Soft and Fluffy Sandwich Bread — This sandwich bread is soft, fluffy, light, and moist. It’s made with a secret ingredient that keeps it moist and fluffy — oatmeal! It’s the perfect bread for a PB&J or grilled cheese sandwich!
Easy Sandwich Bread Recipe
I realized I didn’t have a recipe for classic sandwich bread on my site. Not that I eat that many sandwiches, but I may start after tasting this bread.
This homemade sandwich bread is soft, fluffy, and light. It’s made with a secret ingredient that keeps it moist and fluffy: a cup of oatmeal is kneaded into the dough, which also lends a bit of chewiness and texture. When you bite into the finished bread, you definitely don’t think, oh there’s oatmeal in here. It’s a stealth operator ingredient.
It’s the homemade, healthier, vegan version of white Wonder bread. I’ve never been a crusty baguette person. Give me soft and tender over jaw-ripping crustiness any day.
This easy white bread recipe makes one modest loaf, perfect for our family, and uses just 2 cups of flour for the entire loaf. Sometimes I read bread and roll recipes and they start off with ‘Add 5 to 6 cups of flour’. Gulp. We don’t need that much bread at once.
It’s so soft and fluffy, with a slight chewiness, thanks to the oatmeal. You’d never know oatmeal was the secret ingredient and even when mixing the dough, you’ll think there’s no way this whole cup of sloppy oatmeal is going to just disappear, but it magically does.
It would make great French toast or grilled cheese. It’s wonderful toasted and with butter, jam, or honey. I made BLT’s minus the bacon and used cheese, and they were met with rave reviews.
Up next, using it for a homemade peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
What’s in Sandwich Bread?
To make this soft and fluffy bread recipe, you’ll need:
- Water
- Old-fashioned oats
- All-purpose flour
- Canola oil
- Light brown sugar
- Instant dry yeast
- Salt
How to Make Sandwich Bread
Begin by boiling water, pouring it over oats, and let the mixture come to room temperature, about 15 minutes. I urge you to use a thermometer. You don’t want to add overly hot oatmeal to the yeast because you’ll kill it. Yet it has to be warm enough so the yeast activates. For me, this is in the 130F range because I used Red Star Platinum yeast. The brand of yeast used dictates the temperature.
Add the warm oatmeal to a mixing bowl containing all-purpose flour, yeast, brown sugar, oil, and a splash of water. I allowed my stand mixer to knead it for about 6 minutes, and if you’re kneading by hand, knead for 10 minutes, or until it comes together, adding as little additional flour as possible.
After kneading, place the dough into a greased bowl, cover it, and let it rise in a warm, draft-free place for about 90 minutes, or until doubled in size. Create a warm environment by preheating your oven for 1 to 2 minutes to 400F, then shutting it off. This creates a 90F-ish warm spot.
Slide the bowl in and wait while the yeast works. Just make sure your oven is off.
After the dough has doubled, punch it down, turn it out onto a floured surface or Silpat and knead it for about 3 minutes. With your fingers, shape it into a 10-inch by 6-inch rectangle, just eyeball it. It’s being baked in an 8-by-4-inch pan and you want the long side slightly longer than the pan, about 10 inches.
Fold the short sides in so the dough is about 8 inches in length, and roll to form a tight cylinder. There’s not much to roll, about 3 turns.
Place the cylinder in the pan, cover it, and allow it to rise until doubled, 60 to 75 minutes. Optionally, when rolling it, sprinkle with cinnamon, nutmeg, ground ginger. Or go savory with dill, chives, or thyme.
Bake it for about 30 minutes or until domed, golden, and puffy. When tapped, it should sound hollow.
Technically, the internal temperature should reach 210F, but I have issues stabbing my beautiful bread with the long, dagger-like spear of the thermometer, so I rarely do this unless I’m very uncertain and rely on visual cues and tapping.
Because the cooling process is actually part of the cooking process with bread-making, let the bread cool completely before slicing into it, tempting as it is to tear into it asap.
How to Store Sandwich Bread
I store homemade sandwich bread by wrapping a fully cooled loaf in plastic wrap, and then I place it inside a gallon-size Ziplock, where it stays fresh for about 5 days.
Can I Freeze Sandwich Bread?
Yes, this easy white bread freezes very well and can be made from start to finish, cooled, and placed in a freezer-safe airtight container or a ziplock for up to 3 months.
Can I Make This In a Bread Machine?
I don’t know because I don’t have one and have never tried.
Do I Have to Use All-Purpose Flour?
I used all-purpose flour because I wanted really soft bread. Bread flour will produce a loaf that’s chewier. I don’t know how whole wheat flour would work. If you try it, I suggest not using more than 1 cup (50% of the total amount). I fear it won’t rise well and could get very heavy and dense.
Can I Use Gluten-Free Flour?
I haven’t tried this soft sandwich bread recipe with gluten-free flour so I cannot comment or make recommendations. I’ve never baked homemade yeast bread with gluten-free flour, so it’s out of my wheelhouse entirely. I’d use your favorite blend and hope for the best!
Do I Have To Use Instant Yeast?
I have only made this recipe using the yeast mentioned and haven’t tried it with other forms of yeast. I can’t speak to your results if you use active dry yeast that’s not labeled as instant.
I use this instant yeast with great results.
Tips for Making Fluffy Sandwich Bread
This is a fairly moist and sticky dough, but manageable. With bread-making, the less flour added, and the more you tolerate sticky dough, the lighter and fluffier the bread will be. Sure, I could have added another half-cup or more of flour, but refrained and dealt with the stickiness. And I have a light, fluffy loaf in return.
If your sandwich bread doesn’t rise properly, it could be because your yeast wasn’t fresh or you killed the yeast by adding too hot of water to it.
It’s vital that you let the bread cool completely before slicing into it, otherwise you may flatten the bread when you try to slice into it.
Pin This Recipe
Soft and Fluffy Sandwich Bread
This sandwich bread is soft, fluffy, and moist. It’s easy to make and is the perfect white bread for a PB&J or grilled cheese!
Ingredients
- 1 cup boiling water
- 1 cup old-fashioned whole rolled oats (not quick cook or instant)
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (bread flour may be used and will create a heartier, chewier bread)
- 1/4 cup water (from the tap, not hot and not cold)
- 2 to 3 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoons light brown sugar, packed
- 2 1/4 teaspoons instant dry yeast (one 1/4-ounce packet, I use Red Star Platinum
- pinch salt, optional and to taste
Instructions
- In a small bowl, pour boiling water over oatmeal, stir to combine. Set aside and let cool until temperature reaches about 130F, about 15 minutes. (I use Red Star Platinum Yeast which necessitates this temperature; allow mixture to cool to the ~100F range for other types of instant dry yeast, or to package directions).
- To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook (or a large mixing bowl and knead by hand for about 10 minutes), combine flour, 1/4 cup water, oil, brown sugar, instant dry yeast, and cooled oatmeal.
- Knead for 5 to 7 minutes on low speed, or until a moist, shaggy dough forms. The dough is fairly moist and sticky, but resist the temptation to add additional flour, unless it's so moist that it won't combine. Conversely, if it's too dry, add up to one-quarter cup water. Erring on the side of too moist is always preferable to dry in bread-making.
- After kneading, turn the dough out into a large, greased bowl, cover with plasticwrap, and let it rise in a warm, draft-free place for about 90 minutes, or until doubled in size. Create a warm environment by preheating your oven for 1 to 2 minutes to 400F, then shutting it off. This creates a 90F-ish warm spot. Slide the bowl in and wait while the yeast works. Just make sure your oven is off.
- After the dough has doubled, punch it down, turn it out onto a floured surface or Silpat and knead it for about 3 minutes. With your fingers, shape it into a 10-inch by 6-inch rectangle, just eyeball it. The long side should be slightly longer than the baking pan. Then, fold the short sides in so that dough is about 8 inches in length. Roll to form a tight cylinder. There's not much to roll, about 3 turns. Optionally, when rolling, sprinkle with cinnamon, nutmeg, ground ginger. Or go savory with dill, chives, or thyme.
- Spray an 8-by-4-inch loaf pan with floured cooking spray (or grease and flour the pan) and place the cylinder in the pan, seam side down. Cover with plasticwrap, and allow dough to rise in a warm, draft-free place until doubled, about 60 to 75 minutes.
- In the last minutes of rising, preheat oven to 350F. Bake for about 30 minutes or until domed, golden, and puffy. When tapped, it should sound hollow. The internal temperature should reach 210F. Let bread cool in pan for 5 to 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely before slicing.
Notes
- I store bread by wrapping a fully cooled loaf in plasticwrap, and place it inside a gallon-size Ziplock, where it stays fresh for about 5 days.
