Bread Machine Granola Bread

This bread machine granola bread recipe is an easy way to add fiber & texture to homemade bread. It makes a great sandwich bread or some tasty breakfast toast. My page shows you how to mix, knead and bake this granola bread in your bread machine.

Of course, the texture of the bread depends on the type of granola used. For example, if the granola has lots of chopped nuts & seeds, the granola bread will be crunchier. If the granola is mainly oats then it will be less crunchy.

Delicious Bread Machine Granola Bread

Recipe Sections

1. Ingredients
2. Instructions
3. Helpful Tips

I have a very popular bread machine multigrain bread recipe on Bread Dad. However, it is hard to find multigrain (chopped grain seeds) in some supermarkets and multigrain can be fairly costly online. Therefore, I thought I would try making a bread that replaces the multigrain with a more readily available and lower-cost supermarket ingredient…. regular granola!!

Granola Bread Cooling Down on a Wire Cooling Rack

Ingredients – 1.5 lb Bread Machine Recipe

• 1 Cup – Milk (warm) – 237 milliliters
• 3 Tablespoons – Unsalted Butter (softened) – 43 grams
• 2 1/2 Cups – Bread Flour – 300 grams
• 2 Tablespoons – Light Brown Sugar (packed) – 26 grams
• 1/2 Cup – Granola Cereal – 43 grams – Do not pre-moisten cereal. Use DRY granola.
• 1/4 Cup – Dried Cranberries – 28 grams – Or you can use raisins, dried blueberries, etc.
• 1 1/4 Teaspoon – Salt – 7.5 grams
• 1 1/4 Teaspoon – Bread Machine Yeast (or Instant Yeast) – 4 grams – Not active dry yeast

Servings – Roughly 12 slices

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

Close-Up Of Granola

Instructions

• Bread machine settings – 1.5 loaf, light color and “basic” bread setting.
• Soften the butter in your microwave.
• Unplug your bread machine.
• Remove the bread pan from the unplugged bread machine.
• Pour the milk into 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). Some people like to make a small “pocket” on top of the flour in order to hold the yeast in one spot before the machine starts.
• Put the bread pan (with all of the ingredients) back into the bread machine, close the bread machine lid and then plug in the bread machine.
• Enter the correct settings (e.g. 1.5 lb loaf, light color & basic bread setting) and press the “start” button.
• When the bread machine has finished baking the bread, unplug the bread machine.
• Remove the bread from the bread pan and place the bread on a cooling rack. Use oven mitts when removing the bread machine container (bread pan) as it will be very hot!
• Please read the tips section below for extra information on how to make this recipe successfully.

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

Want my recipes sent to your inbox? Join Bread Dad’s recipe newsletter

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 Bread Machine Recipes such as buttery white bread, banana bread, French bread and even pizza dough!

• This is a variation on my popular bread machine multigrain bread. It is often hard to find multigrain (a hot grain cereal consisting of chopped grain seeds – not large cereal flakes) in the supermarket. Therefore, I want to try making a similar bread but with a more commonly found supermarket ingredient – granola cereal!!
• Granola is an easy way to add some fiber & texture to homemade bread. Check your local supermarket’s breakfast section as many stores sell a wide variety of granola cereals.
• FYI – What is granola? According to Wikipedia, “Granola is a food consisting of rolled oats, nuts, seeds, honey or other sweeteners such as brown sugar, and sometimes puffed rice, that is usually baked until crisp, toasted and golden brown”.
• Of course, I like to think of granola as a crunchy & healthy breakfast cereal.
• Be aware that this bread machine granola bread is usually not super crunchy (unlike my bread machine multigrain bread). The oat portion of granola generally softens when mixed into the wet dough. In contrast, multigrain (tiny chopped-up grain seeds) stays hard when mixed into bread dough. However, if your granola contains lots of nuts & seeds, your granola bread will be crunchier as these ingredients do not soften during the mixing & kneading process.

• Break the granola into small chunks about 1/4 inch in size (if the cereal comes with large clusters of granola). Large granola “clusters” will negatively impact the mixability of the dough and/or structural integrity of the finished bread machine granola bread.
• Be aware that this recipe might be a little noisier than many of my other bread machine bread recipes. The granola chunks may make some noise (e.g. hitting the paddle & sides of the pan) as they are mixed by the bread machine.
• There is some moisture variability in this recipe due to the granola. The dough may or may not look wet initially depending on how many “non-absorbing” ingredients (such as nuts & fruit) are in the granola. More oats means more moisture absorbing which equals a less wet dough. Therefore, you might have to add a little more milk if the dough looks too dry or add a little more flour if the dough looks too wet.
• For the pictures used in this bread machine granola bread recipe, I used a Quaker Oat granola cereal that contains oats, almonds & honey. FYI – Quaker Oat is not sponsoring this recipe. I just needed a readily accessible granola to experiment with!

