1 lb Super Soft Bread Machine Bread

This 1 lb bread machine recipe creates a super soft bread machine bread. It uses Greek yogurt or sour cream as the softening ingredient. FYI – The slight acidity of Greek yogurt & sour cream helps to tenderize the bread.

This small & soft bread loaf is perfect for singles, small families or people who do not want a lot of leftover bread.

Recipe Sections

1. Ingredients
2. Instructions
3. Helpful Tips

My 1 lb super soft bread machine bread recipe is ONLY for small compact bread machines. FYI – 1 lb bread machine recipes do NOT work well in bread machines that have 2 lb or greater loaf capacities. See the tips section below for more information.

Sliced Super Soft 1 lb Bread

Ingredients

• 1/2 Cup – Greek Yogurt – 118 milliliters – You can also use sour cream
• 1/2 Cup – Milk (warm) – 118 milliliters
• 3 Tablespoons – Unsalted Butter (sliced & softened) – 43 grams
• 2 1/3 Cups – Bread Flour – 280 grams
• 2 Tablespoons – White Granulated Sugar – 25 grams
• 3/4 Teaspoons – Salt – 4.5 grams
• 3/4 Teaspoons – Bread Machine Yeast (Instant Yeast) – 2.3 grams – Not active dry yeast

Servings – Roughly 9 slices

Equipment Needed – Measuring cup & spoons, silicone spatula, oven mitts, cooling rack and a bread machine.

Super Soft Bread in Small Bread Machine Pan

Instructions

• Bread machine settings – 1 pound loaf, light color and “basic” bread setting.
• Soften the butter in your microwave. FYI – I like to semi-melt the butter for better “mixability”.
• Unplug your bread machine.
• Remove the bread pan from the unplugged bread machine (so when you add the ingredients, they can not accidentally spill into the machine).
• Add the Greek yogurt, milk & butter to the bread pan and then add the other ingredients. Place the bread machine yeast in last and the yeast should not touch the liquid or salt (until the bread machine is turned on and the ingredients start to be mixed together by the bread machine). Put the bread pan with ingredients back into the unplugged bread machine.
• Plug in the bread machine. Enter the correct settings (1 lb, light color & basic bread) and press the “start” button.
• When the bread machine has finished baking the bread, unplug the bread machine and remove the bread pan from the bread machine. Wear oven mitts as the bread pan & bread machine will be hot.
• Remove the bread from the bread pan and place the bread on a cooling rack. Use oven mitts when removing the bread as the bread & bread pan will be hot.
• Let the bread cool on the cooling rack for 1-2 hours before cutting.
• Please read the tips section below for extra information on how to make this recipe successfully & to avoid common bread machine problems.

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Bread Dad Sections

1. Bread Machines – My favorites
2. Bread Machine Cookbooks
3. Gourmet Bread Mixes – Ingredient kits

Helpful Tips

• The tips below are designed to help bread machine “novices” and those who haven’t touched their bread machine in years.
• Click on my “print recipe” link if you want to print out this recipe. It includes all of the recipe’s ingredients and instructions. However, the recipe print function does not include our tips section. Please read the tips section in order to avoid common recipe problems.
• This recipe is part of Bread Dad’s series on easy 1 lb Bread Machine Recipes such as multigrain bread, oatmeal bread and whole wheat bread.

• This extra soft bread is a little larger than my normal 1 lb bread recipes. Why? Because I was trying not to use “difficult” fractions (such as 3/8) when converting my larger 2 lb recipe down to a 1 lb recipe. Many people (including myself) find measurements (such as 3/8 of a cup) difficult to calculate with a measuring cup. Most measurement cups only have measurements for 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, 1, etc. Of course, many of my international visitors like to use a kitchen scale and grams to avoid this measuring cup issue!!
• This is the 1 lb version of my popular Extra Soft Bread Machine Bread (which focuses on a 2 lb loaf).

• You need to use Greek yogurt (not regular yogurt) to make this bread. Regular yogurt is a little more liquidy than Greek yogurt. This extra moisture may throw off the recipe if regular yogurt is used as a substitute for Greek yogurt. Also (in my opinion) regular yogurt doesn’t seem to tenderize the bread as well.
• Make sure to stir up the Greek yogurt before measuring. You don’t want any yogurt “air pockets” in the measuring cup to throw off your measurements. A fully mixed Greek yogurt will have less problems with hidden air pockets.
• I would recommend using an all natural Greek yogurt and not artificially sweetened yogurt when making this soft bread machine bread. In my opinion, the bread can occasionally have a slight chemical taste when using some artificially sweetened yogurts. Nevertheless, this recipe works fine with artificially sweetened Greek yogurt if that is all that you have.
• You should use plain Greek yogurt if you want a “traditional” (non-flavored) extra soft bread machine white bread.

