How to make bread machine recipes by hand: a simple conversion “recipe” of sorts for those of us who don’t have room in our kitchens for another gadget. Impress guests with delicious homemade bread!
Want to impress your family? Bake fresh bread.
Boy, will they be impressed when you pull a freshly baked loaf of Man Bread out of your oven!
I’ll be the first to admit that bread baking can be scary. As a whole, society’s confidence in the art of bread making has diminished over time. It’s as if the invention of the bread machine somehow made our own hand-kneaded bread inferior quality.
Yet, bread is one of the best foods to make from scratch. It saves you money and doesn’t have to take up too much of your time. Plus, homemade bread is much healthier for you than store-bought!
Can you make a bread machine recipe by hand?
My parents owned a bread machine so when I was growing up, I had never seen it made by hand. In fact, for a while, I really thought that you had to own the machine in order to do it yourself.
Thankfully this is not true and it is quite easy to make any bread recipe by hand. Even if it is written for a bread machine.
Bread Machine Recipe Ingredients
Whether you follow a recipe for a bread maker or a traditional loaf, you need these basic ingredients.
- Yeast. If you’re a little nervous about yeast, you can read this post on the basics about yeast. Personally I prefer to use active dry yeast. Instant yeast can make the rise time vary from the recipe.
- Water. Your yeast needs warm water to work. Typically your water needs to be about 115 degrees. Warmer than room temperature, but not boiling.
- Sugar. You can use regular white sugar, turbinado, honey, or even maple syrup. If you’re concerned about the sugar content of your bread, most of it is eaten by the yeast. Any sweetness in the bread comes from sugar or sweetener added later.
- Flour. All-purpose or bread flour will give you a “white bread” loaf. While whole wheat will give you the classic wheat bread. In terms of health, the less refined the better.
- Oil. Most bread recipes will call for some type of oil or butter. This helps with the flavor and the texture of the bread.
- Salt. Again, most bread recipes need a little bit of salt to draw out the flavor.
How to Make a Bread Machine Recipe by Hand
Follow these simple steps to make your favorite bread machine recipe by hand.
- Combine yeast, water, and sugar in a bowl. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes until foamy (like beer).
- Add ingredients (with anything very cold or very hot added last) and knead for 8-10 minutes. You can knead by hand or in a stand mixer. (I have this stand mixer and LOVE it. Plus, you can use these ‘creative ways to use a stand mixer’ to get the most out of your machine!)
- Cover with a dishtowel and allow the dough to rise in a warm place until doubled in size, 1 to 1 ½ hours.
- Turn out dough to a floured surface. Punch down bread to release air bubbles and separate into loaves.
- Knead gently, 3-6 times, to redistribute yeast and shape into loaves.
- Place loaves in oiled pans and cover with a dishtowel. Allow to rise in a warm place until doubled in size, approximately 1 hour.
- Bake at 350F until the bottom of the loaves sound hollow when tapped, 30 minutes to 40 minutes.
How do you knead bread by hand?
Here are the basic steps:
- Prep your work surface. Add a little flour to your kneading area so the dough doesn’t stick.
- Scrape your dough out of the bowl onto the work surface. Add a little flour on top. Your dough should be slightly sticky to work with.
- Press down on the dough with the heels of your hands. Then grab the back end and fold over towards your body. And press into the dough again with the heels of your hands.
- Give the dough a quarter turn and repeat step three. Add flour to the dough if the dough is sticky.
- Press and turn your dough several times adding flour as needed. Repeat until dough is smooth and elastic.
It’s a little hard to describe how to knead dough by hand. If that didn’t make the most sense, follow the tutorial in this YouTube video.
Is there a trick to baking whole wheat bread?
Wheat bread traditionally needs a little bit more kneading to produce a less gritty texture. The bran in wheat also interferes with gluten, so it takes a little longer to rise. When you knead, make sure the dough becomes smooth and elastic. When the dough is rising, watch for the size of the dough rather than the timer.
One trick I like to use with baking whole wheat bread is to add dough conditioners.
- Vital Wheat Gluten gives wheat bread a rise and helps combat the heaviness that comes with baking with whole wheat. It also helps with elasticity and texture.
- Sunflower lecithin strengthens the gluten in the wheat, making whole wheat less crumbly. It also helps the dough to be less sticky.
What if my bread machine recipe calls for fruit or seeds?
Fruits, nuts, and seeds should be added towards the end of the kneading dough cycle so that they are not ground into meal during the process. Simply add fruits/seeds/nuts with 1-2 minutes left in the kneading process.
Here are my favorite traditional bread recipes for beginners:
- 90 Minute Man Bread
- The Best White Sandwich Bread
- No-Knead Artisan Bread
- Little Bother Oat Bread
- Rosemary Olive Oil Bread
I have a recipe for cinnamon buns that calls for a bread machine to make the dough. Can I do the dough by hand using the same ingredients? And I’m not sure about the rising time(s) compared to the bread maker doing it for you??
Absolutely! The first rise should allow the bread to double in size (if you’re using wheat) and the second rise should allow the bread to 1 1/2 in size (ish).
