Extra Soft Bread Machine Bread + Recipe Video

This recipe produces an extra soft bread machine bread. It is a delicious white bread that is perfect for sandwiches. The softness of this bread is due to the use of Greek yogurt or sour cream as an ingredient.

Greek yogurt & sour cream tenderizes the gluten in bread and this results in a very soft & fluffy bread machine bread. Your family will love the taste & softness of this white bread… and you will love how easy it is to make with your bread machine. Moreover, since you are making this delicious bread at home (and not buying “factory-produced” bread), you can avoid the weird chemicals & preservatives found in many packaged breads.

Recipe Sections

1. Ingredients
2. Instructions
3. Recipe Video
4. Helpful Tips

Recipe Rating 4.95 from 88 votes Featured Comment Cindy “I made this bread today and could hardly wait for it to cool enough to cut it! It tasted so good and was very soft! This will absolutely be my go-to recipe for white bread from now on. I used vanilla Greek yogurt and was worried that it would be too sweet, but it was wonderful. Thank you for such a great recipe.”

Other recipes claim that they create the softest or fluffiest white breads with a bread machine. However, if they are just using bread flour, butter/oil, milk/water, sugar, yeast and salt to make their bread then they are seriously over exaggerating mistaken. They are just making regular bread. Their recipe is probably similar to the basic white bread recipes that you find in most bread machine instruction manuals. Decent bread but not extra soft.

To get very soft bread, you need to add an extra ingredient that tenderizes the gluten in the bread flour. A number of ingredients can do this and they include yogurt, buttermilk, sour cream, etc. The slight acidity of these ingredients helps to break down the gluten and this creates a softer bread. I use Greek yogurt in this soft white bread machine recipe because it is easy to get and comes in a wide variety of flavors (e.g. blueberry Greek yogurt).

Sliced Soft White Bread Machine Bread

FYI – For details on how to make a 1 lb version of this recipe, please visit my 1 lb Super Soft Bread Machine Bread page. If you want to make a 1.5 lb loaf, try my 1 lb version because these super soft breads rise A LOT!

Ingredients for 2 lb setting

• 3/4 Cup – Greek Yogurt – 178 milliliters – You can also use sour cream
• 3/4 Cup – Milk (warm) – 178 milliliters
• 4 Tablespoons – Unsalted Butter (sliced & softened) – 57 grams – If you do not want to use butter, you can replace it with 1/4 cup of a neutral-flavored vegetable oil such as mild/light olive oil, corn oil, etc.
• 3 1/2 Cups – Bread Flour – 420 grams
• 3 Tablespoons – White Granulated Sugar – 37 grams
• 1 1/4 Teaspoons – Salt – 7.5 grams
• 1 1/4 Teaspoons – Bread Machine Yeast (Instant Yeast) – 4.5 grams – Not active dry yeast

Servings – Roughly 12 Slices

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

Recipe Video – Super Soft Bread Machine White Bread

FYI – A short ad might play in front of the recipe video.

My recipe video uses a 2 paddle bread machine. Nevertheless, the bread recipe works with most 1 or 2 paddle machines as long as they are a large machine with at least a 2 lb loaf capacity.

Instructions

• Machine Settings to Use – Light Color, 2 lb and Basic/White Bread Setting
• Soften the butter in your microwave. FYI – I like to semi-melt the butter.
• Premix the Greek yogurt (or sour cream). FYI – This helps you to better measure the Greek yogurt (or sour cream) in a measuring cup and helps evenly distribute any fruit if you use a fruit-flavored Greek yogurt.
• 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 (or sour cream), milk and butter into the bread pan and then add the remaining ingredients. Place the bread machine yeast in last and the yeast should not touch the liquid (until the bread machine is turned on and the ingredients start to be mixed together by the bread machine).
• Put bread pan with ingredients back into unplugged bread machine.
• Plug in bread machine. Enter the correct settings (Light Color, 2 lb and Basic/White Bread Setting) 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.
• Optional – Right after you remove the hot bread from the bread pan and place it on the cooling rack, you can use a pastry brush to brush a very light coat of melted butter on the top of the bread. This creates a more golden crust and adds even more buttery flavor. This works best when the bread is still hot. FYI – Do not use too much melted butter or it will run all over the sides of the bread. Also do not brush on after the bread has cooled down.
• 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.
• You also can watch my recipe video to “see” how to perform each recipe step.