• However, if you want a soft bread machine bread with a hint of fruit flavor & aroma, I would suggest trying a fruit-flavored Greek yogurt. My favorite to use is blueberry Greek yogurt. Try to use a Greek yogurt with lots of fruit flavor for the best results. FYI – When I tried making this recipe with strawberry-flavored Greek yogurt, I did not taste or smell any strawberries. Blueberry-flavored Greek yogurt was the more “effective” (in my tests of strawberry vs blueberry yogurt) in achieving a hint of fruit flavor & aroma. Of course, this may vary based on the yogurt brand.
• Extra benefit – Most Greek yogurts will add some protein to your bread.
• You can also make this recipe with SOUR CREAM (instead of Greek yogurt). The sour cream version of this soft bread comes out just as tender as the Greek yogurt version. However, the sour cream version will be a “plain” soft white bread versus the possible fruit-flavored white bread that you can make with Greek yogurt.
• Visitors – Did you use Greek yogurt or sour cream to make this bread? Also if you used a fruit-flavored Greek yogurt, please tell us the flavor that you used. Please leave your Greek yogurt & sour cream suggestions & tips in the comment box below.

• As I stated at the top of the page, this recipe is ONLY for small compact bread machines. 1 lb bread machine recipes generally do NOT work well in larger machines with 2 lb loaf capacities.
• If your bread machine says that it makes 1lb, 1.5 lb AND 2 lb loaves, it will probably have a problem with smaller loaves. Generally, a bread machine is good at making small loaves OR larger loaves (usually not both).
• If you use larger bread machines, a 1 lb loaf usually comes out more like a pancake (with lots of exterior crust and less of the soft interior).
• Moreover, some small compact machines have problems with 1.5 lb online recipes (even if the manufacturer says their machine can handle 1.5 lb loaves). The 1.5 lb designation is based on the manufacturer’s internal recipes (which can be smaller than many online 1.5 lb recipes). This was another reason for Bread Dad to make some 1 lb loaf recipes.

• WARNING – Since 1 lb recipes use smaller amounts of ingredients, it is easier to mess up 1 lb recipes!! There is less room for measuring errors versus larger loaves. To make 1 lb loaf recipes successfully, you need to measure accurately (no eyeballing ingredients).
• The top of your bread can sometimes be a little lumpy due to the smaller amounts of ingredients in a 1 lb loaf. Why? Because, as I stated above, there is less room for measurement errors in small loaves versus large loaves. A little too much moisture or flour has a bigger impact on a 1 lb loaf versus a 2 lb loaf.
• To make my 1 lb bread machine recipes, I own & use a Briskind Compact Bread Maker Machine. In case you are interested, another popular (but more expensive) bread machine focused on making 1 lb loaves is the Zojirushi Zojirushi BB-HAC10 Mini Breadmaker.

• In case you are looking at getting a bread machine to make 1 lb recipes, here are some of the benefits of a small compact bread machine; 1 lb loaves are perfect for single people or people who don’t want a ton of bread, a compact machine takes up less space in the kitchen (so more convenient for an apartment versus buying a giant bread machine), it uses less energy than a large bread machine, it creates smaller sandwich slices (sometimes, in my opinion, the slices from 2 lb loaves are too large – especially for kids), etc.
• The disadvantages of a small compact bread machine; small bread pan capacity (so you can’t make a larger loaf if you have guests coming over), not many online recipes are focused on 1 lb loaves, sometimes 1 lb loaves have more uneven crusts (vs bread made with larger horizontal bread pans), etc.
• Visitors – Why do you like your small compact bread machine? And what model do you own? Please post your thoughts & any compact machine tips in the comment section below.

• Do NOT use cold milk. The main problem with using regular milk is that people tend to use cold refrigerated milk and this can slow the yeast growth. Try to use warm milk (or instant powdered milk mixed into warm water). However, you should also be aware that the milk/water should not be too hot because very hot milk/water can kill the yeast.
• Optional – If you are out of dairy milk (or do not want to use dairy milk), you can replace it with soy milk, oat milk, water, etc. I use whole milk because it adds a little extra flavor to the bread but you should use a milk substitute that is best for your family.
• Optional – If you do not have butter, you can replace it with a neutral tasting vegetable oil (e.g. canola oil or corn oil) on a 1 to 1 basis.

• This recipe uses bread machine yeast (instant yeast) and NOT active dry yeast.
• When adding the yeast, it should be placed in a position that is separate from the salt (e.g. placed on opposite sides of the bread pan). Close contact with salt can kill or slow the growth of the yeast.
• Many bakers like to make a small pocket in the top of the flour in order to hold the bread machine yeast in place (looks sort of like a small flour volcano with a yeast crater). This is done to prevent the yeast from falling into the liquid ingredients (and activating prematurely), coming into contact with the salt, etc. until the bread machine is turned on.
• I would recommend NOT reducing the salt in this recipe. You generally want to keep the salt-to-yeast ratio at a 1:1 basis in most bread recipes (1:1 based on teaspoons to teaspoons and NOT grams to grams). The salt moderates the growth of the yeast. If you cut the salt (and disrupt this 1:1 ratio), the yeast will grow faster than expected. In turn, this leads to more bread collapses (because the yeast rises too high and then craters in the middle) and/or results in “slack” less manageable dough. In addition, less salt will impact the flavor and browning of the bread.