- Bread freezes very well and can be made from start to finish, cooled, and placed in a freezer-safe airtight container or a ziplock for up to 3 months.
- I like this bread toasted and with butter and a sprinkle of cinnamon-sugar or Cinnamon-Sugar Butter. It makes great Grilled Cheese, French Toast, and Homemade Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
12Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 172Total Fat: 4gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 14mgCarbohydrates: 22gFiber: 1gSugar: 4gProtein: 3g
More Easy Bread Recipes:
Easy Sourdough Bread — This easy sourdough bread recipe uses yogurt and sour cream in place of a traditional sourdough starter, which makes it possible to prep a loaf in less than a day!
Overnight Cinnamon Rolls — These overnight cinnamon rolls are ultra soft and fluffy thanks to the buttermilk in the dough. Top them with homemade cream cheese frosting and enjoy!
Easy Cheddar Sourdough Bread — Unlike most sourdough recipes that require a starter and weeks to complete, this recipe requires neither. The sourdough taste comes from a combination of Greek yogurt and sour cream that ferments the dough rather than using a starter.
Raisin Bread for Raisin Lovers — A soft, slightly sweet bread that’s packed to the brim with raisins. Made entirely by hand, no mixer
Easy Cheese Bomb Bread – Soft, buttery bread brushed with garlic butter and stuffed with CHEESE! So good, mindlessly easy, goofproof, and ready in 10 minutes! A hit with everyone!!
Cinnamon Swirl Bread – As close to cinnamon buns as bread gets. Filled with a sweet cinnamon-sugar butter mixture that’s swirled throughout, this is a tender, buttery, sweet loaf that novice bread-makers can successfully tackle
Honey Dinner Rolls — My favorite dinner roll recipe, lightly sweetened with honey, soft and chewy. A family favorite and a very goof-proof yeast recipe because this dough loves to rise
Originally published April 9, 2013 and republished May 16, 2020 with updated text.
I tried this recipe four times and it collapsed in the oven on all four attempts. The oatmeal is a great ‘secret ingredient’ but it complicates the gluten protein structure of the bread making it challenging for me to get and maintain a puff in the oven.
I tried King Arthur’s and Arrowhead Mills All-Purpose and King Arthur’s Bread flour (on different attempts) to see if the extra gluten would help hold the bread’s shape through the final oven rise – no.
Still, I enjoy the bread’s lush center. And despite the sunken appearance, the taste is still splendid.
Thanks for the detailed feedback. Yeast recipes are among the hardest to trouble shoot because it’s really tricky to know exactly where the problems arose.
I am thinking if your bread is lacking structure, you should increase the amount of flour. Hard to say by how much but I would say a solid 1/2 cup or so if I were to guess. That should stabilize the dough more and hopefully the final rise/baking will hold the shape and all will be well.
i make bread a few times a wk, always turns out gd, this one , not too gd. my
ingredients are the simler , 1.1/2 cups bread flour,( dont compact flour ) mix in 1 tsp salt 1 tbls sugar i pkt of instant yeast stir tog with spoon, now mix 1 full cup just warm water, pour into a jug,,add 2 tbls of either butter/marge/oil/ and stir tog, add this to flour mix and stir(not knead) to a sticky dough, if a little dry add a few drops more water, until sticky(,u cannot pic it up) now pour a little oil all around bowl moving the bough in it until all oily, cover ,rise till double’ sprinkle worktop with flour ,tip bowl up and this ,, mass,,, will just drop onto ur worktop, sprinkle on some flour,,{dont knead) with finger tips press dough into oblong shape, now fold over top to middle then bottom over top, do this pressing and folding 3 time, s put in tin seam underneath,cover and let rise again, i use a sissors to cut some marks in top, then when risen put in a preheated 220 deg oven for round 30 mins, take out put on rack and butter the top,let cool yummy, welsh ginny always a winner,
I think perhaps your instructions are leaving out a step or two! If you read the first step, it doesn’t make sense. I have baked long enough to know what to do, but there may be new cooks on here who need a bit more instruction in preparing the dough. I love your site and your recipes, by the way!
They are as detailed as they need to be if you read the 1-7, they are pretty clear even for beginning bakers. I have never had anyone who’s actually tried the recipe write to say they weren’t clear on things.
I’m sorry if I offended you, Averie. The directions just seem to be in a strange order. For instance, Instruction #1 is discussing the oatmeal/boiled water and in parenthesis discusses the type of yeast you use. The #2 says to knead for 10 minutes first (in parenthesis) and then speaks of the ingredients. I just think it would be better to mention the kneading by hand or kneading in the mixer on the same #3 instruction. I guess you probably think I am being too picky, but I know as a new baker, the instructions would have been difficult for me to follow.
This recipe is originally from 2013. In the past 7+ years I have not received one scrutinizing comment regarding how it is written other than yours so I will let the recipe stand as originally written. Off to enjoy my day and you do the same.
HI am looking forward to trying this recipe. For the flour, do you scoop it or spoon it into the cup?
Spoon it but in bread recipes, you may need more or less flour than called for based on humidity levels and brand of flour used.
Made this recipe a few time already and did a few changes : first, I put a tad less yeast (around 1,5 tsp) because 2 cups of flour is really not much and let it proof in the 1/4 cup of warm water, then after putting it into the loaf pan I usually let it rise around 15-30 (1h is really too, the dough over-proof so it “deflate” in the oven) and lastly I bake it 35 minutes.
The dough can be a sticky mess but it makes the fluffiest sandwich bread.
Glad you think this makes the fluffiest sandwich bread.
My hubby is in a special diet and this recipe fits the bill for allowed items. Could I make this recipe into rolls for burgers?
I think it would be very soft in comparison to a normal burger bun but of course try it and see.
Hi Averie,Had the same problem that a lot of people seemed to have. Followed directions down to the platinum yeast. Everything looked good…1st and second rose. But then I put it in oven and it never rose at all. Brown up nice and smelled good but is heavy. I will let it cool some and see if it is eatable.
I am not sure what to say….yeast and bread-making can be a little bit finnicky sometimes. Very odd that it rose before baking but then nothing during baking…I am sure you can google this problem. There are all kinds of bread-making questions and forums online. For me this recipe has always worked so I can’t pinpoint why it didn’t work for you. Thanks for trying it.
We are up to two loaves a week. Best bread recipe EVER! I make one with minced garlic and minced onion and another with hemp and flax seeds. Perfect every time.
I am so thrilled that you make 2 loaves per week! I love hearing this and that the recipe is a big hit for you all!
Hi Averie! This bread looks absolutely delicious and like the perfect amount for me and my partner, but I do have one modification question. What would happen if we used quick oats instead? I never have any other kind of oats on hand, and would love to be able to use them in this bread recipe if I could. Would it be possible to use them, but not soak them as long, or even just mix with the warm water and add directly in because they will cook much faster? I am willing to give it a go, but thought I might as well ask before trying. Thanks so much!
I’ve only made the recipe as written so I can’t say for sure what will happen if you deviate. Good luck!
I have no idea where I went wrong, because I followed the directions, step by step, down to using a thermometer on the oats. I even used brand new, just opened yeast. It’s good, but I didn’t get a rise even close to what’s pictured here.
With bread making, it’s really tough to say where things took a turn when troubleshooting from afar. Thanks for trying the recipe.
I’m making this but had a question when you shape dough, do you roll it the same way you folded it or the opposite way?
Not sure I understand your question. Try re-reading step 4. to gain some clarification and if that doesn’t help just use your best judgment.
It says to fold the short ends. do you also roll from one of the short ends? That’s what I ended up doing so we will see how it turns out! Its cooking right now
The bread looks good but I’m gluten free. What kind of gf flour would you recommend I use when I make the bread? I know it’ll probably be more dense, being gf & that is fine.
I haven’t tried this recipe with GF flour so really cannot comment or make recommendations. I’ve never baked scratch bread with GF flour so it’s out of my wheelhouse entirely. I’d use your favorite blend and hope for the best!
Love the small amount of flour in this recipe. Tried it the other day. Everything tasted great, but it didn’t rise for me during the baking process.
If it didn’t rise during the baking process, that tends to be a sign something is going on with the yeast. Possibly not as fresh/new as it should have been. With yeast baking and bread baking, there are lots of variables but I would say try again with fresh yeast. Thanks for trying the recipe.
I just tried this bread for the first time and for some reason the bread didn’t rise in the oven. The first and second rise went very well as far as I could tell (I’m a beginner at making bread) but once I put it in the oven it didn’t change at all, just got harder and browner with no rise. I used robin hood all purpose flour and fleischmanns instant yeast. It also took an hour to brown
It’s hard to say with bread exactly where the snag occurred. I really do love King Arthur flour and Red Star Platinum yeast and find those two things really are huge positives on my bread baking.