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If You Have A Small Machine, Try My 1 lb Bread Machine Soft Bread

Secret Ingredient For Extra Soft White Bread = Greek Yogurt

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 this “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.
• If you would rather “see” how this recipe is made, please watch the step-by-step recipe video on this page. It is a short & simple video that shows you how to make this recipe.
• This recipe is part of Bread Dad’s series on easy Bread Machine Recipes such as whole wheat bread, rye bread, French bread and cinnamon raisin bread.

• This soft white bread machine recipe works only in bread machines with at least a 2 lb loaf capacity. These machines are large enough to handle the rise of this fluffy bread machine bread.
• In the instructional video above, I used a 2 paddle Zojirushi to make this recipe.
• Since this soft white bread machine recipe uses 3 1/2 cups of bread flour, it is in reality roughly a 1.75 lb loaf. However, you want to use the 2 lb setting in order to get a few more minutes of dough rising time (versus the 1.5 lb setting) and because the bread is so soft & fluffy (it needs a little extra room in the bread machine).
• This recipe will NOT work in smaller 1 lb or 1.5 lb capacity bread machines. The loaf will be too large for your machine and overflow the bread pan (and the top is likely to collapse).
• Check out my Bread Machine Pan Sizes page to see which of my recipes (1 lb, 1.5 lb or 2 lb) works best with your bread machine. Be aware that some bread machines claim that they have a 2 lb capacity but in reality, they can only handle my 1.5 lb recipes.
• If you want to make a 1.5 lb loaf, you should try my 1 lb recipe because this super soft bread rises a lot. Moreover, the 1 lb recipe is probably closer to a 1.25 lb bread. The high “rise” of these loaves throws things off a bit in terms of weights since I am trying to accommodate various bread machine pan sizes (because pans sizes can differ a lot between machines with supposedly the “same” loaf capacities).

• 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.
• This is a bread machine version of my oven-baked Greek Yogurt Bread. You should try out my oven-baked version if you want to make a “normal” shaped bread loaf (versus a block-shaped bread machine loaf). You can also tweak the oven version a little more easily (e.g. add different toppings).
• The bread machine version on this page is slightly different (e.g. less yeast) than the oven-baked version. The oven-baked version rises too high if baked in a regular-sized bread machine (versus an oven).
• FYI – The 3/4 cup of Greek yogurt mentioned in the ingredient list is based on a MEASURING CUP (and not on 3/4 of a small Greek yogurt container). If you do not use the correct measurement then your bread will not come out properly.

• 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.
• Extra benefit – Most Greek yogurts will add some protein to your bread.
• You should use plain Greek yogurt if you want a more “traditional” extra soft bread machine white bread. If you use a very sour-tasting Greek yogurt, your bread will taste sort of like a mild sourdough 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.
• My recipe will work with nonfat Greek yogurt. However, the bread will not be as tender as one made with full fat Greek yogurt. The use of full fat Greek yogurt (due to the fat) is better for making a softer & moister tasting bread. Fat helps by softening & limiting gluten development and improving the moisture retention of bread.
• Visitors – Do you like to use plain Greek yogurt or fruit flavored Greek yogurt or sour cream to make this bread? Do you like to add anything else when making this bread? Chopped nuts? Dried cranberries? Seeds? Something else? Please leave your ingredient thoughts & suggestions in the comment box below.

• 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.
• If you want to make an OVEN-baked version of this bread with sour cream, please try my Sour Cream Bread Recipe (an extra soft white bread recipe). It uses sour cream to tenderize the gluten.
• Optional – If you do not have butter (or don’t want to use butter), you can replace the butter in this recipe with vegetable oil on a 1-to-1 basis (e.g. replace the 4 tablespoons of butter with 4 tablespoons of vegetable oil). FYI – 4 tablespoons equals 1/4 cup. I would recommend using a neutral-flavored oil such as corn oil or mild/light olive oil (not extra virgin olive oil). Strongly flavored oils can negatively impact the Greek yogurt flavor.
• The fluffy bread machine recipe on this page produces an extra soft white bread. However, if you are looking for more traditional white breads (made without Greek yogurt), you should try my recipes for Bread Machine White Bread Recipe or Bread Machine Honey White Bread.

