Homemade Egg Bread Recipe
This homemade egg bread recipe is a winner! The crust is soft and the top is flaky. At the same time, it has a solidity that makes it a natural for sandwiches.
Last Updated on December 5, 2022 – Originally posted in November 2014
Featured Comment
OK, Diva, so I made this bread, question, when are you going to post a recipe that doesn’t make me want to eat the whole loaf in one sitting? This is some fantastic bread. ~ John
It Started With A Few Extra Eggs
I had a few extra eggs in the refrigerator, so I gave this egg bread recipe a try. I’m glad I did. It’s a winner! The crust is soft and the top is flaky.
The bread is soft but has a solidity that makes it a natural for sandwiches. Your sandwich will not fall apart with this bread!
As always, I used my trusty bread machine to make this bread. The machine makes it so easy.
And I’m not the only one raves about this bread. A Facebook reader recently wrote, “Made this tonight and my house smells AMAZING. Just took it out of the bread machine and it’s so soft and fluffy.”
Raising Chickens
Let’s talk about where eggs come from for a second. When I was a child we had chickens. It was a small flock of about 6 hens and a rooster.
I’d go out to the chicken coop to help gather the eggs and feed the chickens.
I remember how surprised I was when I gathered eggs for the first time and discovered that they were warm to the touch. It made sense. The eggs were warm because they’d been underneath a chicken. I’d just never experienced that before. I was used to eggs being cold from the refrigerator.
We also had a chicken that laid pretty, light-green eggs. Really! There are some breeds of chickens that lay colored eggs.
Here’s a photo of a blue-green egg (from an Araucana chicken) with brown and white eggs for comparison.
At the time I didn’t appreciate those great, farm-fresh eggs. I just took them for granted.
Do Eggs Add to A Bread Recipe?
Eggs bring a lot to this or any bread recipe.
First of all, eggs bring color, nutrition and a little extra flavor to any bread recipe.
Eggs also contain lecithin. That’s a fat that makes the ingredients mix better and gives the bread a nice crumb.
Whole eggs are mostly water. So if you’re experimenting with adding eggs to a recipe be sure to adjust the liquid in the recipe to compensate.
FAQ for This Recipe
Wondering about the difference between active dry yeast, instant yeast, bread machine yeast and quick rise yeast? I’ve got an article that explains the differences between different yeast types and how to switch between types of yeast.
Bread machines come in different sizes. So I’m frequently asked how to convert recipes into recipes for bread machines of different sizes. Here’s an article that explains how to redo a recipe for a differently sized bread machine.
Learn about the differences between all-purpose flour and bread flour.
Homemade Egg Bread Instructions
Note that this recipe is for a two-pound machine. Use the basic or white cycle with medium crust.
Follow the instructions that came with your bread machine in terms of which ingredients to put in the bread machine first. With my machine, a Zojirushi BB-PAC20 Virtuoso, I add the liquid first.
Check on the dough after five or ten minutes of kneading. Just pop the top of the bread machine and see how the dough is doing. It should be a smooth, round ball.
Homemade Egg Bread Ingredients
This is for a two-pound loaf, using the medium crust setting.
- 1/3 cup water
- 3/4 cup milk – I usually use 2% or whole milk, but any type should work. Note that you’ll probably get a little more rise if you use whole milk.
- 2 eggs – beaten
- 4 cups bread flour
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 3 Tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
Homemade Egg Bread Recipe
Recommended Equipment
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup (78.9 ml) water
- 3/4 cup (177.4 ml) milk I usually use 2% or whole milk, but any type should work. Note that you'll probably get a little more rise if you use whole milk.
- 2 eggs Beaten
- 4 cups (500 g) bread flour
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 3 Tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/4 teaspoons (1.2 teaspoons) active dry yeast
Instructions
- Note that this recipe is for a two-pound machine. Use the basic or white cycle with medium crust.
- Follow the instructions that came with your bread machine in terms of which ingredients to put in the bread machine first. With my machine (a Zojirushi BB-PAC20 Virtuoso), I add the liquid first.
- Check on the dough after five or ten minutes of kneading. Just pop the top of the bread machine and see how the dough is doing. It should be a smooth, round ball.
