“Lazy Girl” Basic Bread Machine Cheesy Garlic Bread Recipe
Having to make bread every week is almost the bane of my existence, but tasting the fresh bread in the morning somewhat makes up for it (and the fact that I’m saving nearly $3 a loaf definitely helps, too). But that doesn’t mean I wanted to limit myself to one type of bread—especially if I could do it the “lazy girl” way.
This little burst of both energy and a desire to have tasty bread for baked spaghetti night led me to create a modified version of my classic white bread, a cheesy garlic bread machine bread:
“Lazy Girl” Bread Machine Cheesy Garlic Bread
Equipment
- Bread Machine
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 Cups Bread Flour
- 2 Tbsp Sugar
- 1 Tsp Instant Yeast
- 1 1/2 Tsp Salt
- 2/3 Cups Water
- 1/2 Cup Whole Milk
- 1 Tbsp Salted Butter
- 2 1/2 Tbsp Olive Oil
- 1 1/2 Cups Mild Shredded Cheddar
- 3 Cloves Fresh Garlic
Instructions
- If you haven't already, pull your butter out to soften. Put in ziploc and place in hot water if you're in a rush.
- Finely chop your garlic cloves, do as many or as few as you want, but I recommend at least three decent sized cloves.
- Dump all your dry ingredients (Bread Flour, Sugar, Salt, Garlic, 1 Cup of Cheese, and Instant Yeast) into your bread machine bowl.
- Now, your milk is supposed to be room temp — but no one has time for that. Instead of waiting, use hot water and cold milk to make a temperature that won't kill your yeast.
- Time to bake! We use the basic white bread setting with "light" crust on our machine. It takes around 3 hours.
- Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top of your bread once there's only 30 minutes left to bake. This will give you the cheesy top!
How Much Does it Cost to Make?
This specific recipe costs $2.29 to make! Now, we do buy everything in bulk, and that definitely makes a difference — especially with the cheese, which is still the most expensive in the recipe. If you want a full cost breakdown of ingredients, here’s a quick list:
- Flour: $0.32
- Sugar: $0.01
- Yeast: $0.01
- Butter: $0.07
- Milk: $0.06
- Salt: $0.01
- Garlic: $0.30
- Cheese: $1.20
- Olive Oil: $0.31
If you want to get super specific, I didn’t add in the tiny cost of water (we’re on a well) and the cost of electricity — which, to be honest, I’m not sure how to calculate for our bread machine considering it’s not even made anymore.
How to Store Your Bread (and How Long it Lasts)
This bread is a bit denser than your usual sandwich bread, which means it’s naturally “chewier” than others. Still, it keeps an average of four days before it starts to feel stale. If we have any leftovers past this time, we like to make a cheesy toast to go with our spaghetti or garlic ravioli (another family fave).
You can get a bread box like this one to store it in, or if you’re short on time or don’t feel like spending the extra money, a gallon-sized Ziploc works well, too!
Why is it “Lazy Girl” Garlic Cheese Bread?
I call it lazy girl bread because I try to do the bare minimum. I don’t scrape the sides to make it look better, I don’t let my milk sit on the counter to reach room temperature, and my butter gets softened in whatever way feels good at the moment if I don’t pull it out that morning. It’s the same practice I used in my original “Lazy Girl” Basic Bread Machine Sandwich Bread Recipe.
Essentially, the bread I love to make is tasty and anti-time-consuming — I don’t care much for the “aesthetics” of the bread. I just want something yummy I can make on the fly.
Now, this recipe is more time-consuming than my usual recipes as it requires you to chop the garlic, but I use one of these hand choppers and throw it in my dishwasher when I’m done! I would have never done this recipe back when we had to hand wash all our dishes.
But anyway, what do you think? Will you be trying this recipe soon? Let me know in the comments below!