I tried making bread for years and years and failed each and every time. Then the bread machine came out and with a simple box of ingredients I was making bread. Odd shaped loaves – of course, but eventually I have tried and succeeded once to do the last rise on the counter and create a “real” looking loaf of bread. Now the stores aren’t selling the box mixes anymore (at least not here in harford county, md, but I am going to try a loaf from scratch-totally scratch.
galyn
I found post but cannot find recipe for the making bread machine bread ny hand.
There isn’t a specific recipe Frances – any bread recipe will work to make by hand!
Use all the ingredients specified in the bread machine recipe. Then just used the techniques outlined above in numbers 1 – 7 to combine the ingredients, knead, raise (proof), and shape the dough. Then bake at the temperature and time specified in the recipe. If the directions above for kneading don’t make sense, hit You Tube for a video. Once you get comfortable with it, you use the same basic techniques to make all yeast bread. Don’t get discouraged with yourself if your first attempt doesn’t look as good or even taste as good as the bread machine recipe. It takes a little time and practice to get into the groove, but you’ll get there!
Luv your page. Had a bread machine but it never turned out right so I gave it to Goodwill. Now I’m 81 yrs old, bored stiff & cook just about every day. I live alone with no family so I take a lot to the Nursing Homes and neighborhood kids. Cooking keeps me sane; cooking is my passion & I even wrote a cookbook a couple yrs ago. Anxious to try some new bread recipes I have. Thank you sooo much!
You’re very welcome Joan!
I think I learnt a quite interesting things here. Thanks for the post
This is an awesome post Tiffany,
I like to make bread my own and your post is my guide.
Thank so much !
When my kids saw me making this bread by hand, they came around and tried to “help”. But then they turned our kitchen into a mess. However we had a very funny and happy time together. And also good bread to eat. Thank you!!!
Awesome, I love bread but don’t have a bread machine, your guide post is great to me. Thank you for sharing this!
Thanks so much for writing this post! I was given a bread machine cookbook without a bread machine. I love the recipes, and I love to make bread (always by hand). So, I googled how to make bread machine recipes without a bread machine and your website came out on top.
Oh yes George, bread machines ARE a huge time saver, and I’d advocate those over buying bread any day of the week. Smart trick to use it for dough and then shaping by hand!
You’re most welcome!
I don’t know what I would do without my bread machine. Thanks for sharing these instructions…just in case my machine should poop out from over usage. 🙂
What a great post. I have slowly over the last year began to dabble more with baking bread from scratch without a bread machine or mix and it really is amazing!
Thanks so much for linking up last week at the Humble Brag! Hope to see you back tomorrow to link up more great projects. Don’t forget, we will be giving away more free ad space but you must link back in order to win or be featured! 🙂
I love bread (real, please) and anything to do with it…thanks for your post! It’s a great way to save those leftover bread making cookbooks from landfill! 🙂 Happy Kneading! Blessings, Nancy at livinithegreen
I think I grew up in the exact opposite situation as you. We always made bread by hand and when I found a $5 bread machine at a thrift store I was thrilled. We had excellent results with it and were just thrilled with how much time it saved, none of us liked standing there and kneading it. In fact, my mom still has it and uses it frequently. I will say that we mostly used the dough setting and baked it in the oven. 🙂
If we had a machine, I’d use it for the dough setting as well. Like Jenn mentioned, a nicer looking loaf just sounds more appealing than a square one! Plus don’t some have a stick or something that goes down the middle? I don’t want holey bread!
Awesome! I have done both ways, but when I’ve tried to do the “dough” cycle on my bread machine to try to save some time/monitoring it never turns out. I’ll have to give this a shot since I’d like to make loafs that look “real” instead of the weird bread machine cube. I’ve pinned this to my “A Little Kneady” board on Pinterest. Joining from C.R.A.F.T.
I love the laundry idea. On the days that I am making bread I am usually having a baking day. Bars for the kids lunches and other snacks for the house that week. One of our favs right now is the Carrot spice vanilla chip bread. I make it into muffins for the lunch. If they last that long.:)
Thanks Savannah!
I’ve never made/baked my own bread before! :/ I’m not much of a cook or baker, but maybe one of these days I’ll try it!
Any recipes or tips you ladies could recommend and share with me?
There’s quite a few listed on my recipe page: https://dontwastethecrumbs.com/yummy-food/recipes/
Check them out! Buttermilk Potato is GREAT for grilled cheese, and they’re all delicious right out of the oven!
I had to laugh when you said that you had never seen bread made by hand. My kids have never seen a bread machine. In fact when I got sick 2 yrs ago and had to take a break from making bread my husband bought the “good” store bread and we would find the moldy loaves pushed to back of the pantry. I have been making bread so long I don’t even have the receipe written down anymore. And for those of you who say you don’t have time, the time it takes to make bread is only about 20 to 30 active mins. The rest you can do other things while the bread rises.
I completely second you on the time factor. Maybe you can coincide bread making with laundry – you know, new/switch/fold during the rises? 😉