Bread Machine - Onion Bread Recipe - Bread Dad (2024)

If you like onions… then you will love this bread machine onion bread recipe! Personally, this is one of my favorite sandwich breads as I love the taste of onion bread.

The bread is soft & delicious. It is also easy to make and is often used as a great tasting side dish for dipping into soup, stew, etc. Moreover, you will love the smell of fresh onion bread.

Bread Machine Onion Bread

Since this onion bread recipe is done in a bread machine, it is simple & easy to make. It only takes me about 5-10 minutes to prepare and then the bread machine does the hard work (e.g. mixing, kneading & baking). For more great recipes, please visit Bread Dad’s main Bread Machine Recipes section. Bread Dad also has a printable and “pin-able” recipe at the bottom of the page.

Key Ingredient – “Sautéed” Onions

Ingredients – Bread Machine Onion Bread Recipe (1.5 lb Loaf Version)

• 1 Cup – Milk (lukewarm) – 237 milliliters
• 4 Tablespoons – Unsalted Butter (sliced & softened) – 57 grams
• 3 Cups – Bread Flour (not all purpose flour) – 360 grams
• 1/2 – Large Onion (diced & fried) – 4.5 ounces (128 grams) – Strain the fried onions. Do not add extra liquid to the recipe (as this can throw off the recipe).
• 1 Tablespoon – White Granulated Sugar – 12.5 grams
• 1 Tablespoon – Onion Powder – 12 grams
• 1 1/2 Teaspoons – Salt – 9 grams
• 1 1/2 Teaspoons – Bread Machine Yeast (Instant Yeast) – 4.5 grams – Do not use active dry yeast.

Servings – Roughly 12 slices

Equipment– Measuring cup & spoons,flexible spatula,oven mitts,cooling rack… and of course, abread machine.

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You Can Also Make Oven-Baked Onion Bread (With Bread Machine Dough)

Ingredients in the Bread Pan (with Yeast “Crater”)

Instructions – Bread Machine Onion Bread Recipe (1.5 lb Loaf Version)

• Bread Machine Settings – Basic, Light Color & 1.5 lb
• Dice the onion half into small chunks. Sauté the diced onions in a frying pan with a small amount of butter or vegetable oil until golden brown.
• Unplug bread machine & remove bread pan. Pour the milk & softened butter into the bread pan first and then add the other ingredients. Place the bread machine yeast in last and the yeast should not touch the liquid, salt or the hot sautéed onions (until the bread machine is turned on and the ingredients start to be mixed together by the bread machine). You can create a little indent, crater or ditch in the top of the flour and place the yeast in this hole in order to keep the yeast separate for the salt, etc.
• Place the bread pan (with ingredients) back into unplugged bread machine.

• Plug in the bread machine. Enter the correct settings (basic, light color & 1.5 lb) and press the “start” button.

• When the bread machine has finished baking the bread, you should unplug the bread machine. Remove the bread and place it on a cooling rack. Use oven mitts when removing the bread machine container (bread loaf pan) as it will be very hot!
• After removing the bread, don’t forget to remove the mixing paddle if it is stuck in the bread. Use oven mitts as the mixing paddle will be very hot coming out of the bread machine. Or wait until the bread is completely cooled and then remove the mixing paddle.
• Before using your bread machine, you should read the bread machine manufacturer’s instructions in order to use the bread machine effectively and safely.
• Please read the tips section below in order to maximize the success of this recipe and to avoid common bread machine mistakes.

If you liked this recipe, please leave a comment below & give us a 5 star rating. It is ALWAYS great to hear from someone who has enjoyed our recipes.

Other Bread Dad Sections

• Bread Machines – My favorites
• Bread Machine Cookbooks
• Bread Mixes – Ingredient kits
• Bread Tools – Baguette pans, etc.

Sliced Onion Bread – Yum!

Tips – Bread Machine Onion Bread Recipe (1.5 lb Loaf Version)

• The tips below are designed to help bread machine “novices” and those who haven’t touched their bread machine in years.
• Click on our “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 our series on easy Bread Machine Recipes such as banana bread, multigrain bread, oatmeal bread and pumpkin bread.
• If you would like to make an oven-version of this bread, please check out my oven-baked Onion Bread Recipe. FYI – Many people like to make the dough in their bread machine and then bake the bread dough in the oven in order to get a better looking loaf. With oven-baked bread, you can avoid a bread machine “block” shaped loaf and the paddle “hole” in the bottom of the bread machine loaf.
• For a more “authentic” look, I like to sprinkle a teaspoon of the sauteed onions on top of the dough immediately after the final kneading/mixing cycle. Of course, for safety, I wear oven mitts & don’t put my hands inside the bread machine.
• If you have run out of bread flour, you can use all-purpose flour. The bread will still be good. Just a little less airy & chewy.
• 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 lukewarm milk (or instant powdered milk mixed into lukewarm 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.
• 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.
• Instead of dairy milk, you can also use non-dairy ingredients such as plain soy milk, plain oat milk, etc.
• Use FRESH ingredients (i.e. 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 (i.e. flour) in airtight food containers in order to extend their shelf life.
• 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.
• If your family enjoyed this bread, you might also like to try our Bread Machine Garlic Bread recipe. It uses minced & sautéed garlic!
• 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.
• 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.
• This recipe is NOT for 1 lb capacity bread machines. Please check the capacity of your bread machine before making this recipe. This recipe helps you to create 1.5 lb and 2 lb bread loaves. If you have a small bread machine (i.e. a bread machine that has only a capacity for 1 lb breads), you will be unable to make this recipe. The loaf will be too large for your machine and overflow the bread pan (and the top is likely to collapse). An example of a bread machine with only a 1 lb capacity is the Zojirushi Home Bakery Mini Breadmaker (model BB-HAC10).
• If you have a problem with a bread machine recipe, please make sure that you are following the recipe exactly (i.e. using the correct bread machine settings), using the correct amount of an ingredient (i.e. don’t eyeball the measurements versus using a measurement cup or accidentally add a tablespoon when a teaspoon is called for), using the correct ingredients (i.e. 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 (i.e. different types of flour), 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.
• 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 (i.e. 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. banana bread, pizza dough, cornbread, French bread, whole wheat bread, etc.), please visit Bread Dad’s mainBread MachineRecipessection.

If you liked this recipe, please leave a comment below & give us a 5 star rating. It is ALWAYS great to hear from someone who has enjoyed our recipes!

Reference Sources

• Wikipedia, Bread Machine
• Wikipedia, Onion
• Wikipedia, Onion Powder

Related Recipes

• Bread Machine – French Bread
• Bread Machine – Garlic Bread
• Bread Machine – Italian Bread
• Bread Machine – Oatmeal Bread
• Bread Machine – White Bread
• Bread Machine – Whole Wheat Bread

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