Yep, you CAN make an amazing bread without yeast that’s just like proper bread! 5 common ingredients: flour, baking powder, oil, milk and sugar. It’s a no yeast bread based on Damper, a traditional Australian bread historically made by swagmen and drovers over campfire – except we’re using an oven!
Use for sandwiches, toast, grilled cheese, French Toast – anything you normally make with sandwich bread.
Bread without yeast
This no yeast bread is inspired by the Australian Damper, a traditional bushman’s bread made with flour and water that was cooked over campfires.
Except I’ve brought it into the 21st century to make the crumb fluffier, more tender and tastier, and made it look like sandwich bread rather than a freeform loaf. (Oh, and we cook this in an oven instead of over fire!)
This is THE emergency bread that you make when you don’t have yeast, or you don’t have time to make yeast bread. It has a proper crumb like real bread, rather than being crumbly like muffins which many no-yeast breads are. It’s mixed in a bowl with a wooden spoon – no kneading, no rising. You’ll have this in the oven in mere minutes!
Is it as good as a yeast bread? Yeast gives bread a chew and stretch in a way that bread made without yeast will never have. But this is as darn close as you will get to a yeast bread recipe without using yeast. And it’s off the charts delicious for something that takes 3 minutes to get into the oven!!
What goes into sandwich bread without yeast
Bread lovers might recognise this as a simpler version of Irish Soda Bread. It’s easier because the dough is just mixed up in a bowl (ie no kneading at all) and it doesn’t require buttermilk or baking soda which aren’t pantry staples for everyone.
Here’s all you need to make bread without yeast (let’s pretend I didn’t forget to put the milk in the photo!!!):
Flour – plain/all purpose flour, or switch up to half with wholemeal/wholewheat. Can use self raising in place of flour and baking powder;
Baking powder – this is what gives this bread rise. Skip if using self raising flour, or substitute with baking soda;
Milk – any type, dairy or non dairy, fresh or powder (reconstituted), full or no fat. Can be substituted with water plus 1 tbsp oil or butter;
Oil – Just 1/4 cup gives this bread some much needed moisture. Without it, it’s very dry. Any neutral flavoured oil is fine – canola, vegetable, peanut, grapeseed, rapeseed, sun flower, even a light olive oil;
Sugar – just 1 tablespoon makes quite a difference here to bring out flavour; and
Salt – for seasoning,
No egg. That’s the secret to the real bread-like crumb!
The flour and baking powder in this recipe can be substituted with self raising flour.
How to make bread without yeast
This is just like making your favourite Chocolate Chip Muffins! Mix the dry ingredients, then add the oil and milk. Mix, pour, bake!
Why use a loaf pan? Because the mixture is a very thick batter rather than a kneadable dough (like Friday’s pizza dough or focaccia). So you can’t freeform it like Irish Soda Bread. If you don’t have a loaf pan, make it in a muffin tin – well greased, 20 minutes at 180°C/350°F.
It takes 50 minutes in the oven, so I like to do half the time uncovered to get a lovely golden brown crust, then I cover it the rest of the time (otherwise the crust gets a bit thick and dark).
LOOK at that crust!↓↓↓ It’s tempting to just lift the whole thing off and run away with it! (Swipe the butter while you’re at it)
TIP: Let it cool completely before slicing, otherwise it will be susceptible to crumbling on the edges. On Day 2, it slices 100% perfectly!
Slice it up like normal bread then use it for anything and everything you ordinarily use sandwich bread for. A simple ham sandwich. Or an epic Pastrami or Reuben sandwich. Grilled cheese – or cheesy GARLIC bread. Toast it and slather with jam, Vegemite, peanut butter or whatever you heart desires.
Dunk into soups and stews. You can even make French Toast or Bread and Butter pudding!
Storage
As with all homemade breads, this no yeast bread is at its best on the day it’s made. But even the day after, it’s still very, very good thanks to the touch of oil which keeps the crumb moist. Then on Day 3, a light toasting is all that’s needed to resurrect it.
It also freezes 100% perfectly – which is what I’ve done with the 8+ loaves I’ve made in the past few weeks, trying to nail the recipe. I’m going to be eating this for weeks and weeks – no complaints here!! ~ Nagi x
Watch How To Make It
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Sandwich Bread WITHOUT Yeast! (Dead easy)
Ingredients
- 4 cups flour , plain/all purpose (Note 1)
- 8 tsp baking powder (Note 2)
- 3 tsp white sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp cooking / kosher salt (REDUCE to 1 tsp if using table salt, Note 3)
- 2 1/4 cups milk , warmed (any – Note 4)
- 1/4 cup oil , any plain (vegetable, canola, sunflower, rapeseed, grapeseed, light olive oil)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 220°C/430°F (200°C fan).