• Having trouble with bread collapses & misshapen bread tops? Make sure to read Bread Dad’s article on Bread Machine Bread Collapses. It has reasons for and solutions to potential bread collapses.
• If your bread comes out too dense, it is likely due to one of the following reasons; You are using old or stale yeast, using a cold refrigerator temperature liquid (which slows yeast growth), baking in a cold winter temperature kitchen, using all purpose flour (versus bread flour as called for in the recipe), placing salt on top of or next to the yeast (salt kills yeast so it must be placed away from the yeast in the bread pan), etc. For more reasons, you should visit Bread Dad’s Why Is My Bread Machine Bread So Dense? page.
• For information on other possible errors, please visit my Common Bread Machine Mistakes page.

• If you start substituting ingredients (e.g. using different types of flour not called for in the recipe), you are experimenting and should not expect similar results to the recipe shown above. Experimenting can be fun. However, you should expect some successes but more potential disappointments when you start to experiment with recipes. For example, if you substitute whole wheat flour for the bread flour, you will probably experience a problem (as whole wheat flour doesn’t rise nearly as well as bread flour). Moreover, whole wheat flour has a totally different flavor.
• If you have a problem with a bread machine recipe, please make sure that you are following the recipe exactly (e.g. using the correct bread machine settings), you are using the correct amount of an ingredient (e.g. don’t eyeball the measurements versus using a measurement cup or accidentally add a teaspoon when a tablespoon is called for), you are using the correct ingredients (e.g. bread machine yeast versus active dry yeast or bread flour versus all purpose flour), etc. Please don’t “wing” things with recipes.

• If you haven’t used your bread machine in a long time, please buy some NEW bread machine yeast before making your bread. Old yeast can die or lose its potency and this will lead to bread that does not rise properly. Bread machine yeast may not be viable if it has been sitting in your pantry for years.
• FYI – Bread machine yeast loses its potency over time. Generally, bread machine yeast lasts for only 3-4 months after you have opened the bottle. However, if the yeast is exposed to air & moisture (e.g. the bottle not sealed tight) or exposed to higher temperatures, the yeast will expire even more quickly.
• Kitchen humidity can impact a recipe. A winter kitchen tends to be drier due to your heating system drying out the air. In contrast, a kitchen in the summer can be much more humid. This change in humidity impacts baking as flour can soak up humidity from the air. Therefore, you might have to add 1-2 teaspoons of liquid in the winter if the dough is looking too dry. Or you might have to add 1-2 teaspoons of flour in the summer if the dough is looking too wet. If your kitchen is very dry or humid, you might have to add even a little more (but start with 1 teaspoon at a time until you achieve the right consistency). Of course, excessive kitchen humidity or dryness can impact a recipe at any time during the year (not just in the summer & winter)!
• Humidity is also one of the reasons that people should store flour in an airtight container (if they have already opened the flour package). Flour (not in airtight containers) can pick up extra moisture from the air while sitting in the pantry. This can throw off recipes, spoil the flavor, degrade shelf life, etc.

• You can also use this homemade bread to make one of Bread Dad’s delicious & toasty Panini Recipes.
• My recipes are based on US ingredient measurements (e.g. US cups & tablespoons). However, as a courtesy to our European visitors, I have also included some very ROUGH European equivalents (e.g. grams & milliliters). Since I rarely use European measurements when baking, please let me know in the comment section below if any of the European ingredient measurements need to be changed (e.g. for XYZ ingredient, milliliters are more commonly used versus the grams information listed in the recipe).
• Always wear oven mitts/gloves when dealing with a bread machine. The bread pan and the rest of the bread machine can get very hot during the baking process. This means that the bread pan and bread machine is likely to be very hot when you attempt to remove a baked good from the bread machine and/or bread pan.
• For more easy bread ideas, please visit Bread Dad’s sections on Bread Machine Recipes and Homemade Bread Recipes.

If you liked this recipe, please leave a comment & 5 star rating below. Jump to comment section

Recipe of the Month Bread Machine Cranberry Walnut Bread – Perfect for sandwiches made with holiday leftovers!

Related Bread Dad Sections

1. Bread Machines – My favorites
2. Bread Machine Cookbooks
3. Gourmet Bread Mixes – Ingredient kits

Subscribe to Bread Dad’s Recipe Newsletter

Reference Sources

1. Wikipedia, Bread Machine
2. Wikipedia, Greek Yogurt
3. Wikipedia, Sour Cream

Related Recipes

1. 1 lb Bread Machine Multigrain Bread
2. 1 lb Bread Machine Oatmeal Bread
3. 1 lb Bread Machine White Bread
4. 1 lb Bread Machine Whole Wheat Bread
5. Greek Yogurt Bread – Oven-baked bread

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