• Beyond the oats, almonds & honey granola cereal that I used to make in this recipe, you can find granolas that contain a wide variety of ingredients such as oats, nuts, dried blueberries, pumpkin seeds, ancient grains, chocolate, etc.
• Optional – If you want to add some more crunch, you should look for granola that contains lots of chopped nuts and seeds.
• Optional – For even more crunch, you can replace the dried cranberries with chopped nuts or chopped seeds.
• Optional – If you don’t have dried cranberries, you can replace the cranberries with raisins, dried blueberries, etc. You can also replace the dried cranberries with granola.
• Visitors – What type of granola do you like to use to make granola bread? Also do you like to use the dried cranberries in this recipe or do you prefer to replace the cranberries with other dried fruits, seeds or chopped walnuts? Please post your granola tips & suggestions in the comment box below.

• I like to use whole milk to make my bread recipes because it adds extra flavor. However, you can also use skim milk, soy milk, oat milk, etc. You can even use water if you do not have any milk.
• This recipe only uses 2 tablespoons of brown sugar because many granolas include added sugar. In addition, the dried cranberries add some more sugar to the recipe.
• Do NOT pre-moisten the granola cereal or you will be adding too much liquid to the recipe. The granola cereal should be dry when added to the bread pan.
• Granola has the benefit of containing fiber. According to the Quaker Oats website, the granola that I used to make this bread contains 7 grams of fiber in every 2/3 cup of their granola (or about 10.5 grams per 1 cup). Of course, other granolas may contain more or less fiber.

• This recipe uses bread machine yeast (or instant yeast) and NOT active dry yeast.
• This recipe uses bread flour. Not whole wheat flour. If you use whole wheat flour, the bread is likely to have problems rising properly.
• 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. The ideal milk temperature is around 100-110 F.
• Optional – If you don’t have any butter, you can use vegetable oil (e.g. olive oil) as a substitute on a 1:1 basis (based on the recipe’s tablespoon measurements).
• If you liked this granola bread recipe, you might like to try some similar Bread Dad recipes. For breads mixed, kneaded & baked in a bread machine, you should check out my Bread Machine Multigrain Bread, Bread Machine Cranberry Walnut Bread, Bread Machine Oatmeal Bread and Bread Machine Cinnamon Raisin Bread.
• For similar oven-baked breads, you might like Bread Dad’s Multigrain Bread, Seed Bread, Cranberry Walnut Bread. Oat Nut Bread and Oatmeal Bread.

• 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 (yeast likes kitchen temps of 75-80 degree F), 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.
• 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)!
• This is one of the reasons that people should store flour in an airtight container if they have already opened the flour package. Flour can pick up extra moisture from the air while sitting in the pantry and this can throw off recipes (e.g. throw off the liquid-to-dry ingredient ratio), spoil flavor, degrade shelf life, etc.
• FYI – The “basic” setting may also be called the “white bread” setting on some machines. The basic setting is usually setting 1 on most bread machines.

• You can also use this homemade bread to make one of Bread Dad’s delicious & toasty Panini Recipes (such as grilled cheese paninis and caprese paninis).
• 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 is not likely to be viable if it has been sitting in your pantry for years.
• Be aware that some bread recipes may differ slightly between different types of bread machines. Therefore, please read your bread machine manufacturer’s instructions for basic bread recipes (e.g. white bread or whole wheat bread) as these are more likely to work on your individual bread machine.
• 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 machine recipes (i.e. white bread, whole wheat bread, banana bread, pizza dough & cornbread), please visit Bread Dad’s section on Bread Machine Recipes.

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

Join fellow bread lovers by subscribing to Bread Dad’s recipe newsletter

Main Recipe Sections

1. Bread Machine Recipes – 90+ recipes for banana bread, soft white bread, sourdough bread, pizza dough, cinnamon raisin bread, etc.
2. 1 lb Bread Machine Recipes – Recipes for small compact bread machines.
3. Bread Recipes – Buttermilk bread, French bread, bagels, Italian bread, soft whole wheat bread, etc.
4. Banana Bread Recipes – 60+ recipes for chocolate chip banana bread, banana nut bread, eggless banana bread, cranberry banana bread, etc.

Related Recipe Sections

1. Grilled Cheese & Panini Sandwich Recipes – Turn your homemade bread into air fryer grilled cheese sandwiches, ham & cheese paninis, etc.
2. Muffin Recipes – Chocolate chip banana muffins, eggless banana muffins, cranberry banana muffins, etc.
3. Quick Bread Recipes – Easy desserts such as pumpkin bread, cranberry bread, sweet potato bread, etc.
4. Cookie Recipes – Soft oatmeal cookies, M&M cookies, etc.

Want Better Bread?🥖 Check out the bread machines that I use. Or explore my Amazon storefront for some of my favorite books & bread making tools.

Reference Sources

1. Wikipedia, Bread
2. Wikipedia, Bread Machine
3. Wikipedia, Granola

Related Recipes

1. Bread Machine French Bread
2. Bread Machine Multigrain Bread
3. Bread Machine Oatmeal Bread
4. Bread Machine White Bread
5. Bread Machine Whole Wheat Bread
6. Multigrain Bread – Oven-baked

Please leave a comment & recipe rating in the comment box below. Thanks!