- Grease a 22 x 13 cm / 9 x 5" loaf pan, then line with parchment/baking paper with overhang (to lift out).
- Mix dry: Place flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a bowl, mix to combine.
- Add wet: Make a well in the centre, pour in oil and milk. Mix until flour is fully incorporated – batter will be thick but stirrable.
- Fill pan: Scrape into loaf pan, using a rubber spatula to scrape the bowl clean and smooth the surface.
- Bake 30 minutes. Remove from oven, cover with foil.
- Return to oven. Turn oven DOWN to 200°C/390°F (180°C fan), bake 20 minutes.
- Remove from oven. Cool in pan 5 minutes, then use excess paper to lift out and transfer to cooling rack.
- Cool completely before slicing – 45 minutes+. It IS more delicate than yeast breads (can't change science!) but slices far better than the usual "cake like" no yeast breads. Slices perfectly on Day 2 and beyond.
- Use for sandwiches, toast, grilled cheese, french toast, bread and butter pudding – anything you use "real" sandwich bread for!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
Video Bomber. I cut him from the video edits 😂
Yummy bread!!
Made this with GF flour (Edmonds brand NZ)
We can eat butter but not milk, so subbed in warm water with a Tbsp of melted butter for the milk. Also 50 gms of melted butter instead of the oil.
Also mixed in about 1/4 C whole linseeds into the batter.
A delicious result! Thank you!!!
Thank you for this recipe!!! I suffer from a world of allergies so this was perfect for me. I used rice flour and instead of vinegar, used the same amount of lemon juice (also because I cannot use vinegar). I turned out really awesome and delicious, and the rising of the bread was way beyond my expectations!!!
I just made it today, delicious.
Question what is the best way to put away bread for daily use ?
Hi Mirtha, I just put mine in an airtight bag/conatiner and leave on the bench. If it’s hot or humid I tend to store in the fridge or even freezer to keep fresh. (You can store sliced bread in the freezer and just pull some out to thaw when required) N x
can I use coconut milk mixed with semi skimmed
Not for this recipe sorry Jake. N x
Made the bread yesterday, great recipe!
Did you ever made it with spelt flour? Was wondering if that would work.
Hi Lys, spelt works completely differently to normal flour and requires less hydration. It would be something I’d need to test sorry! N x
Awesome bread, my 16 year old has baked it twice and it came out perfectly 👌🏼
Can I make the bread with only half the amount of milk and add water to replace the liquid?
It will affect the texture sorry Ann! N x
Followed the recipe and my crust was way to brown and hard what can I do to have crust like you show?
Hi Don, that doesn’t sound right at all – can I ask what setting and oven temp you used? N x
It is good recipe but you did not make a video just using self raising flour coz i m looking a selfraising flour receipe it get mixed not understandable sorry to say if you naje a video just using a recipe for self-raising flour the will be gr8
Hello, I made the sandwich bread with no-yeast but I find it just breaks apart. This that because I did something wrong? Would love to know before I try it again.
Hi Nagi. Have the bread in the oven now. 1st time making. And of course I oopsed. I added milk straight from the fridge. How bad is this going to mess things up?
This recipe works with gluten free Better Batter All Purpose Flour. I made a small loaf of this tonight using 1/2 of the recipe. It was wonderful! Great crunchy crust and tender white inside. I am excited to try grilled cheese, French toast and bread pudding with this new bread! Thanks for the great recipe!!
After making this recipe a SECOND time because I didn’t pay attention to the C vs F? It turned out great!! I hated wasting so much ingredients.
Hi
Can I use room temperature milk for the no yeast quick bread
Sure can Serine! Enjoy! N x
Hi Nagi,
I am baking no yeast bread for the 1st time and would like to check with you if it is normal for the texture is abit wet than normal bread. What temperature should a warm milk be? Thanks in advance.
Can I use this recipe in a bread maker?
Hi Angelica, I wouldn’t think it would work sorry as they tend to have settings which allow time for the bread to rise using the yeast. N x
Lovely site
I got want I want Bread making superb
Loved the recipe to make bread that easy and best home made bread
Thanks a ton for this
Just made this. So good. I halfed the recipe since my load pan was small. Shorted the baking time. So fluffy. Thanks
I was SO happy to see this recipe! I cannot eat most breads, and so I am really happy to have some actual bread back in my life. I live at 5300 ft altitude. Are there any adjustments I should make for that? Could that be why it is too crumbly for me to use for sandwiches? It’s delicious in any case! Thanks so much!
From Australia —- This bread is great. Freezes and toasts well.