I just made this recipe and let me tell you…awesome! It was the first loaf of bread I’ve ever made and I was nervous but I just followed your directions and it worked. I think I messed up a bit on the second rise because the shape was kinda strange but it could also be that I only had an 8.5 inch square glass pan on hand. Either way, I loved it (had to stop my hubby from eating it all last night Soni could put our lunch sandwiches on it today) and will certainly make this over and over till I nail it. Thanks for a great recipe! Shared will my FB peeps too :-)
Thanks for trying the recipe and glad it came out great for you! And that’s a great feeling to have baked your first loaf of bread ever, isn’t it! I remember mine and you feel so accomplished. Congrats!
Thank you for recipe! Have made this tree times, last time used 50/50% all purpose flour and whole wheat, it turned out a bit denser, but still moist and quite fluffy. I use regular flour and oats (in my country we do not have mentioned brands), result is still very good, but i need to add 1/4 cup more water. Hope, that this will help someone trying out this amazing bread.
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! And thanks for sharing about various flours you’ve used and the results because yes, the info will definitely help someone else!
I just made this bread and it was super super yummy! I’ve been experimenting with yeast breads lately and this is by far the best recipe. Thank you for sharing!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! And that it’s the best recipe you’ve tried!
I think this recipe hates me. I’ve tried this so many times. Followed the instruction exactly as written. Never looks like the picture. Ever. I’ve made Julia childs recipe many, many times without fail. This one literally kicks my toosh every time. I love the ingredients, the bread tastes good, but somewhere it doesn’t quite proof right or dies in the 2nd proofing. It comes out dense and a bit ugly. So sad. I use a thermometer to measure and do the time exactly as posted. All of the tips, than without the tips, than some common sense for what I know with bread in general. Nothing works. So sad!
Given everything that you wrote, and that you’re an experienced bread maker, and given that you’re using a thermometer, and common sense, and just doing everything ‘right’, there are very few times where I am at a loss of how to advise someone, but this is one of those times. Sorry! For me, it’s easy, it comes together no big deal, and that’s that. Dense and ugly…hmmm. The yeast I use is Red Star Platinum and I assume you’re using that? It does make a huge difference. I use King Arthur brand AP flour and that too, makes a huge difference. Different flours have different gluten percentages and that one has a bit more so it will rise better and not be as dense. I’d try that. For oats, I use Quaker. Maybe switching brands of ingredients will help. If you do try it again, LMK how it goes!
Hi Averie, I made this bread today finally after pinning. Worked out great. Used 2 tbsp oil and had to add bit of water then flour to bring it to the consistency you were talking about. I have hard time with cup measures as I do not think I measure correctly or pack enough in there :) Definitely will be making it again.
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! Glad you added a bit of oil to bring things together and everything worked out!
So second attempt was a great success! lol This recipe is really good now that i have the proper ingredients! Thanks for all the advice
It’s amazing what can happen when you use the correct ingredients, right :) Glad it turned out great!
I made this bread toady and lets say it’s a bit dense lol Is it because I use wholewheat flour?
Yes! You can’t sub whole wheat for other flours in bread and expect the same results. It requires much more water otherwise it will be dense!
I have a recipe written for whole wheat flour specifically. Try this one https://www.averiecooks.com/2013/07/100-whole-wheat-no-knead-make-ahead-dinner-rolls-with-honey-butter.html
LOL thanks so much! It did make us laugh. Would organic flour be ok? i’m not sure if it’s self raising if not can i add something to it to make it so?
With bread and yeast recipes, until you’ve made a few hundred loaves, just follow the recipe as written and use EXACTLY the type of flour called for, or you will likely not get the same results. Bread is tricky that way so best to use what’s recommended. In this case, I use King Arthur Flour brand’s All-Purpose Flour. Best all around flour ever!
Hi Averie I really love this bread and so does my son. He has some food allergies so finding a good sandwich bread has been tricky. Your recipe suggests using an 8″ pans, I used the 9″ ones and the loaf was a little smaller than we would like for sandwiches,I was wondering if I triple the recipe and divide that dough into two 9″ pans do you think it would work?
So glad you love the recipe and I haven’t tried it any other way than what I mentioned so can’t say for sure how it would double, then divide. Normally you can get 8-inch loaf pans at any grocery store for about 4.99 or less in their baking aisle just in case you didn’t know…that may be easier :)
How could I make this with whole wheat flour
I’d recommend this recipe which is designed for using 100% whole wheat https://www.averiecooks.com/2013/07/100-whole-wheat-no-knead-make-ahead-dinner-rolls-with-honey-butter.html
I made this bread this morning and it is truly yummy! I did make a couple of slight changes and also used bread flour. If you put a clean dish towel over the freshly turned out loaf ,it will keep the crust soft.
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! Bread flour is always nice to use for that extra boost of gluten and great tip!
:) flour, not floor
since I have become vegan it has been hard to find a good sandwich bread. I thought maybe I could make my own, so today I set out trying to find a recipe and came across yours. for me it worked perfectly. the flavor and texture was very good. it was a sticky dough and it was hard not to want to add more floor, but I didn’t. the issues I had with it were my own. the plastic wrap i used to cover it while it was in the bread pan stuck to the top. when I pulled it off before putting it in the oven it caused it to fall. Before I took it off it looked like a perfect loaf of beard with a nice dome. I tried to let it rise a little longer to see if it would come back but it stayed flat. I will defiantly be making this bread again, I know with perfect results. Many thanks for the recipe!!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! Tip is to spray your plasticwrap with cooking spray and that won’t happen again :) But other than that, sounds perfect and glad my recipe is a keeper for you and that it works with your dietary needs, too!
I wish this worked for me, but I’m filing it in the “pinterest fail” category and won’t be touching it again.
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m sorry it didn’t work for you. Are you an experienced bread baker? If you are, or aren’t, and want to share where you think things may have gone off track or what your finished product looked like or share some more details other than just ‘a Pinterest fail’, I’d be happy to troubleshoot with you since I am not Pinterest. I am actually a real person who writes a blog and am willing to help you.
Averie, thank you for the reply to my comment! I know I got a bit rant-y, I apologise. The heat-wave is getting to me. XD I will keep in mind your note about possibly needing to add more flour in my humid climate. I did do that when I was shaping the flour, because I couldn’t handle it otherwise, lol, but it seems like a good thing to remember regardless.
Strangely, the bread density ended up not being as much of a problem as the taste. Texture wise, I can imagine it would be great once it can rise to the right volume. But for some reason it turned out very lacking in any taste… maybe I didn’t add enough salt? I’m thinking I might I try it again with fresh herbs and cheese to add some flavour. :)
This bread was a disaster for me. It waaaaaay too sticky to handle after the initial rise (during which it actually doubled, to be fair), it was just sticking everywhere… when I finally got it to the loaf pan, it rose a bit, and then… stopped. (I live practically on the equator & it’s a supremely hot day today!). I think the yeast must have died halfway through as it did not rise in the oven as well. It’s like half the height of the loaf pan. :/ The yeast I used was a brand new packet of SAF instant, which worked extremely well with my usual white bread recipe.
Really disappointed with this. Maybe next time I will not bother with the punch down for the second rise.
It sounds like you live in a very hot and humid climate and therefore you’d likely need more flour and/or less wet ingredients than I would in my climate (dry, San Diego CA). If you are an experienced breadmaker and you know a dough seems too wet, always trust your gut and add more flour! I think that would have done the trick and given it the structure it needed to rise and not be so sticky. Thanks for trying the recipe and bread-making IS climate dependent and given your climate and mine, you’ll need more flour than I will, generally speaking. Thanks for trying the recipe.
Do you cook your bread in glass or metal?
Metal.
Thanks for the quick reply.
I may say, you honey dinner rolls was the one for me. Super recipe, thank you. I saw your recipe for sandwich bread and read where oatmeal is added to make the bread light and fluffy. If I put this in the dinner roll recipe will it do the same? Love your recipe but I love light and fluffy bread no matter what kind it is. Thank you in advance for your response.
Glad you love that dinner roll recipe and I haven’t tried using oatmeal in it so I can’t say for sure what will happen. If you do give it a go, LMK how it turns out!
Very excited about this bread. It’s in the oven as I write this. The first rise was good, the second seemed consistent. I didn’t have the correct tin, and as I wasn’t too interested in the classic shaped loaf, I baked it in a square lasagna pirex dish. Dough was quite wet and sticky, I kneaded it by hand and now my arm is hurting (someone needs to work arms more often). Seems to me that the wetter the dough, the heavier it is!
I hope it turns out well. I totally forgot to add salt (silly), so I sprinkled some rock sea salt on top.
Thanks again!
Baking in a square glass dish will definitely give you different results than I had but glad it seemed to be okay as you were putting it into the oven!
