Soft and Fluffy Sandwich Bread — 🥪❤️🙌 This sandwich bread is soft, fluffy, and light. 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!
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Easy Sandwich Bread Recipe
The best sandwich bread recipe you’ll ever make, this bread is soft, fluffy, and light and will make you feel like a professional baker. 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 store-bought bread like Wonder bread. I’ve never been a crusty baguette person. Give me soft and tender over jaw-ripping crustiness any day.
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.
Far better than your average white sandwich bread, it makes French toast or grilled cheese, and it’s wonderful toasted with melted butter, jam, or honey. I made BLT’s minus the bacon and used cheese, and they were met with rave reviews, too.
Up next, is using it for a homemade peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
What’s in Homemade 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 – I use Red Star Platinum Yeast. Make sure to use fresh yeast or your bread won’t rise properly
- Salt
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Sandwich Bread
If you’ve been too intimidated to try your hand at making homemade bread, this simple sandwich bread recipe is the perfect place to start. It comes together with just a few simple steps!
- Pour boiling water over the oatmeal, and let it cool to about 130 degrees or to the recommended warm water temperature for your yeast.
- Combine the ingredients, and knead with a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook or your hands until a shaggy dough forms. Transfer the dough to a large, greased bowl, cover it with plastic wrap or a towel, and let the dough rise until it doubles in size. Note that the rise times will change slightly depending on the warmth of your environment.
- After the first rise, punch the dough down, transfer it to a lightly floured surface or Silpat mat, and knead. Then, shape it into a rectangle, and use your hands or a wooden spoon to fold in the short sides to create a tight cylinder.
- Transfer the dough to a greased loaf pan, cover it with plastic wrap, and allow it to rise again.
- Bake until the bread is domed, puffy, and golden brown. Then, let it cool for 5-10 minutes in the pan before turning it out onto a wire rack to cool completely. It’s vital to let your finished loaf of bread cool completely before slicing, or you’ll flatten it as you cut through the crust.
Achieving fluffy sandwich bread
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 of water. Erring on the side of too moist is always preferable to dry in bread doughs.
Storage
Store cooled bread at room temperature for about 5 days. To keep it fresh, I recommend wrapping it in plastic wrap and placing it inside a gallon-sized Ziploc bag.
Freeze leftovers for up to 3 months. Thaw in the fridge or at room temperature to serve.
Recipe FAQs
I don’t know. I don’t have one and have never tried it, but I’d love to know how it goes if you try it out!
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.
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!
I have only made this recipe using the yeast mentioned and haven’t tried it with other forms of yeast. So, I can’t speak to your results if you use active dry yeast that’s not labeled as instant. I use Red Star platinum instant yeast with great results.
If you want to flavor your sandwich bread, sprinkle it with cinnamon, nutmeg, or ground ginger when rolling the dough. Or, go for savory options like dill, chives, or thyme.
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Soft and Fluffy Sandwich Bread
Equipment
- 1 Small Bowl
- 1 Stand Mixer Fitted with a Dough Hook
- 1 (8×4 inch) Loaf Pan
- 1 Wire Rack
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
- ¼ 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 ¼ 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
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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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 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: https://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 https://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!