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 😂
Ran out of bread the other evening — 16 degrees outside with two feet of snow and it was still snowing! I made the no yeast bread for the morning and it was Great! I’m going to make it again as the top crust didn’t come out quite right, but the taste and texture and inside was fantastic — Nagi you are so good to share this — don’t know what we would have done otherwise!
I baked three loafs of bread by using this recipe for the first time
without any yeast or eggs it’s amazing how good my bake looks, @taste 😘 💕💕💕
I only have a can of sweetened condensed milk. Can I use that and omit the sugar?
Hi Patty, sorry that won’t work in this recipe! N x
Just made this to go with the cream of chicken soup, Turned out amazing and so easy to do x
I made this two days ago. It is so easy, just like Nagi says!
The crust turned out very crusty while the center seems soft, which turns out to make great toast and sandwiches, again just as Nagi said!
@recipetineats
Can I fully substitute with whole wheat flour?If so,is it 600g?
Hi Poormina, I’d need to test it as whole wheat flour absorbs more water and reacts differently when rising – Something I’d need to put on my recipe list! N x
Looks delicious….reallt gonna try it for sure. Bit i have couple of doubts pls:
1. If I need to halve the recipe, can I use the same pan size and temperature?
2. If I want to use baking soda, how much baking powder and baking soda be used for above recipe?
3. How do I store it without freezing?And how long can it be stored?
4.What would be preheating time?
OMG, I can’t believe this recipe is so easy and delicious. Crispy outside and soft inside. I only putbsome seeds and oats on the upper part to experiment. Super delicious. Highly recommended.
Thank you!
How long can the no-yeast bread be frozen before it starts to taste funny from freezer burn?
Hi Bill, I usually store bread for up to a month – N x
I halved the receipt and it couldn’t have turned out better!
Hi Nagi, just wondering whether you have tried freezing this bread? Made your lasagne for visitors. Wowee! Deliziosa!
All I can say is ‘Wow’. The loaf rose beautifully and smells divine. Slices really well, tastes delicious and now Soda Bread is out of the window.😃. Will be trying more of your tasty recipes. Thank you for sharing 😋
Made this today and they came out SO delicious! I love how simple they were to make. We couldn’t stop eating them – ours ended up tasting a bit like big soft pretzels and we loved them. I made the muffin variation and followed the note to sub in baking soda. I also used dark honey because that’s all I had on hand instead of sugar, and they came out great. Awesome recipe – definitely bookmarking this recipe in my go-to recipe list. Thank you!
This recipe is most welcomed in our home! During this pandemic, we need to have alternatives in case… right?!! This is a great one!!! Thanks so much for posting it!!!
Ugh!! I forgot to warm the milk!
In my defense I was juggling kids, dogs and… (ok just 1 kid and 1 dog, all my fault!) eeeek!! I hope it’s not too bad. I just put in the oven now. We will see!!
How did your bread turn out not warming the milk?
Keep me updated Jen! N x
Good alternative to bread when I didn’t have yeast- this is the first time i’d tried anything like this. It tasted exactly like biscuit dough and worked well enough for what I wanted it for.
The bread was really good…the best I have found.
The crust was a little too dark after 30 min. …what would you suggest…changing temp. to 425 or baking it for fewer than 30 before lowering temperature?
Loved it! Was skeptical about the texture though but as mentioned…becomes better next day and my toddler loves it. He really cant have the yeast bread so this is perfect! Cant be thankful enough
Stay blessed!
I’m allergic to yeast and plain flour is usually enriched with b-vitamins. Is there a recipe like this that uses non enriched flour?
Hi Sullivan – I’m not to familiar with enriched vs non enriched flour. I’d need to look into this! N x
I made it gluten and dairy free. I used Pamela’s artisan flour mix which has guar gum in it to mimick gluten and dairy free milk. It turned out good. I forgot to warm the milk to preactivate the baking powder so it came out too dense but next time I’ll do it right and I’m sure it will be even better.
Can I sprinkle the top with Everything Bagel Seasoning?
What is 220c versus 430 f?
Not sure I had my oven hot enough, it didn’t brown and still was soft in the middle, was oven suppose to be at 400 degrees?