Hi Averie,
I made this bread last week and it didn’t turn out well at all. I’m sure it was of my own doing, but not sure where I went wrong. I did double the recipe bc I like to bake once every two weeks and freeze the second loaf. Is the recipe not good for multiplying? Anyway, it rose the first rising, and the second, but it did not rise much at all when it baked. Also, it was dense and had an overwhelming yeasty taste and smell, to the point of being too much. I used a fresh jar of Fleischmans rapid rise yeast, I’m not sure if the different kind of yeast makes a difference. Any suggestions? I’d love to try again and make it right, because so many reviews, and the pictures make this bread so appealing! Thanks so much!
Places where I think you went wrong:
1. Don’t double yeast recipes unless you know for sure that they are okay to be doubled and this is one I haven’t personally tested and cannot speak for sure.
2. Fleischmans rapid rise yeast – I do love Red Star Platinum and don’t use F-mans yeast but I don’t think that was the culprit per se. However, maybe in doubling the recipe you needed to more than double the yeast amount? Or maybe not? The overwhelming yeast smell, and then the bread being dense…it’s not adding up. I am not sure where things did go wrong but I recommend baking the recipe AS WRITTEN at least once, then branching out from there. Thanks for trying it and good luck!!
Thanks Averie. I actually did try it again yesterday afternoon and it turned out great. I did only a single recipe as written, except cut the rising time down to an hour the first time, and 30 minutes the second time. I think this worked well, the weird smell and density the first time through I thought maybe were from over proofing. Who really knows. Either way, this time I loved it! My husband is so picky about bread, and only likes the super soft aunt Millie’s potato bread, but when he felt how soft this bread was he was very impressed. I’ll have to use this for his next sandwich :). Thanks for the tips, and he recipe.
the weird smell and density the first time through I thought maybe were from over proofing. Who really knows. = I thought about that for quite a while yesterday, pondering all of that, too..wondering where exactly things went wrong. I think the changes you made were great b/c obviously it worked way better and your husband sounds like a VERY picky bread guy and if he likes it, that’s a major success then!
Hi Averie – Just looking at your bread through the computer screen makes me want to devour a whole loaf right now!!!
Ok, so I really want to try this recipe, but need your feedback, please! I do have a sourdough starter that I’d like to use in place of the commercial active yeast, do you have any suggestion for the substitution?
Thanks!!
I am not an expert on sourdough by any means so I really cannot comment. I have never had a good starter and that’s one kind of bread I’ve never played around with! I would say just use the starter and then as much flour, coconut milk, etc as it takes to get it to a knead-able and workable dough! Sounds like it could be sooooo good!
Hi,
I have tried your recipe, the dough was too wet for me that I can barely knead it cause it was so sticky to my hands and fingers. I tried twice and they were all too “moist” to be kneaded and were not really risen a lot.
What were problem I get into?
Dough is never the same twice based on climate, yeast, brand of flour, etc. In the summer when it’s humid dough tends to be more sticky and you probably just needed a bit more flour and it would have been just fine. Trust your gut and if it seems to wet to even knead, it just needs a bit more flour. Easy fix!
This bread looks SO amazing!! Could whole wheat flour be used instead of white? Would it be substituted in the same proportion?
Can’t wait to try this!
No you cannot just start subbing in whole wheat for white and expect the same results…if only it was that simple! Whole wheat has much less gluten, doesn’t rise as easily, needs more water, etc.
Make this recipe if you want whole wheat bread; best I’ve ever had. https://www.averiecooks.com/2013/07/100-whole-wheat-no-knead-make-ahead-dinner-rolls-with-honey-butter.html
Hi Averie,
I was wondering what type of loaf pan you use for this recipe. Do you suggest a dark pan, glass, or otherwise?
Also, any suggestions for trying this bread with active dry yeast instead of instant yeast?
Thank you for your help.
P.S. I adore your Honey Dinner Rolls Recipe! They are THE BEST EVER and I could eat them daily!
I use a metal 9×5 pan, nothing fancy, I got it at my grocery store for like 5 bucks but it works for me!
With active dry, you’re just going to have to let it rise a little longer and it needs to become activated/proofed first and in this case, it would be with the water. Proof first til foamy, standard protocol with bread-making and yeast proofing.
However, being that yeast is pretty cheap, you may want to just pick up some instant because the bread is one of my all time faves as written and I havent tested it with other yeast so I can’t say for sure exactly what to do/not do, whereas if you follow the recipe/ingredients just like I wrote, I know it’s a stellar loaf. Enjoy!! And glad you love the honey dinner rolls!!! They’re my all time fave dinner roll recipe, too :)
Thank you for your response! I can’t wait to try this one!
Keep me posted how it goes!
Tried it this week and I thought the taste was wonderful! The only thing I was disappointed about was the shape — mine didn’t get that lovely domed top like yours. I followed the directions very carefully (with all purpose flour). I had a nice sticky dough that rose beautifully but when baked, it didn’t rise any further. The finished bread had more of a dense texture than I had hoped for, whereas yours looks so light and fluffy. (Literally wish I could reach into my computer screen and grab a piece!) I would appreciate any suggestions you have. Thank you so much for your time. – Christina
It’s so hard to say with bread and part of it is just trial and error and getting to know your oven, your dough, your yeast/flour/moisture levels, etc. I use King Arthur, Red Star Yeast and truly believe those 2 ingredients exactly do matter. I would say practice makes perfect with bread and perhaps it needed to rise slightly longer if it was dense OR your maybe over floured it a bit and it was a little dense? Sounds like you’re on the right track and just keep practicing!
Thanks! I definitely will.
I’ve made a lot of bread and this was the worst bread I have ever made. I have no idea why. The flavor was horrible and I threw it away. Seriously, I have never done that. I don’t think it was any of my ingredients either. I may have left it to rise too long the second time, but not sure that would change the flavor. I’m going to make another loaf today of a trusted recipe and see how that turns out. Just bummed for all my effort going into the trash can.
I’m sorry that you didn’t like it. The fact that the flavor ‘was horrible’ makes me suspect that maybe you did let it rise too long, I don’t know. I have had many glowing comments that you can read about people this bread and I truly do love it too, and I wish I could help you troubleshoot where things went wrong because I suspect something did. Thanks for trying the recipe.
Hey, Sally! One more wonderfull recipe!
Can I change light brown sugar for brown sugar? Here in Rio is so difficult to find the light version…
I’m Averie not Sally :) but yes you can make that swap!
This bread looks so great! I was so excited that it was vegan because my son is allergic to so many foods. But Alas he is allergic to oats too! I will try it one day for myself and hubby. Thanks so much for sharing!
the best all around bread i make. its fluffy and flavorful. i add molases and honey and gonna add some seeds too next time i make it. Tonight!
I have had the hardest time choosing a bread recipe, and I finally settled on this one. I was so happy with the results that I won’t be searching for new recipes anytime soon! I did use 1 tsp. salt, instead of a pinch, but otherwise, I followed the recipe exactly. The second time I made it I realized that if I used my bench scraper I could manage with more stickiness while kneading by hand. Thank you so much for the recipe- my family loves it!
I made this loaf today and finally, my search for the perfect white loaf is over. I’ve been looking for a soft and fluffy loaf without milk or butter. I can’t believe it has oats in them. BTW, I used quick cook oats. Thank you for formulating and sharing this recipe ;-)
I am so glad to hear you loved this bread. Me TOO!! It’s so hard to find a soft AND fluffy loaf, that’s vegan. I know the part with the oats is unreal because you just can’t believe it while you’re making it that it’ll work, but it just magically does! And good to know quick oats work. Thanks for sharing your experience with it!
Hello Averie! I made this bread today and it was delicious! It didn’t look as good as urs, especially because the top was flat rather than round and the top surface had small “craters” that formed after the second rise. Still, it was really good and soft! And I love the fact that it yelds only one small loaf which is perfect for our little family. Thanks for the recipe! :)
Craters..hmm, sounds like a reaction between the yeast and something. Some times I’ve had that happen and I never know what to make of it. More with quick breads than yeast breads; normally I attribute it to a reaction with baking powder and something. Baking, science…always a bit of an experiment! So happy you enjoyed this one small loaf!
Averie, I’m embarrassed I keep on asking you questions but I’m about to make this bread and I just realized that I only have the quick 1 -minute oats. Is that a problem for the dough?
Although I haven’t tested it, I’m sure it will be fine in a pinch. You may need to add slightly more/less – not sure – but overall, I’m sure it will be fine.
Thanks for the advice,Averie! I will definitely let you know how it comes out when I try it.
Please do!
This bread sounds perfect! And with your easy to follow directions,it would actually be a sin not to try it! Just a question, can this be made ad an overnight bread?( like do the prep work at night and bake it in the morning?)