• My recipe is based on using the basic/white bread setting (usually setting #1 on most bread machines).
• Also I suggest using the light color crust setting to make this bread because some bread machines can over bake soft white breads with the medium or dark color setting.
• Warning – Given the bread’s extra softness & the moisture variability of different Greek yogurts, this bread tends to crack a little more on the sides of the bread “crown”. See the picture below to get an idea of the type of crack (left side of picture).
• I have tried solving this issue with less yeast (bread was too small), less yogurt (not fluffy & less tasty), less milk (dough was too hard), less flour (bread ended up too small & not fluffy enough), different machine settings (e.g. sweet bread setting), etc.
• After dozens of experiments (and countless Greek yogurts sacrificed for science!), the soft white bread machine recipe on this page was the best solution for my bread machine. It creates an extra soft white bread but with a little more cracking potential. Therefore, don’t be surprised if you don’t have a perfectly rounded bread top. This is a small price to pay for an extra soft & fluffy bread machine bread.
• If you want to minimize cracks, you should make my oven-baked Greek Yogurt Bread Recipe or Sour Cream Bread Recipe. You have more control with an oven-based recipe (e.g. due to more flexibility with the time used for dough rises, baking length and temperatures) versus the standard settings on a bread machine (which have preset rises, baking lengths & temperatures).

Bread with “Crack” (Left Side)

• This recipe uses bread machine yeast (instant yeast). It does NOT use active dry yeast.
• If you haven’t used your bread machine or bread maker 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.
• Many bakers like to make an indent 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. 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.

• 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). Yeast likes liquids are that not too cold or too hot. If the milk is too cold, you might end up with a denser bread (because the yeast has not risen properly). Ideally, the liquid temperature should be around 100-110 F.
• Optional – If you have run out of milk, you can use water as a substitute. However, while still good, bread made with water will be a little less tasty. You can also use plain soy milk, oat milk, etc.
• Optional – As I stated in the instructions – Right after you have removed the hot bread from the bread pan, you can “baste” the top of the bread with melted butter. A small pastry brush works best to brush on the melted butter. This optional step helps to improve the appearance of the bread and adds some extra buttery flavor.
• If you like very soft white bread machine breads, you should also try out Bread Machine Buttermilk Bread. Buttermilk works similarly to Greek yogurt and tenderizes the gluten in the bread. However, you can not simply replace the Greek yogurt in this recipe with buttermilk because the buttermilk is more “liquidy” (than Greek yogurt). You need to use the dedicated buttermilk recipe.

• My recipe is made with bread flour. I do not recommend using all purpose flour for this recipe because the bread will come out a little more dense and more crumbly.
• Use FRESH ingredients (e.g. flour) for the best results. Ingredients that have been sitting in the pantry for months can become stale or pick up weird smells & flavors.
• Try to keep your ingredients (e.g. sugar & flour) in airtight food containers in order to extend their shelf life. Airtight containers protect ingredients from moisture (in the air), pests, dust, etc.
• Flour absorbs moisture from the air (if kept in an open bag and not an airtight container). This extra moisture throws off recipes and can lead to bread collapses, etc.
• Give the potential for unwanted “extra” liquid from old flour, a humid kitchen or imprecise ingredient measurements, I like to look at the dough in my bread machine after first 4 or 5 minutes of mixing. If the dough is looking too wet, I will add some flour (a little bit at a time) until the dough consistency looks correct. Check your bread machine’s instruction manual on how to do this safely & effectively with your specific machine.
• My recipe will NOT work with gluten free flour. Gluten free flour differs significantly versus flours with gluten and requires you to use recipes specifically designed for the use of gluten free flour. If you use gluten free flour in this recipe, you are likely to have a baking disaster.
• If you would like to read my review of the bread machines that I own & use to create my bread machine recipes, please visit my Best Bread Machines page. It covers bread machines such as Hamilton Beach, KBS and Zojirushi. The page provides my thoughts on the machines’ strengths and weaknesses.