Notes
Nutrition
All information presented within this site is intended for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and any nutritional information on breadmachinediva.com should only be used as a general guideline. This information is provided as a courtesy and there is no guarantee that the information will be completely accurate. I try to provide accurate information to the best of my ability; however these figures should still be considered estimates.
Thank you awesome recipe! My husband loves it even though I screwed it up unfortunately.
First, I chose the light crust because from past experience the darker settings make the crust too crunchy. Second mistake was choosing the 2.5 loaf instead of your 2lb as listed(bread maker has 3bs limit)The bread rose so much it touched the lid. When the baking process was done the top still felt soggy. I was dreading it! However, let it rest in the pan for a few minutes. Will definitely try this recipe again but will select the 2 pound loaf and medium darkness as noted in your recipe. Will let you know how the next loaf turns out. Will try again next weekend! Thanks again.
Thanks for the comment. Let me know how it goes!
Can I use Instant Yeast in this recipe, and if I do, is it the same amount or less??
You can! It would be a different amount. This page on yeast has the conversion formula.
Thank you!!
Awesome! Doing it right now
I just made this yesterday. It makes a beautiful loaf and is delicious. It also makes lovely toast. I am a widow and don’t use bread very quickly so what I do is slice it on my slicer and package it in 3 or 4 slices, wrap it in plastic wrap and freeze it. It always freezes wonderfully and I always have fresh bread. thank you for the recipe
I made a couple of small adjustments to this recipe to suit my own preferences and was pleased with the loaf it produced.
I brought the eggs and milk to room temperature. I also weighed the flour to assure the correct amount. Four cups of bread flour should weight 480 grams. I also added an additional tbsp of sugar and subbed softened butter for the olive oil.
The resulting loaf had a nice flavor and texture.
followed the instructions but there didnt seem to be enough liquid. when the kneading cycle ended the dough was dry and in crumbles, had to take it out and add water and milk and knead it further by hand. Will retry with whole milk next time, hope this loaf rises well
I’m so sorry the recipe didn’t work out for you. It’s really important to check on the dough after the machine starts kneading the dough. Check on the dough after five or ten minutes of kneading. Just pop the top of the bread machine and see how the dough is doing. It should be a smooth, round ball. If it’s not, add liquid or flour as needed.
This is a really great recipe. I’ve made it 4 times and my family loves this. We’re usually a whole wheat family but sometimes we like a white loaf just to switch it up. This has a good firm crumb and makes really nice toast and sandwiches. 10/10 will make again!
The egg recipe sounds great. I having been using the recipe that I adjust the amount of yeast do to living at higher elevation. I would like to use this recipe but need to know what adjustments I need to make. I’m at 4600 feet elevation.
Thanks
Howard
Check out my article on adjusting recipes for higher elevation. You’ll have to experiment with it, but if it were me, I’d start by decreasing the yeast by 25% and use the light crust setting.
If I wanted to make a 1 or 1 1/2 lb loaf do you know the measurements?
I don’t, but I do have an article on converting recipes so they’ll work on differently sized machines. It’ll walk you though the conversion process.
We have make this bread a lot! Great easy recipe. I use regular flour only, and butter instead of the oil. Also, have added garlic powder at the “add” part of the program – great fresh with spaghetti. Problem is keeping it around any length of time! Thanks for a great recipe.
I’m going to have to try adding garlic powder. That sounds great!!
This is a very nice bread. I took a chance and used buttermilk. It was lovely and I will certainly make it again. I have seen recipes that I have wanted to make but the most obvious thing to know is missing. The loaf size !! I was pleased to see that it is clearly indicated for this one 🙂
I was just going to ask about using buttermilk! I don’t keep milk around, only unsweetened vanilla almond milk, and fat free half and half. But every now and then I buy buttermilk for baking, and of course there is always some leftover. And I hate to throw out good buttermilk.
I’m going to make this today, but was wondering two things – 1st you didn’t mention that the milk needed to be at a certain temperature – 2nd can you use butter instead of olive oil?
Great questions!
My bread machine has a preheat cycle so I don’t heat the milk. However, if your machine doesn’t preheat the ingredients then you’ll want to make sure the milk is at least at room temperature.