Although I haven’t tried it that way, I think you could let the dough rise the first time, punch it down, shape it and put it in the loaf pan, then cover that with plastic and refrigerate it overnight. Put on counter in morning and let rise about an hour or so, then bake as directed. I think you’d be safe – although haven’t tried personally. But with most bread doughs I can get away with that!
Thanks for the recipe!
I was just wondering…on the second rising where you mention preheating the oven in the last few minutes to 350, do you mean to take the dough out of the oven or leave it in during the preheat?
Yes, you take it out while it’s preheating if you were using the oven as your incubator for the 2nd rise. Once oven in hot, put loaf bake in and bake as directed. I’ve clarified the recipe in step 6 to reflect this. LMK how your bread turns out!
Really disappointing, one-dimensional, flat-tasting bread… albeit beautiful. Needs salt badly! Hubby and I shared the first piece and will be throwing the rest in the trash. Bummer.
Christine I’m sorry you found the bread one-dimensional but inherent in ‘sandwich bread’ is a bread that’s a good old-fashioned all-purpose bread, a blank canvas if you will, on which to put everything from coldcuts to PB&J to butter and honey. It’s not flashy and loaded with all kinds of seeds and nuts.
The recipe calls for salt, to taste. You should have added it, to taste.
When you embarked on making it, did you really read the ingredients list? – Water, oatmeal, white flour. There’s nothing about those things that screams multi-dimensional flavor.
You could always make an overnight bake or French toast with it. Something along these lines https://www.averiecooks.com/2013/02/hawaiian-bread-and-maple-banana-baked-french-toast.html
Pls tell me the quantity of fresh yeast
I use instant yeast in a packet, not fresh yeast. I use a standard one-quarter ounce packet, 2 1/4 teaspoons.
I love the recipes for the breads you featured! But since I am trying to eat with no oil, I will try substituting the oil with whatever I have on hand (applesauce/ pureed banana/pureed avocado/ maybe even pureed olives?) I will definitely be experimenting!
Thank you also for making a recipe for ONE loaf!
Not sure how pureed fruit will work with the yeast and the flour/dough rather than using a tiny bit of oil, but if you try it, LMK how it works for you!
Just coming from the name of it, Soft and Fluffy Bread I’m sure that my kids would love this. The bread from the picture totally looks good, and I’m sure that it also taste good. This is a very wonderful bread not only delicious but also nutritious.
That looks so fluffy and yummy! I really am looking for vegan bread recipes for my family. It’s not only delicious, it’s nutritious too. Thanks for sharing.
I made this today and it was a big fail. It’s flat, dense, and doughy inside. I make bread once a month or so and this was my first failure. Impossible to knead it’s so sticky. Doubt I will bother trying a second time.
I’m sorry that you didn’t have good luck with it. If it was so sticky that you couldn’t knead it, then you probably should have added additional flour so that you could knead it. Because without kneading it properly, you didn’t develop the gluten; hence it not rising well or being flat and dense. Doughy inside also sounds like you may have under-baked it.
With bread-making, it’s always more important to watch your dough than to hold steadfast to a recipe if you think it needs more/less of something. Thanks for trying the recipe.
I am an experienced bread maker – making every other day or so – I have to say this is wonderful bread. I have made it a couple of times now changing out the white flour for wheat ( a little at a time). I increased the ingredients to make a large 9×5 loaf and have used 1 1/2 cups of whole wheat and 1 cup of all purpose. It is still a wonderful fluffy bread. Gota tell you – made it the other day and decided to allow it to rise the first rise on the counter ( air temp about 72 – 75 degrees) I needed to be absent for about 2 hrs. Came back and the bread had risen almost out of the large bowl I had it in. Since the bowl was a pyrex – I baked it then. Wonderful, fluffy bread and only on one long rise. This recipe doesn’t work in a bread machine(at least not mine) oatmeal is to heavy to mix well. Thanks again for a great bread recipe – we will be using it for a long long time.
I love this comment. Thank you for spelling it all out! First that you’re an experienced bread maker, it’s nice to know that this isnt your first rodeo and you still love it and that you’ll keep making it for a long time to come. Yay!
That it doesnt work well in a bread machine due to oats being too heavy; I can see that. I dont have a bread machine but I can imagine.
1.5 c whole wheat + 1 cup white AP, and it still puffed up so nice…that is awesome. And I love it when you get an unexpected (but welcomed) PUFFBALL out of no where, that just blows right out of the bowl. God I love that feeling :) Glad that the 1 rise worked great with that, too! If you make any more bread of mine, LMK!
I know in about 10 days I’m going to have a coconut milk recipe sort of like this one coming up :)
Hello! I was wondering how much more ingredient you used for the 9×5 pan. Its the only size I have and I would appreciate it greatly to know the measurement variations. Thank you!
It’s impossible with a yeast-based recipe to just start cherry-picking and tweaking the recipe to account for a slightly larger pan. I’d either go buy an 8×4 (they’re about 3 dollars at the grocery store in the baking aisle) or just bake in the 9×5. Enjoy!
Having two teenage boys, you can imagine the amount of sandwiches we go through in a week, what with 2 sandwiches per boy, per lunch bag, per day! That’s just sandwiches, mind you! There is also toast for breakfast (3 pieces per boy sometimes) and toast for a snack before bed. That’s a lot of bread!
Anyway, I have made homemade bread for my kids since they were small. No, not all the time, but when I can, I do so and homemade is the boys’ favorite, hands down. (Whose isn’t?) Having made a lot of homemade breads over the years, I feel like I can say from experience, that this is the best loaf of bread I have made for sandwiches, ever. The directions are fool proof and when followed exactly, the bread turns out just like the photos! I have been so tempted to skip the rising process on homemade bread before, maybe not entirely, but shaving off a little time here and there when it has to rise in stages. Don’t skip the rising part! Make the time to just do it right and you got yourself one heck of an awesome loaf of bread! Or in our case, 2 loaves at a time! Awesome recipe, Averie. :-)
I am in love with this comment and that your boys and you are in love with this bread and that it’s the best loaf of sandwich bread you’ve ever made AND that you’ve already made it tons…and I did that math…for 1 boy, that’s 4 slices for the sandwiches at lunch, 3 slices for breakfast, and possibly 2 for snacktime. That’s a 9 slice per day habit, PER KID! WOW!!! No wonder you need to start baking your own. If I had your family and their appetites, oh, the things I could make and bake, Michele :)
I am sooo happy that it worked out so well for you AND that the boys love it. And not skipping the rising…right. Cannot do that! Or you end up with a much denser bread. Thanks for this! xoxox
I made the bread and it rises great but when I put it in the oven to bake it doesn’t rise. This is the first time I’ve made sandwich bread. So I have yummy bread but the shape isn’t pretty
Not sure if you’ve made bread in general before or if this is your first time making sandwich bread or first time for any yeasted bread making…but there is something then going on with your oven, your yeast, your dough, or how long you let it rose either the 1st or 2nd rise. So many variables and it’s hard for me to troubleshoot from a far what exactly went a bit wrong in the process. If it rose well out of the oven, but not IN the oven, that leads me to believe it’s possibly an oven issue. Or, could you have let it rise TOO long on the 2nd rise. There is that possibility and then it won’t rise as much in the oven and could collapse on itself. Google over-rising bread and read about that and see if that could have been your issue. Glad you like the taste though!
This is so good! We’ve eaten half the loaf already, and I want more. This may be my new go-to sandwich bread. I did cheat a bit. I make all our bread, but I use the Emeril bread maker. I used room temp water and quick oats, because that’s what I had. I used about 1/4 c. more bread flour, because “gloppy” doesn’t do as well in the bread machine. I also only used about 1 1/2 t. of yeast, because that’s what the machine calls for in a loaf this size. I just dumped everything in the machine and hit start! I thought it would be tiny! But it was a nice, full sized loaf, emphasis on was! Soft on the inside with a nice brown crispy crust. Just like I love it! Thank you!
So glad to hear you had success with this in the bread machine and with using room temp water and quick oats. Sound like the bread machine likes a bit less yeast than without using it, and a bit extra flour. Glad your tweaks worked and that you love it so much! Thanks for trying it and coming back to LMK!
I think I messed something up… my suspect is my yeast as it did not rise a 2nd time. Is it possible for the rising temp to be too warm??
If it didn’t rise well, it’s more than likely too cold in your house than too warm. If your house is 70F give or take at room temp, that’s colder than the 90F-ish that yeast likes. However, it is possible you killed the yeast by adding oatmeal that was too hot.
Is it possible for the rising temp to be too warm?? <-- That's unlikely if you just had it on the counter, or tucked it into an oven that had been preheating for 1-2 mins, just to take the edge off the cold air. Pay closer attention to all temps next time and I bet you'll be just fine. And also, check your yeast for freshness.