• 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. The flour will pick up extra moisture from the air while sitting in the pantry and this can throw off recipes, spoil flavor, degrade shelf life, etc.
• 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.
• Having trouble with bread collapses & misshapen bread tops? Make sure to read Bread Dad’s article on Bread Machine Bread Collapses. It has reasons and solutions to potential bread collapses.
• For information on other possible bread machine errors, please visit my Common Bread Machine Mistakes page.

• If your bread is not completely cooled (esp. soft breads), you are more likely to squash & tear the bread when slicing the bread. Many of my sandwich breads take at least 1 to 2 hours to cool down (after being placed on a wire cooling rack). FYI – After an hour of cooling, I like to check my bread to see if it needs further cooling. Do not be tempted by the smell of delicious hot bread & cut too early… if you want nice slices! Let the bread completely cool.
• Moreover, if you try cutting bread while it is still warm, you will compress the bread and interfere with the bread slowly releasing the steam/water vapor from the interior. Thus premature slicing can negatively impact the bread by making the bread more gummy.
• Since this bread is very soft, you should use a serrated knife to cut the bread in order to avoid “smushing” the loaf with a non-serrated knife.
• FYI – If you like to make baked goods with Greek yogurt or sour cream, you should also try my recipes for Greek Yogurt Banana Bread & Sour Cream Banana Nut Bread.

• 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 is not sealed tight) or exposed to higher temperatures, the yeast will expire even more quickly.
• Once you have opened the bottle that contains the bread machine yeast, the yeast will last longer if you store the bottle in the refrigerator or freezer. Just make sure the bottle is sealed tight (as yeast will deteriorate quickly if exposed to air, moisture and/or heat).
• If your dough is having trouble rising properly, you should check out my How To Test Yeast page. This yeast test will show you if your yeast is alive & active or dead/expired. It will save you from a few bread disasters!

• If you have a problem with a “basic” bread machine recipe, please make sure that you are following the recipe exactly (e.g. using the correct bread machine settings), using the correct amount of an ingredient (e.g. don’t eyeball the measurements versus using a measuring cup or accidentally add a tablespoon when a teaspoon is called for), using the correct ingredients (e.g. bread machine yeast versus regular yeast or bread flour versus all purpose flour), etc. Please don’t “wing” things with recipes.
• 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 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.

• You can also use this homemade bread to make one of Bread Dad’s delicious & toasty Grilled Cheese & Panini Sandwich 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).
• Before using any bread machine, you should read the bread machine manufacturer’s instructions in order to use the bread machine effectively and safely.
• 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.

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Related Recipe Sections

1. Grilled Cheese & Panini Sandwich Recipes – Turn your homemade bread into air fryer grilled cheese sandwiches, ham & cheese paninis, etc.
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3. Quick Bread Recipes – Easy desserts such as pumpkin bread, cranberry bread, sweet potato bread, etc.
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Questions & Answers

Why is my bread machine bread so hard?

For the softest breads, you should look for bread machine bread recipes that use yogurt, buttermilk or sour cream. These ingredients “tenderize” the gluten and this usually results in softer breads (versus breads that do not use these ingredients). However, this only works for recipes that utilize types of flour with lots of gluten (e.g. bread flour).

You also need to make sure that you are using fresh yeast because old/expired yeast will not rise properly and your bread will come out very dense. In addition, you need to use the correct bread machine setting as some settings will overbake the bread and the crust will come out drier and harder. An incorrect setting may also not provide enough time for the dough to rise properly (resulting in a short & dense bread). For softer crusts, you should also use the light color crust setting (versus the medium and dark color crust settings).

For more information, you should read our “Why is my bread machine bread so dense?” page.

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Reference Sources

1. Wikipedia, Bread Machine
2. Wikipedia, Greek Yogurt

Related Recipes

1. Bread Machine All Purpose Flour Bread
2. Bread Machine White Bread – Extra buttery
3. Buttermilk Bread – Oven baked
4. Greek Yogurt Bread – Oven baked
5. Sour Cream Bread – Oven baked
6. White Bread – Oven baked

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