loaf we’ve been making on repeat lately and why this little machine has completely changed the rhythm of my kitchen.
How it started
I committed to making bread at home all month long.
I was buying a couple loaves of sourdough from Trader Joe’s or Winco at a time at $3.50 a pop. As soon as I brought it home, the next morning it was used for breakfast and boom, a loaf and a half devoured and into the bellies of 5 kids, slathered in butter and jam.
Soon, I found myself buying more and more loaves every grocery trip just trying to keep up. It was then I realized this wasn’t sustainable for our family budget for something that’s actually pretty simple to make at home.
Now I do have experience with sourdough in the past, but keeping a starter fed every day was daunting to me. While I still absolutely admire the artisanal style of sourdough making, I had to be realistic about the season of life I’m currently in. And at this point of my life, we really just needed bread at home to feed the family.
I need practicality… something that works with homeschooling, work schedules, cooking breakfast, lunch, dinner, editing videos, grocery shopping and just feeding seven people every single day. I just needed something that worked.
So, I dusted off my good ol’ bread maker my husband gifted me and put it back to work and made my first loaf. That led to another loaf, and another.. and it eventually became my routine.
If Never Used A Bread Machine Before
Know your machine
A Bread Machine is basically a countertop appliance that handles most of the bread-making process for you.
The Process:
You add all your ingredients into the machine
The machine mixes and kneads the dough for you
It signals you when to add mix-ins like oats, seeds, nuts, fruit, etc.
It proofs your bread at the proper temperature
It bakes the loaf for you
It keeps everything contained in one machine from start to finish
If you don’t like the appearance that a bread machine loaf makes, you can easily let the machine do the kneading in the machine, then take the dough out and form it to whatever shape or simply put it in a loaf pan for the perfect looking loaf.
Other features:
Different modes can be used for whole wheat, white bread, French loaf, cakes, dough only, etc.
Timed baking - add your ingredients into the machine and schedule it to start in the middle of the night so you wake up to a fresh loaf of bread. Doesn’t that sound dreamy?
Lately I’ve been perfectly happy letting the machine do everything from start to finish, convenience has absolutely won me over.
Why My Bread Machine Helped So Much
What surprised me most about using a bread machine wasn’t just the bread itself, it was how much it genuinely helped the flow of my kitchen and the rhythm of feeding my family.
I originally pulled it back out simply because we needed bread in the house more consistently, but over time I realized it was helping with so much more than that.
Making bread at home lowered costs tremendously for us. This doesn’t apply to just bread machines but making bread at home in general. I don’t think many people realize it doesn’t take that much more effort to make bread at home but you’re saving a lot more in the long run.
If you have a larger family like us, it is imperative to learn how to make this staple at home. Just saying.
Convenience - you may think making bread at home is completely inconvenient however let me talk you into thinking otherwise. When you’re making bread, you’re spending anywhere from 3-7 mins adding ingredients into a mixer or bread machine and let it do the work, all the way from mixing to baking.
Fresh Bread Daily - My kids go through bread fast, when we’re down to the last couple of slices I start another loaf which takes me 5 mins to add ingredients and for the bread machine to make and bake the loaf in about 3 hours.
I don’t have those moments anymore where I realize we’re out and we need something for breakfast I didn’t plan for and need that loaf of bread for that meal.
Yes, sometimes this means making a loaf a day and that’s ok. Surprisingly, it’s become one of the easiest kitchen habits to maintain.
Multitasking - The bread machine works while I do other things. I can make dinner. I can help kids with schoolwork, clean the kitchen, edit videos, journal while a beautiful yummy loaf of bread is being mixed and baked in a machine.
This is exactly why I’ve fallen in love with my bread machine lately. I used to mix bread dough in my stand mixer or by hand, proof it in a bowl, transfer it into loaf pans proof it again in the oven, and then finally bake it And while i still love that process, sometimes, this season of life simply needed something easier.
Now, everything happens in one machine sitting quietly on my counter, no bigger than a microwave. I love it.
Who’s thinking AI is great when you’ve got a bread machine?!
The Bread We’ve Been Making Lately On Repeat
My Everyday Bread Machine Loaf
This is the basic loaf I’ve been making on repeat lately. It’s simple, forgiving, and works really well for toast, sandwiches, soup nights, breakfast, or just a warm slice with butter and jam.
Ingredients
1¾ cups water
2 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons sugar
I usually use coconut sugar, but you can omit this if you don’t want sweetness.3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour or rye flour
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
Optional Mix-Ins
Rolled oats
Chia seeds
Pumpkin seeds
Sunflower seeds
Instructions
Add the water, salt, oil, and sugar to your bread machine pan.
Add the all-purpose flour and whole wheat or rye flour on top.
Add the yeast on top.
Place the pan into the bread machine.
Select the regular white bread setting.
Choose your loaf size (this makes a 2lb loaf) and crust setting, if your machine gives you those options.
Press start and let the machine do the work.
Once the bread is done, remove it from the pan and let it cool before slicing.
Notes
This loaf is very forgiving. I don’t measure perfectly every single time, and it still usually turns out great.
If you use more whole wheat flour, you may need to slightly adjust the water or flour because whole wheat absorbs differently than all-purpose flour.
You can also use milk instead of water, butter instead of oil, or add a little extra butter and sugar for a softer, richer loaf.
FAQ
Can I make this bread without a bread machine?
Yes. You can mix and knead the dough by hand or with a stand mixer, let it rise, shape it into a loaf pan, rise again, and bake.
Can I use whole wheat flour?
Yes, but whole wheat absorbs more liquid, so you may need to adjust the flour or water slightly.
Is bread machine bread cheaper than store-bought bread?
For our family, yes. Especially because we go through multiple loaves a week and prefer better-quality bread.
Homemade Food Does Not Have To Be Hard To Still Matter
I Think sometimes people imagine homemade food has to look a certain way for it to count.
Perfect sourdough scoring
Complicated techniques
Hours of hands-on-work
Beautiful artisan loaves lining the counter
Truthfully, homemade food does not have to be hard to matter. That realization has helped me greatly.
Even though this bread machine loaf may not be the most artisanal loaf on earth, it feeds people consistently.
I also love that my kids are seeing bread as something normal to make at home. It’s nothing intimidating, complicated or reserved just for experts. It’s just part of everyday life.
They don’t have to rely on a bakery or grocery store every time they want fresh bread. They’re learning that this is something they can make themselves too. And that’s an important thing for kids to grow up seeing.
Homemade bread (even from a bread machine) is worth embracing, whether it’s a beautiful sourdough loaf or a simple bread machine sandwich loaf made on a busy Tuesday afternoon.
Both still matter.
I love when simple kitchen habits quietly make life easier without demanding so much from you.
That’s what this bread machine has been for me lately. What started as an attempt to stop buying so much bread somehow turned into fresh loaves on the counter, fewer grocery runs, and one small thing that made feeding my family feel a little more manageable.
So this week, maybe dust off the bread machine, or try your first loaf. Simply increase the idea that homemade food does not have to be perfect to still matter.
Make it simple. Make it work for your life.
— Rosa
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Chela our livestock guardian dog who loves to be in the kitchen while we cook.