I made this bread yesterday and gave my husband the first slice. He said to tell you it’s “incredibly good” and I totally agree! I have a feeling this loaf won’t last long. The dough did seem a little more wet than what I am used to and I would have been tempted to add more flour, but as the mixer did its thing, it all came together with good elasticity–so what you said about all that was very helpful. I decided to let it rise in my dehydrator (just to try it). Worked like a charm! Also, thanks again for sharing your experience with red star platinum–it really does give great results.
Thanks for this comment, Paula, and what you did and that it worked out “incredibly good”. Love that. Yes, it’s a wet dough but I’ve learned with bread making, that as gloppy as you can stand it, in the end, is usually better. I love that you used your dehyd, too! I need to try that…although I wonder if mine would get TOO warm and too dry for it…but that’s a good tip! I usually let mine stay in the oven to rise and every 45-60 mins or so, I power on the oven for 1-2 mins to preheat, and shut off. A bit of babysitting, but it’s worth it and usually only have to do it once or twice on the first rise and once on the 2nd rise. Glad that you love the Platinum as much as I do!
I have an Excalibur dehydrator and it has a bread rising setting for 110 deg. I thought all that air from the fan would dry it out–but as long as the plastic wrap stays over the bowl, it works well.
That’s the kind I have! I literally need to dust it off and good to know that with plasticwrap, it doesn’t dry out!
What a beautiful looking loaf of bread, Averie! The addition of oatmeal is just perfect! Great job on this one!
Hi Averie,
I have a “quick” question (or two) for you.
What do you cover the bowl with when you let the dough rise the first time?
When you let the dough in the pan rise, where do you keep it, does it too need to be covered?
I’ve kind of parked myself here on your site. It feels like I’m sitting at that big country table like my grandma had, hanging with a friend who cooks more than I do, so I’m a sponge right now!
You may want to reread the recipe. The answers you’re looking for are already there. Enjoy the bread!:
…After kneading, turn the dough out into a large, greased bowl, cover with plasticwrap, and let it rise in a warm, draft-free place for about 90 minutes, or until doubled in size. Create a warm environment by preheating your oven for 1 to 2 minutes to 400F, then shutting it off. This creates a 90F-ish warm spot. Slide the bowl in and wait while the yeast works. Just make sure your oven is off.
After the dough has doubled, punch it down, turn it out onto a floured surface or Silpat and knead it for about 3 minutes. With your fingers, shape it into a 10-inch by 6-inch rectangle, just eyeball it. The long side should be slightly longer than the baking pan. Then, fold the short sides in so that dough is about 8 inches in length. Roll to form a tight cylinder. There’s not much to roll, about 3 turns. Optionally, when rolling, sprinkle with cinnamon, nutmeg, ground ginger. Or go savory with dill, chives, or thyme.
Spray an 8-by-4-inch loaf pan with floured cooking spray (or grease and flour the pan) and place the cylinder in the pan, seam side down. Cover with plasticwrap, and allow dough to rise in a warm, draft-free place until doubled, about 60 to 75 minutes….
Erm… yeah, there it is. *G* Not a good day for me, can you tell? Thank you!
i love sandwich bread…your photo of the loaf looks perfect…like really perfect loaf of sandwich bread. thanks again for the tips with the yeast.
Thanks, Angela!
This sounds a lovely recipe and I plan to make it asap. The only thing I’m unsure about is the amount of sugar. 2 tablespoons?! That seems so much to me. I’m used to recipes with a couple of teaspoons. Part of me wants to reduce the amount of sugar but then would that have an impact on the yeast activation?
2 tablespoons of sugar in an entire loaf of bread is practically….nothing. The sugar is necessary for the yeast activation and it does moisten the loaf and adds a very tiny, tiny tiny amount of sweetness to the bread. It’s not a “sweet bread” by any means, but it’s also not bitter. As you can see from what I would call a darn near perfect loaf of bread, the recipe works beautifully and I would not tinker with it, one bit. Hope you try it!
I’m not going to lie, I sort of want to take a nap on this bread right now, ha! It’s been that kind of week. ;) I don’t eat white bread very often, but nothing beats white bread for classic PB&J, and also leftover turkey after Thanksgiving. I like the thought of kneading oats into the dough, as well!
Keeps it soooo soft and fluffy with the oats!
For that leftover turkey, Averie’s challah bread with craisins added is the bomb! We don’t wait until Thanksgiving, though! It’s a regular. I usually just toss it all into the bread machine, but it is fun to braid it once in awhile, too!
I need to make the challah with craisins. That sounds so good! Glad you love the challah as much as I do!
I LOVE sandwiches, and I’ve never even considered making my own bread. I especially love the oatmeal inside!! What an awesome idea Averie!
You would love this bread – and it’s vegan as a bonus!
You may have mentioned this above but I cannot find it…=( How many loaves is it supposed to make?
P.S. For the first recipe, soft and fluffy sandwich bread.
It’s written twice…both in the opening couple paragraphs and in the recipe section itself. One loaf, 8×4 size. Enjoy!
Oh my, that is a wonderful looking loaf! I’d love to taste that :)
averie, will using whole wheat flour change the recipe for the bread… just a question
Yes and I discussed this in the post. You may want to re-read it.
OMG that DOES look like the best toast ever!!!
Such perfect, fluffy, classic bread!
So nice to have a bread recipe that doesn’t yield two loaves. I don’t eat much sandwich bread anymore but this is exactly the kind I reach for. Looks fabulous.
Exactly! I like smaller batch recipes and although bread does freeze well, I have so much food here…I don’t need to build up my freezer stash or anything!
This bread looks amazing, look at that texture! For some reason, I have a problem with yeast-based bread: sometimes it doesn’t rise enough; sometimes it rises and then falls in the middle :). It’s often a hit or miss for me instead of consistent results. On the other hand I don’t make yeast-based breads often, so maybe I just need more practice. Pinning this!
Thanks for the pin.
It could be so many issues. If it’s falling in the middle when baking (after you take it out of the oven) generally that means it wasn’t quite cooked long enough or internal temp wasn’t quite there (this happens to me more with quick breads actually and I know that it’s a slight undercooking that can do it; or in those, lack of baking soda/powder). If it’s truly not rising well for you, that’s an issue of the yeast/water/flour ratios and possibly a temperature issue as well (too hot, too cold, etc.)
Try Red Star Platinum…it’s a VERY forgiving yeast and it will help compensate for some…user errors :)
Thank you for the tips! It could be any of the reasons you mentioned, especially with the temperature too hot or low. Sometimes I do it in the bread machine (which does not get warm enough, in my opinion, during rising stage), sometimes I let the bread rise in a warm oven (probably a little bit too warm :)). The ratios could be an issue, too. I will check out the yeast you recommended.
Glad there are some things you can troubleshoot and that may work to change up a bit! The bread machine sounds like way more trouble than it’s worth! Just make it like I wrote the recipe and you will be fine!
I don’t make my own sandwich bread very often for the same reason–most of the recipes make way too much bread! So I love that this makes a smaller loaf, which is perfect for me and my husband. :) And oh my, does this look like a beautiful loaf of bread!
I like smaller batch recipes and although bread does freeze well, I have so much food here…I don’t need to build up my freezer stash or anything!
I agree – soft and fluffy bread is where it’s at! If I wanted crunchy bread, I’d eat croutons instead. :)
LOL and SO TRUE!!!
I say the same thing about biscotti. Not a fan. If I wanted a dog biscuit or cardboard, I’d have one :)
You can literally see the “softness” elevating off these photos! This bread looks absolutely amazing. I love your use of brown sugar. Definitely a must try and going onto my list. Thanks for sharing!
Brown sugar is mostly to give the yeast ‘food’ so it activates and works properly. Can’t really taste the brown sugar in the finished bread though. Maybe a tiny, tiny bit but the oats I think provide sort of a natural sweetness, too!
literally see the “softness” elevating off these photos! <-- I thought the same thing :)
I’ve been meaning to make sandwich bread for EVER! Lovely recipe!
This looks so delicious! The pictures are amazing. I think it would be helpful if you also took pictures of the process of making the bread, since yeast breads/ kneading dough are a bit difficult for many people (i.e. me). For example, the step “Then, fold the short sides in so that dough is about 8 inches in length. Roll to form a tight cylinder. There’s not much to roll, about 3 turns.” isn’t very clear to me since I have only made yeast bread 2 or 3 times. This could use some pictoral explanation. Just a thought. Thanks for the great looking recipe!