Using butter instead of olive oil should be fine.
This recipe is amazing…thank you so much! Any idea what the measurements would be for a 700g loaf? Thanks.
T
I’ve just added the new recipe card software to this recipe. So you can see the metric measurements for a two-pound loaf. If you’d like to convert it to another sized loaf, then check out my article on how to convert recipes to differently sized bread machines.
Hi, I’m new to this site so I might have missed the answer but what type of milk should I use. 1%, 2%…. and can I use milk powder instead. If I can use milk powder, how much should I use. Thanks, I’m excited to try the recipe, hopefully today.
Great question. Any type of milk should work. You should get a little more rise if you use a higher fat milk.
Reconstituted milk from milk powder should work too.
What about Almond Milk?
That should work fine in this recipe.
If I wanted to pull out of the machine and bake in loaf pans would you suggest 350 degrees? For how long?
I’m sorry. I’ve never done it that way.
I just made this today and used 2 tablespoons butter instead of olive oil. I set my machine on dough and then put it into a buttered & floured bread pan, set the oven to 350 and baked for 28 minutes. I let it cool and had to slice a piece off and it turned out perfect…..
Yay!! Thanks so much for letting me know.
I’ve made this recipe many times and I LOVE it! I always take it out of the machine and raise and bake in a loaf pan and it turns out great every time. Let it rise in the pan for 20-25 minutes or until the dough is one inch above the top of the bread pan. Then bake at 350 for 19-22 minutes. Each oven is different so you may need to experiment.
I never use my bread machine to bake I always just use the dough setting and bake it in the oven, depending on your oven I do 350f for aprox 30 mins.check for doneness by tapping the bread if it sounds hollow your good to go 🙂
I live in Canada. Can I use all purpose flour instead of bread flour? Really want to try this recipe.
It all depends on how much gluten is in the flour. Check out this article on flour for more information.
I just took a loaf out of my machine. I hadn’t used it in many years as it was in storage. Of course I was afraid it wasn’t working right so I did some adjustments on the machine taking the dough out and returning it to the machine. I kept my hands off until it was finished. Oh my…other than being a little lip sided due to my adjustments it is perfect. Tastes wonderful. This will be my go to from now on.
Thanks so much for your comment! I’m so glad you like the recipe.
Hi I’m very new at this bread machine making bread. I have madev3 loafs. I have a Wolfgang Puck machine. The 1st 2 loafs were awful in his recipes…yuck! White bread and cinnamon raisin. The crustvwas so hard you needed a hammer to chisel it!! Then I found your egg bread….omg it is wonderful the texture the taste was perfect!! However the crust again was so hard!! How do you avoid that or can you?? Thanks
I’m glad you like the recipe. Does your machine have a crust setting? If so, you might change it to the light crust setting.
Can you use a yeast roll recipe with eggs in it, in the bread machine? Dose the egg bread taste similar to yeast rolls? I like the taste of the rolls but would prefer the bread machine to do the cooking.
Interesting question. There are a LOT of recipes for yeast rolls so I’m not sure how to answer that. Some yeast roll recipes can be made into bread and some can’t. If a roll is really soft and yeast-y, that same recipe might not be good for making bread. Take a look at the apricot bread recipe and see what you think. It has a cake-like texture that you might enjoy.
I made this yesterday and it tastes pretty good but it came out kind of dense. Is that how it’s supposed to turn out?
It’s hard to say as different people have different ideas about how dense is dense. Did you use bread machine flour? If not, that would help.
OMG This recipe is amazing. I use my machine to mix and rise then punch back down and then I make hogie size loaves. Amazing thanks. Making dinner rolls on turkey day! Took the place of my recipe I have used for years.
I must have mixed ingredients perfectly because I did not add any flour or any liquid while mixing.
Thanks for the comment. I’m so glad you like the recipe. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family.
Thanks for the best egg bread Breadman loaf I’ve made in years! I needed to add quite a bit of flour while it was kneading, but I believe that was because I used the extra large eggs we had on hand. Next time I’ll reduce the amount of water/milk. I think I’d enjoy this bread even more if it had a HEAVY yeast flavor. Is there a way to introduce that flavor/smell to the bread? I used Fleishmann’s ACTIVE DRY yeast. Also, if I want to try a 1-pounder for a shorter loaf, will halving it while keeping the ingredient proportions as they are work?
