This Easy Sandwich Bread recipe is a blend of white flour, whole wheat flour, flax meal, and seeds for a bread that is fluffy and soft like traditional white bread while also being healthier and heartier like whole wheat breads. The softness of this bread makes it ideal for sandwiches, but it is also wonderful served with butter alongside soups or stews, or used as a base for avocado toast.
This easy sandwich bread recipe is similar to my Whole Grain Spelt Bread With Flax and Sesame. However, it has a fluffier texture for those who love the taste of white bread for their sandwiches. I first made it on request from my daughter when she was losing her baby teeth and had a hard time with her school lunch sandwiches.
The addition of seeds and whole wheat flour provide added fiber and nutrition to the bread. You can use whatever seeds you have on hand. I often use flaxseeds and black sesame seeds, which are smaller seeds. However, chunkier seeds like sunflower seeds would work as well.
Ingredients & Substitutions
You will need less than 10 ingredients to make this easy sandwich bread, and you may have most of them in your kitchen already.
- all-purpose flour
- whole wheat flour
- ground flax
- seeds - I used flax + black sesame
- salt
- warm water
- honey
- instant yeast
- butter - for brushing the top
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
Making this easy sandwich bread recipe is quite easy and similar to making other yeasted bread recipes. Here is how to make it:
1. In a large mixing bowl using a wooden spoon or whisk, stir together the all-purpose flour with the whole wheat flour, ground flax, seeds, and salt.
2. Dissolve the honey and yeast in the warm water.
3. Add the water mixture to the flour mixture; knead by hand or stand mixer until a soft dough forms.
4. Window pane test: If you can stretch out a small piece of dough until almost see through without it tearing, it has been perfectly kneaded.
5. In an oiled, covered bowl let the dough ball rise until doubled. Then flatten into a rectangle. Fold up the top and bottom, and then roll it into a loaf shape.
6. Let it rise for a second time in a lined loaf pan until doubled.
7. Cut slits across the top of the risen loaf. Bake in a 375°F (190°C) oven for 35-45 minutes.
8. Brush with butter right after baking for a soft top crust. Let cool before slicing.
Hint: The ideal temperature for the warm water is 100-110°F (37-43°C). If it is any cooler, the yeast may not activate correctly and if it is any warmer, the yeast may die and not raise your bread.
Variations
Homemade bread is wonderful because you can take a base recipe and make it how you want it. Here are some ideas for how you could vary this easy sandwich bread.
- Make a Sundried Tomato and Herb Bread - Once you've mixed the dough, feel free to knead in chopped sundried tomatoes and Italian seasoning. This would result in a bread that would be wonderful with sandwich meat, arugula, and Italian cheeses.
- Make a Rosemary Garlic Bread - Consider adding fresh chopped rosemary and garlic powder into your dough to make an extra savory tasting bread. This would be delicious smeared with butter and dipped into stews.
- Turn it into a Jalapeno Cheese Bread - Those who love the classic combination of jalapeno and cheddar cheese will appreciate the addition of chopped jalapenos and shredded orange cheddar cheese into the dough. The combination is slightly spicy and cheesy with an umami flavor.
Storage
As with most homemade bread recipes, this one is best eaten the day it is made. However, if you have some leftover, you can keep it at room temperature in an airtight container where it should stay fresh for up to 3 days. It is best not to slice it for storage as individual slices will dry out and become stale faster than a larger chunk of the loaf.
If you would like to freeze the bread, you can place the remaining loaf or slices of the loaf in freezer bags. It should stay good for at least 3 months this way.
Top tip
For the best textured bread, knead the dough until you have a soft dough. You will know you have kneaded it enough by stretching out a piece of the dough. If it stretches out until you can almost see through it without it tearing, you will know it has been perfectly kneaded. This is also called the 'window-pane test'.
FAQ
Store-bought bread is usually more expensive than making bread at home. While the ingredients (flour, yeast, seeds, etc.) may cost you more up front than buying a single loaf of bread, those ingredients will be able to make you many loaves of bread. Moreover, you will be able to control exactly what goes into that bread.
Yes, you can use a glass pan to bake your bread instead of a metal pan, but it conducts heat a little differently. This may mean that your bread won't bake as evenly as it would in a metal pan. It is often best to line the glass pan with parchment paper before using it for bread as well, because bread will stick to it easier than a metal pan. Additionally, you have to be wary of placing a cold glass pan into a hot oven as it could shatter more easily.
Although I like to use a mixture of flaxseeds and black sesame seeds for both colour and earthy flavour, you can feel free to use white sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, poppyseeds, pumpkin seeds, and more in this bread recipe. For added crunch, consider brushing the top of the loaf with water and sprinkling a few seeds on top as well.
You will know your bread is baked when it is golden brown on top and bounces back when pressed with a finger. The loaf should also be golden on the bottom when you remove it and have an internal temperature of 190-210°F (88-99°C).
Yes, if you would like to make this easy sandwich bread vegan, simply replace the honey with maple syrup or sugar; and the butter with a plant-based butter or olive oil.
To knead bread dough, you continuously stretch the dough over itself to work the gluten in the dough. This is an essential step to producing a loaf that is fluffy and light rather than being dense and dry. You can either knead your dough by hand or you can knead it with the dough hook attachment of your stand mixer. A bread machine would also work well for this step.
The possibilities are endless for using homemade sandwich bread. You can use it as toast or turn into into a peanut butter and jelly or jam sandwich. This bread is also wonderful as a replacement for rustic sourdough bread, which you might serve alongside a bowl of beef stew with plenty of vegetables.
Yes, you could, however, there is something to keep in mind. Active dry yeast needs to be dissolved in fluid and allowed to become foamy for around 5 minutes before it gets added into the dry ingredients. Otherwise, the yeast will have a granular texture in the dough and your bread won't rise. Instant yeast is usually easier to work with. It can be mixed with all of the ingredients without you having to worry that it was properly activated.
Yes, you could. However, it may result in a slightly chewier loaf since bread flour has a higher protein content than all-purpose flour. This means that it absorbs more moisture than all-purpose flour.
If your bread dough isn't rising, it may be because your kitchen is too cool. In that case, place your bowl that you have covered with a towel in a warmer place in your home. This can be on top of your fridge or in an oven that is turned off. The heat that emanates from your fridge or the insulation can help the dough rise. The rise times for your dough may vary depending on how warm the water you started with is as well.
Related
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
Pairing
These are my favorite dishes to serve with this easy sandwich bread:
Recipe
Easy Sandwich Bread Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup whole wheat flour
- 2 tablespoons ground flax
- ¼ cup seeds I used flax + black sesame
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1.5 cups warm water
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 packet instant yeast (2.25 tsp)
- 1-2 tablespoons butter for brushing the top
Instructions
- Stir together flours, seeds, and salt. Dissolve honey & yeast in warm water.
- Add water to flour and knead by hand or with stand mixer into a soft dough (5-10 minutes). Let rise until doubled in an oiled, covered bowl (45-60 mins).
- Flatten dough into rectangle. Fold up top and bottom, then roll up into loaf shape. Let rise second time in lined loaf pan until doubled (~ 1 hour).
- Bake at 375°F (190°C) for 35-45 minutes. Internal temperature should be at least 190°F (88°C).
- Brush with butter right after baking for a soft top crust. I often use a cold piece of butter on a fork and let it melt into the hot bread. But you can also brush softened/melted butter over the top. Let the bread cool on a wire rack before slicing.
Nutrition
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