I made it at midnight, the lighting sucks, and I had dough all over my hands. I actually tried to take pics but they were so bad that they’re not even worth posting. Basically, make a little napkin-size shape, roll it up into a cylinder and put it in a loaf pan. The exact measurements aren’t even that necessary. You’re making a smaller version of this http://www.loveveggiesandyoga.com/2012/12/nutella-cinnamon-rolls-with-vanilla-glaze.html
And this
http://www.loveveggiesandyoga.com/2013/02/overnight-buttermilk-soft-and-fluffy-cinnamon-rolls.html
Both of them have step by step shots. Enjoy!
Thanks Averie!
I was just telling my Mom today that I need a soft and light sandwich bread recipe! I can’t wait to give this a try.
I’m like your Husband, I am a bread freak and could eat a whole basket or two at a restaurant! Your bread sounds amazing. I’m going to test it out on my Husband. I get up pretty early on Sunday morning and I always make bacon, eggs and toast for my Husband. What a treat it would be if I made him bread, better than his beloved Wonder Bread. Thank you for sharing your recipe!
I absolutely love to make homemade bread. When the boys were small, I used to make homemade kamut bread for them and they loved it fresh out of the oven for salmon sandwiches. Now that they are a lot older, they really do prefer the whiter homemade breads, especially since kamut flour is hard to come by here in Santa Cruz now, for some reason.
I am SO making this bread and I am making it tomorrow. I will make two loaves and definitely let you know how it turns out for me. I have all-purpose flour and just enough yeast left. My boys are going to be thrilled. They LOVE homemade bread and we go through at least one loaf of bread every 2 days! That last photo of the toast reminds me of how TJ’s English Muffin bread looks when it is toasted and buttered! That bread used to be my hubby’s favorite, years ago! :-)
I love your personal stories & memories, Michele! If your boys like whiter homemade breads, yes, it’s a good think you make 2 loaves of this with teenage boys in the house. They will take 1 loaf down the first day, easy!
Pleas LMK how it goes for you! And that buttery shot – I almost didn’t include it, but had to at the last second!
I need to find the patience to make this beautiful bread. I love oatmeal in bread. Do you think it would work in a bread machine?
I don’t really know b/c I don’t use one. I let my mixer knead it for 5-7 mins, pop it in a bowl and let it rise for 90 mins. Shape it. Rise for another 75 mins. And bake. It’s really so easy. LMK how it goes for you!
I did it in my machine, just dumped it all in! (a little less yeast, about 1/4 more bread flour) Came out looking just like the pictures! My new go-to sandwich bread! Delicious!! Averie rocked this one!
I’m really excited to make this bread! I am right there with your husband, a bread lover. I only ever keep 100% whole wheat flour on hand but for this I might have to make a note to buy regular AP flour next time I’m at the store. Thanks Averie!
You could likely get away with WW for half the amount (and if you keep vital wheat gluten on hand, add some) but I dont think a fully WW-loaf will rise well. You could try it and LMK if you do!
I tried it! It turned out pretty well surprisingly. I did 100% whole wheat flour and added 2 T of gluten and followed everything else that you did. I used a wider bread pan loaf on accident so it’s not as tall as yours but I’m pretty happy with the results! It’s denser than your loaf too, as expected. I will try it with the AP flour next time to see the differences.
That’s amazing though that you got a pretty decent rise with 100% WW Flour. WW is hard to work with when it’s 100%. If you even did half WW, plus the vital wheat gluten, it’d be lighter and less dense. And I will say, that just using AP is wonderful. I highly recommend it as written – LMK if you try again and what you use!
Stunning Averie! I’ve never made bread, can you believe it? I so totally need to try this. It looks fluffy and amazing!
Dorothy it’s a whole new world and you’re going to loooooove it!
I LOVE making bread – but mine is never as perfectly shaped as yours:) it’s absolutely perfect – your recipe is next on my bread to-do list
Really? Well keep me posted!
I think if I lived with you, I’d be 2983473 pounds. And I am also convinced that you and Scott and Skylar have to be like, magic or something for looking as good as you do when you’re constantly cranking out food like this. SIMPLY. AMAZING. I could eat that whole loaf in one sitting .. which is why I’m kind of sad/glad I don’t live with you, haha :)
Girl I have had to start donating more food lately than I used to…friends, people we know from the park, school, work, etc. b/c there is just no way we could eat it all and not weigh that much :) Plus, all at once, no one can take down 4 or 5 different baked goods, bread, cookies, cake, pan of bars, etc. before it goes stale. So donating is best. I miss some of it, sniff, but after a piece or 4…donate!
This looks sooo good! Perfect sandwich bread. I wish I had some to make a sandwich now!
It truly is my fave sandwich bread of all time :)
Do you think liquid coconut oil could work instead of canola/vegetable oil? Do you think it’s worth trying with gf oats and gf flour blend?… Thanks!
Coconut oil behaves differently b/c of the melting points/room temperature properties it has how it changes and so that’s why I didn’t use it. I didn’t want to add another variable. I think you’d be fine but I haven’t tried it.
Making GF bread is not something I am an expert in by any means and I have never tried to make a GF yeast bread. There are entire websites devoted to that and you should research it there…it’s its own animal, so to speak! Good luck!
I love oatmeal in bread, it makes it so moist and chewy. Your photos are fabulous in this post, I want to devour that buttered toast!
Thank you, Sue, I appreciate it!
Absolutely the most perfect loaf of bread I have ever seen. It reminds me of being a kid again and eating squishy peanut butter and grape jelly sandwiches! My mom made bread for us when we were little and honest to goodness – there is truly nothing like a fresh, homemade piece of bread. This loaf is so perfectly risen, so perfectly and lightly browned and that photo of it toasted with melty butter! I die. I am now suddenly starving for some toast! I’m loving the oats hiding in there. Who knew this bread contained warmed, chewy oatmeal? I need to try this Averie! Truly your prettiest bread ever, and you have a tough few recipes to beat!
Thank you for the glowing compliments, Sally! That means so much as I know you read every single post and notice every single image…so it makes me smile when you say it’s the best ever. Both the recipe and the photography turned out in this one…love it when they both align :) And yes, this IS the best bread I’ve ever made!
Aah bread. You know, I could(I have) live without added sugars, white refined cereals, meat and milk, but bread, I hope I’ll never have to give it up completely.
Yours looks PERFECT, and I’ m not just saying that..my profound respect, as always!
:D
Thanks for the compliments! :)
This is the best looking loaf of bread I have EVER seen. Seriously, I have never wanted a slice of bread so bad. I HAVE to make this tonight. Pinned! Thanks!
Thanks for the pin and if you make it, LMK!
Yum! Love that it’s vegan as well. This looks soft and fluffy!
I love homemade bread, but I admit most I’ve made are on the denser, heavier side. Will be sure to look for your recipe when I want a homemade soft and fluffy loaf.
This is so light and fluffy – I just love it. Lightest homemade loaf I’ve ever made!
I love any kind of homemade bread and this one looks amazing – thanks for sharing another great recipe!
Thanks, Donalyn! It’s my fave homemade bread recipe to date!
I seriously just wiped DROOL off of my chin! ;)
I have a napkin if you need one :)
I think I am going to try this for my son’s lunch bread! I like that it has oatmeal in it… A little more fiber and slower digesting than just plain white bread!
I’ve only ever made bread in my breadmachine (meh) or italian/french bread on my pizza stone. So this will be my first time making bread in a loaf pan.
When you let it cool completely – should I take it out of my loaf pan after about 15 mins and put on a wire rack like I do pound cakes? Or should it cool in the pan?
I wrote this in the post “Let bread cool in pan for 5 to 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely before slicing.” Read the recipe over at least twice before you start to know exactly what you’re doing and then…enjoy! LMK how it comes out!
Ohhh woops!!! I was reading the post – and I looked at the ingredients list, but didn’t actually read the directions of the recipe!! So I missed that part! Looking forward to making it! :-)
If I see over 3 cups of flour in a recipe, I tune out. (Yikes, that’s more than half my canister gone!) So your beautiful, slim-floured, bread recipe is highly appealing! I like the sneaky use of oatmeal too! :D
ME TOO! tuneout. It’s called too many white carbs all at once :)
This bread looks divine- I love bread and yeasty things. My parents call me the carbohydrate queen because I eat so much! I have a question though- how much water should we pour over the oats? And would quick oats work, or do we definitely need whole rolled oats?
I really like that you used oats in the recipe.
I am like your husband in the fact that I can chow down on bread like nobody’s business. And this recipe looks delicious! Cant wait to make it.
Thanks and LMK how it goes!
Wow.. that is one beautiful loaf of bread!!
Ha…I misread your instructions for “bake until damn golden & puffy”….DOMED, golden & puffy…DOMED. Obviously my tea has not improved my comprehension skills yet this AM. All kidding aside, I am trying this out soon – I dig the 2 cups of flour per loaf idea.