You’ve got the right idea for converting recipes to differently sized machines. I wrote an article about the conversion process of converting bread machine recipes.
accidentally cooked it on French Bread cycle but looks great …. love the smell of the kitchen !!!!
I’m so glad it worked out!
I added butter, just 2 tbsp and a liiiiiiiiittle extra flour because it was wet through the first cycle. I hope it turns out lol. This virus has made me start experimenting with my machine. I’m gaining weight. Send help. Or home made jam for my bread, whatever. Lol
LOL! Thanks for the comment and the laughs. I hope your bread turned out.
I just found this post and am grateful for all the information provided.
My grandson has an egg allergy and, once cleared by a baked agh challenge, he has to have baked egg products everyday for 6 months.
This recipient sounds perfect but I would need to add an extra egg to make it work for him. Do you think an extra egg would throw off the whole mixture?
I’d appreciate any advice you could recommend.
PS – I cannot get commercial egg bread because he cannot have anything with an egg wash.
I’m so glad the recipe is helpful!
You should be able to add an extra egg, but you’ll need to experiment a little bit. Eggs are mostly water so you’ll need to slightly decrease the liquid in the recipe or slightly increase the flour. I’d start by adding your extra egg and then decreasing the liquid by a tablespoon. Be sure to take a quick look at the dough after it’s kneaded for a few minutes to see how the dough looks. Check out this article if it doesn’t look right.
OK, Diva, so I made this bread, question, when are you going to post a recipe that doesn’t make me want to eat the whole loaf in one sitting? This is some fantastic bread. Thank you so much for such good eats.
John C.
You made my day! Thanks for the great comment!
This is plain wonderful, but please please develop a variation for challah (Jewish egg bread), which cannot have milk and should have honey. Thank you.
Thanks for the suggestion! I’ve added it to my list.
I am allergic to eggs and want to use my bread machine. Is there a substitute for eggs for people who are allergic to eggs.
This page has some information that may help.
Another question: I can’t make sourdough bread!! We were in Montana last week and one of the chefs out there gave me a starter that they have been using for 9 years! When I got home last night I tried it. But I felt like I was improvising on everything. Their only directions were how to feed it. The Zo book is very confusing because you use the started that you’ve made in the Zo. The recipe I tried last night I just got off the web and it called for 1 cup of starter. It turned out just OK. What do you suggest for a great Sourdough bread? Can I use the starter they gave me? Would love to make a lovely loaf like theirs. Thank You.
I’d love to make sourdough bread in the bread machine too, but I just don’t think it’s a good idea. Why? In the past sourdough was used as a leavening agent like we use yeast today. Different batches of sourdough will provide different amounts of rise. So I just haven’t used it in my recipes because it might turn out differently for someone else.
My brother and I both are bread making NUTS! We have tried so many different recipes with most successes but a number of failures. The one I wanted the most was egg bread. I made a loaf while he was visiting and it turned out INCREDIBLE. He went home and used the same recipe and it flopped. So I tried it over and over with failures each time. The recipe came from a different bread machine book. So I am going to try yours today, but I have one question: what size eggs do you use and are they straight from the refrigerator? My loaf will go in my Zo just as soon as I hear back from you. Thanks for all the great recipes you post.
I use large eggs. My Zo, and hopefully yours too, has a preheat cycle. So just take them out of the refrigerator and gently beat them before you add them to the pan.
Let me know how it goes!
I followed the directions except that I used white wheat flour instead. Would that have made a difference? I had to add about 2 Tablespoons of milk to the dough because it didn’t ball up as it should have. The bread looked great, but crumbled and tasted like cornmeal.
I may try again & use bread flour instead…we love a good sandwich bread so I was really disappointed with how it turned out.
I love it when people experiment with the recipes. However, switching out bread flour for whole wheat flour isn’t a change that I recommend. As you discovered, it throws everything off. 🙁 You might try substituting part of the flour and seeing how that turns out. You also might want to add some vital wheat gluten.
Can we half this recipe? I made it but it overflowed in my bread machine. But it is delicious.
