Olive Oil Herb Bread Made in the Bread Maker

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This bread maker olive oil herb bread is flavorful and delicious. It is perfectly served warm with butter or used for savory sandwiches. Made easy in the bread maker!

I remember when I was a little girl, sitting on a high stool at the kitchen counter watching my grandmother make homemade bread. First, there was proofing the yeast, then mixing the ingredients, kneading, rising, punching, kneading again, shaping, and more rising. And finally, the bread baking. Yeah…I don’t have time for that…

Making homemade bread can take a lot of work, time, and effort. Luckily, with the recent resurgence and popularity of home bread makers, we don't have to! We can make homemade bread in just a few steps, and let the bread machine do all the work! 

In fact, I have become a real fan of my Cuisinart Bread Compact Bread Machine and have enjoyed exploring both savory and sweet bread machine recipes. I particularly love cinnamon raisin bread and orange cranberry bread – both yeast bread and are made in this bread machine!

Olive oil herb bread is highly flavorful with robust olive oil and Italian seasonings. If you are looking for a less seasoned bread machine bread you should try this basic vegan white bread or tasty molasses wheat bread.

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Ingredients needed to make bread machine olive oil herb bread

• water
• extra virgin olive oil – I use robust flavor because this is an “oil oil” flavored bread after all!
• bread flour
• Italian seasoning blend – some people have not heard of Italian seasoning blend and are not aware that you can buy this seasoning blend in the grocery store in the herbs and spices section.
• granulated sugar
• salt
•  rapid rise yeast (bread machine yeast)
• You will absolutely need a bread maker/machine for this recipe!

The olive oil

Since this is an “olive oil” bread recipe, the flavor of olive oil should be, at the minimum, a subtle undertone. I use robust-flavor extra virgin olive oil. If you are going to use lite-tasing or flavorless olive oil, then you might as well just use any other vegetable oil out there.

Make sure your olive oil is fresh and of the best quality you can afford. Using bad-tasing olive oil isn’t going to improve any by baking in your bread!

The Italian Seasonings

I once had a reader mad at me because I included “Italian Seasonings” as an ingredient. She said that saying “Italian seasonings” was confusing to her because she had no idea which Italian seasonings she should use. It wasn’t really her fault because she didn’t realize that one can just buy a bottle of Italian seasoning blend!

A reader from Italy also complained to me that in Italy they don’t use bottle-blended Italian seasonings, and so I shouldn’t either. Italian seasoning blend seems to be a trigger point for some people…

You can buy an Italian seasoning blend in the grocery store or make your own blend like this homemade Italian Seasoning Mix found on the It’s a Keeper recipe blog.

The Yeast

This recipe was developed using rapid-rise bread machine yeast. You can find it in the grocery store next to the regular active dry yeast. I used to buy the little packets before I realized that different recipes called for different amounts of yeast. Now I buy a small jar and keep it in my fridge for freshness.

How to make Olive Oil Herb Bread in a bread machine

Step 1: Measure the bread flour

In the USA we typically measure flour by volume. As in this recipe, we measure out three cups of bread flour. Most other parts of the world measure things like flour by weight – which honestly makes more sense.

If you just cram your measuring cup into a bag of flour three times, the flour is going to be compressed and you are *probably* going to end up using much more than if you weigh the flour, resulting in a dense and heavy loaf of bread.

So we could always use a little less, right? But I don’t really know for sure, because I’ve never learned the civilized way to measure flour. So it’s just a guess at this point.

In fact, according to this handy measurement and weight chart by King Arthur Flour, one cup of flour weighs 120 grams. I happen to trust King Arthur Flour and believe it’s a reliable source. So if you are weighing your flour, I think you can safely weigh out 360 grams of bread flour.

For the rest of us who have no clue about such things… My grandmother taught me a trick to “lighten” the flour and (mostly) measure it correctly.

Start by taking a spoon and stirring up the bread flour to lighten it. Then take that same spoon and gently spoon it in your one-cup measuring cup without compressing the flour. Go ahead and spoon the flour over the top of the measuring cup so that you have a nice domed top. Then take a knife or other flat edge and run it quickly over the top, getting rid of the excess flour without smooshing it down. Repeat three times.

Step 2: add the ingredients to the bread machine

Add the ingredients in the order suggested by your bread machine. I use a Cuisinart Bread Maker and it suggests adding the liquids first and then the dry ingredients.

Add the water and olive oil first to the bread maker bread pan. Then add the flour, Italian seasoning mix, sugar, and salt. Make a little “well” in the middle of the dry ingredients and add the rapid-rise yeast.

Step 3: The bread machine settings

For this recipe using my Cuisinart bread machine, I set my machine to “white bread”, medium darkness, and to a one-and-a-half pound loaf. It sets the timer for three hours and twenty-five minutes. Then I press go and walk away!

Serving Suggestions for Olive Oil Bread Machine Bread

Make sure you read your manufacturers’ directions and understand how and when to remove the bread pan from your bread maker without burning yourself.

Then, if you didn’t already remove the paddle before baking (some bread machines allow for that…and some people remember to do it), then remove the paddle before slicing and serving. This usually means digging it out from the bottom of the baked loaf.

This olive oil bread makes ten half-slice servings. My favorite way to enjoy this delicious baked bread recipe is to serve warm with a slathering of vegan butter on top. My Easy Fresh Basil Garlic Butter is an excellent choice to spread and serve!

For some more delicious vegan bread recipes from Veggie Fun Kitchen, try

• Cinnamon Raisin Bread made in the Bread Machine
• French Bread Made in the Bread Maker (coming soon)
• Bread Machine Wheat Bread with Molasses and Agave
• and for a quick bread try Garlic Herb Beer Bread.

The printable recipe card for Bread Machine Olive Oil Herb Bread