I like the damn golden and puffy. That’s sort of how I talk IRL :)
The bread looks perfect! I made a loaf of GF the other day using Red Star, I’m impressed by it. I’d love to make a grilled cheese on this bread. Soft inside and crusty on the outside is my favorite!
Perfect GF bread…okay that is HARD to do! Congrats! I love RSYeast. Gives me the best results, period. And the Platinum line is the best of the best! You will LOVEEEEE it for GF baking!
This bread looks amazing. Def a weekend recipe for me though. Do you think it would be ok if I added a bit of flax seed mill?
Flax seeds have that expansion property and also play with the moisture levels in things, absorbing moisture. So it will probably be fine, but I may try a loaf without first to get your feet wet and then in the future, play around.
Not surprisingly, you made regular sandwich bread look absolutely divine in these photos! I love the addition to oatmeal – anytime I buy sandwich bread, I always get oatmeal because I love the soft texture. Yay for checking another thing off the bucket list!!!
Hope you’re done with the cleanse if you’re reading bread posts :) That would be so hard!
I’m such a sucker for a good sandwich! I really need to start making my own bread…! Your loaf looks so light and fluffy – perfect!
That bread looks so good, I think I could just eat it with butter and nothing else. Looks amazing Averie!
Honestly is IS just the best with butter!
Looks SO good, Averie! And now I’m running to make toast, because your bread and butter photo just did me in. Gorgeous!
Hope you enjoyed your toast :)
This bread looks wonderful, I love how fluffy it is!
Supremely fluffy! We loved it!
That just might be the most perfect looking loaf of bread I’ve ever seen outside of a bakery! I worked at Wonder Bread in college and we never had loaves that looked like that. You’ve inspired me to give it a go.
Coming from you and knowing you know your way around the kitchen and have read more than a few blogs with bread in your day AND that you worked at Wonder Bread…no way!!!! I actually think that would be kind of a dream job :) This is such high praise. Thanks, Heidi!!! :)
This looks so perfect!! It’s what I always imagine my bread looking like!!
I always imagine it too – this one actually made my imagination + reality sync up!
I’m not sure I’ve seen a more perfect looking loaf of bread. There’s a sandwich shop near where I work that uses the most soft and fluffy oatmeal bread – looking at these pictures has given me a serious hankering for one of their sandwiches. I might have to try to make this myself and see how it compares! I love the idea of adding in sweet or savory twists too!
Thanks for the sweet words and I know that kind of sandwich-shop bread and this is pretty much it!
This sounds really similar to an oatmeal bread I used to make. It was much more time intensive than this one. This one looks perfect. I may have to make it this weekend in place of my maple whole wheat bread.
maple whole wheat bread – I need that recipe. Sounds soooo good!
I’m making your bread today. Here is the link to my maple whole wheat bread if you want to check it out: http://megbakes11.blogspot.com/2013/01/maple-whole-wheat-bread.html
Your bread looks great and I saw it was adapted from Lori, and her bread recipes always have me tempted!
Please LMK how my recipe goes for you!
I love how perfectly uniform all of your slices are! I think oatmeal bread is a great sandwich bread–a little heartier than plain white but not as dense as whole wheat! I love your recipe–it’s somewhat similar to Old English Oatmeal Bread (from my trusty Wms Sonoma book). I’ve tried another from their site http://www.williams-sonoma.com/recipe/multigrain-yeast-bread.html. It was good, but I skipped adding the egg in that one and used oil instead. I am inspired for a weekend baking project. My husband is a bread lover too!
Big knife, taking my time = uniform slices! And that WS recipe looks great. It has wheat flour and egg in it, but good to know you skipped the egg and were fine without it. Wheat can be tricky to stay light but that one just uses one-third wheat and love the molasses. Mmm, good! LMK if you try this..I think you and your hubs will love it!
Amazing! Your pictures capture the texture you were describing! While I am part of a big family, it is nice to have a small bread recipe. Very creative and although I LOVE all your sweet recipes, a “savory” one is nice once in a while. Because I am fairly new to your blog, I didn’t realize all the roll recipes you had! Definitely trying one, if not two, this week. Oh, I also used coconut oil in my banana bread (Like you did in your pineapple banana bread) and it was incredible. Thanks!
Glad that you like this one and that you found some new recipes to try and that you tried coconut oil! All great stuff! :)
I love this, Averie! For as much as I bake, I never make sandwich bread. That needs to change ASAP!
Me too. And I was like…why reinvent the wheel. Make something…basic but useful, and post that! So I did :)
This looks amazing – and I love that it makes a smaller loaf and you don’t use a ton of flour. I’ve never attempted bread and this just might be the one I have to try. Thanks for the recipe!
Ok well that’s awesome you may attempt it. Based on the wayyyyyy more complicated things you make, like your last Deb-inspired post, this will be a cake walk!
I love bread, but try to limit eating it to only once in a while, but this sounds so wonderful. I love the idea of putting oatmeal in the mix. Plus, I love the fact that it’s vegan.
Sandwich bread! Oh yum! You do it all. dessert, bread, breakfast, lunch dinner, snacks!!
I can not wait to give this bread a try is looks killer and so much bretter than anything from the store!
And I can sing the ABCs while kneading dough and answer a million questions from my 6 year old about it all :) Thanks for saying I do it all…some days that feels pretty darn accurate.
I’ve seen the oatmeal sandwich bread recipe just recently and there were mixed opinions, but your bread looks amazing! Love the high round top and the perfectly fluffy center! Yummers! Pinning!
I don’t know which recipe that was…I pieced this together from about 10 sources but really, just got in there with my own hands and flour and yeast and oats and went to work. Happy that it all worked out :) Sometimes that happens with the winging-in ones!
Thanks for the pin!
You have no idea how timely this is. I tried my first bread attempt for sandwiches 2 days ago and the trash can quite enjoyed it. The tips about whole wheat flour and bread flour was like a smack across the head because the recipe called for both and it looked more like quick bread than “bread bread.” Gonna give this one a try with a little more hope!
For a first-time or newer bread maker, wheat is HARD to work with. It causes things to be much denser and not rise as well and just is trickier. And even for any bread-maker, wheat flour is it’s own little animal with how it will behave. This bread, I assure you, is soo fluffy and light!
You may be confusing new bread bakers as I had to go back and look at the recipe again myself. When you say wheat is hard to work with you need to specify “whole” wheat. You are using wheat in this recipe just not whole wheat. All purpose flour is wheat. And yes, whole wheat is hard to work with. This does look like a wonderful recipe. I may have to tempt my husband to ignore his diet tomorrow and have fresh bread for lunch.
Whole wheat, yes, is much more challenging to work with. I thought it’s understood that wheat means whole wheat in this context, and left of the word ‘whole’ but will be more diligent in the future. Enjoy the bread. It’s truly wonderful and a favorite of ours!
Oh I bet the oatmeal gives it a wonderful texture. And the brown sugar, just a hint of sweetness. And it looks gorgeous too!
Brown sugar taste is barely there, mostly just there to help activate the yeast and give it food!
This looks delicious Averie! I’m sure your kitchen smelled AMAZING while this was baking! Yum!!!
Yes it did! Between the normal bread smell AND the oats…heavenly!
Gotta love the classic white bread. Yum!
Oh my goodness, yummmm! I could imagine so many delicious sandwiches, grilled cheese, breakfasts with toast, etc. using this bread. It looks incredible!
Thanks! And we loved it! All gone now..must.make.more!
We eat bread in our household and your bread looks better than any I have ever bought. I’d like to make your cinnamon raisin english muffin bread also.
Well thanks for the nice compliment on it looking better than storebought!
I find it so hard to make fluffy bread like that at home! BUt this looks like the ULTIMATE sandwich bread!
You have to try it. It really IS!
that bread looks so good…It would make a perfect peanut butter and fluff. I’m so afraid of bread making that and pie crusts are my kryptonite.
Seriously – you can do it! Start with this one maybe if youve never ever made bread. No-knead and goofproof! http://www.loveveggiesandyoga.com/2012/10/cinnamon-raisin-english-muffin-bread-with-cinnamon-sugar-butter.html
I get all intimidated about making yeast-bread products, but then every time I give in and make one I am reminded they aren’t so terribly hard-even without a heavy duty mixer (although if I win one of those KA mixers I’ll be making bread like CRAZY!). So I made some delightful buns recently with the Joy of Cooking’s no-knead light rolls recipe. I healthed them up a bit by reducing the sugar, subbing a bit of ww flour, and halving the fat (adding some applesauce) and they still turned out sooooo amazingly that I am super-inspired to do some more yeast recipes whilst inspired-before I somehow go back to being fearful of them…this looks great. I adore oatmeal in bread!
Joy of Cooking’s no-knead light rolls recipe with applesauce – wow, sounds delish! And awesome that you’re over your fears of yeast! :)