Hi Lydia, this page shows you how to adjust recipes for various sizes of machines.
Can you use bread machine yeast? What is the difference between yeasts? Thank you.
You can use bread machine yeast. Here’s more information about yeast.
This recipe is my go-to bread recipe. Everyone loves it from babies to Grandpa!! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks so much for the comment. You made my day! 🙂
I have a recipe that is almost identical but without eggs. What do the eggs contribute?
Hi Donna, Eggs can help the bread rise. They also make the texture more soft.
Great tasting bread! I liked it with olive oil, but found that I like it even better using butter instead. In my Oster 2lb machine this recipe produces a loaf about 6 to 7 inches high – too tall for a normal sandwich and too small when cut in half.. So – I tried making 1lb loaves. They come out just the right size for sandwiches and fit the toaster perfectly. I remove the paddle at the end of the last rise cycle, and stop the baking about 5-7 minutes early to keep the crust from getting too thick.
Many thanks for this and great recipes on you site!
Hi thanks for the recipe your pound cake is wonderful I added some cinnamon and used cooks margerine, I live in Africa so can only use what we can get. What a treat
Susan, I’m so glad you liked it!! Thanks for writing!
I am so glad i finally found a recipe that worked for me. I was fed up trying to make bread with the recepie that came with my breadmakers user manual. Your recipe is the only thing that worked for me. Thank you.
You are so welcome. It’s a great recipe isn’t it?
OH…..again, I hope this does not go against “bread etiquette” (again) but I use just regular yeast in all my breads…..I pick up the BIG BLOCKS at Sam’s Club and keep it in a lock n’ lock in either the fridge or freezer and have never had any “issues”. Again, I hope this helps someone.
I just found this website and WOWZER! THANK YOU! I made this bread yesterday and it’s fabulous and looked exactly like your picture. I am going to explore the other recipes as well. I have the West Bend machine that makes a full size loaf and I pray it NEVER dies.
I don’t know if anyone suggested this to “DANI” about keeping bread fresh or not but I purchase the 2 gallon zippy bags and after my bread cools I keep it in the fridge in a good bag…..hopefully that does not go against “bread etiquette”? BUT….due to the fact homemade bread has no preserves some sort of either fridge or freezer needs to be involved unless you have a family……I am only 1 individual so I find keeping my loaf if the refrigerator works great and as it gets older it’s either chicken feed or french toast.
(yes, FRESH eggs for my bread! I have a fridge FULL of ’em!) 🙂
GW, thanks for your comments! I don’t pay much attention to “bread etiquette”. I focus more on what works and what tastes good. 🙂 Good idea about putting the bread in the refrigerator. We slice ours up as soon as it’s cooled. Then we put it in the freezer. It works fine for us.
Hi – Can you please tell me how long this bread stays fresh? The breads I have made on my machine are not that soft on day 2…?
Hi Dani, You know, I’m not sure how long the bread will stay fresh. The reason is that I slice and freeze my bread the day I bake it. Then I just thaw or toast it as needed. The whole not staying fresh issue is kind of a mixed blessing. It’s a bummer that the bread doesn’t taste the same on day 2 or 3. But the reason that it doesn’t keep as well is because there aren’t a bunch of preservatives in it.
This recipe is AMAZING!!! I’ve been working with the manual recipes and having some luck but not really what I was looking for. Tried this, also happens we have our own chickens so eggs are easy to come by. It worked the first time out and looks just like the lovely loaf in the picture.
Candace, I’m so glad you liked the bread. It really is a winner, isn’t it? And that’s just with eggs from the store. Farm fresh eggs with this recipe have got to be fantastic.
Thank you so much for this recipe. I made a few days ago and it came out absolutely perfect! Flavor, texture and appearance! Now I’m looking for a cinnamon raisin recipe on your site. Thanks again!!
Mellie, I’m glad you liked the bread! Have you tried my cinnamon raisin bread recipe yet? It’s easy to make and very tasty.
Thank you so much for this wonderful bread recipe!
Its awesome and easy.no need weighing scale.
I did half of the recipe and it turn out awesome!
God bless you!
Can you use bread machine yeast?
Sure. That’ll work fine.