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 😂
My family has fallen on hard times so we don’t always have the money to buy our usual store bought loaf so I decided to give your no yeast bread recipe a try. I’ve never made bread in my life! It’s good but mine came out pretty dense. Is it supposed to be? If not how do I fix it? Also, thank you for sharing this! Your recipe was the only one I could find that I had all the ingredients for! You saved us from no bread in the house and lunch meats/cheese going to waste!
I baked this with mixing whole meal and white wheat flour, it came out pretty good, love it, no need Baker Delight chia seed bread “which 2 for $9, Can you let me know if I bake 2 loaves and add 1/4 cup of chia seed, will be ok and how long & temp setting in the oven, thanks Nagi, A hug to Dozer please
Hi Crystal, it should be airy but slightly dense – does the texture of yours resemble the photos in this post?? N x
Hi! I ran out of white sugar a few days ago and really don’t want to go to the grocery store unless i absolutely have to (weak immune system). Can I use brown sugar or powdered sugar instead?
Hi Chelsea, you can definitely sub brown sugar here – stay safe ❤️ N x
first time is always the sweetest… the imperfection of the bread; cracks and shape made it soooo special! Can’t wait to slice ans eat tomorrow for breakfast
I have try a couple of your recipes and really enjoyed them all especially the Thai mango chicken curry one of our favourite
My bread is in the oven for the 1st 30 minutes and I just realized now that I don’t have any foil at home for covering it and baking for the next 20 minutes? What do I do now? 😣 does it make a huge difference?
So, came across this recipe. Was gonna make it yesterday but no flour 😂 Off to the store I went this morning. I’m fixing to make it. Wish me luck.
Love to now how you go Shonny! N x
Love it!!! it did great and was super easy. We made sandwiches and ate it plain. We are making French toast with it!!!! I am 8 years old and my mom has never made bread till now!! thanks for the recipe.
TIP!!!
Oven bakes a bit faster than recipe so check it every now and then. With the foil I say Bake it till you get this feeling like CHECK THE BREAD!!!
Love, Ellacate❤️
Attempted this recipe for the first time. Turned out great. Only a couple of issues, when I tasted it, it tasted like there was a bit too much baking powder, I may adjust next time. Also the temperature/times. For my oven I think it’s a bit hot for the first 30 minutes, I may change it to 180c then 160c so the crust isn’t too dark like this one is.
I’ve never made homemade bread and decided to try this easy recipe. Was doing okay, mixed all the dry, then made well in middle, added oil, added milk…….then read the pale note in parentheses warmed……too late! Milk already in bowl. Would be nice to have the adjective before the noun, especially for us readers who look at the fine print/after notes too late…😞
Love This blog 🙂
What happens if i don’t add sugar of any kind to any of the recipes? Eg this one and the apple cake or muffins?
Thanks
Hi Emma, you need the sugar in these recipes sorry! N x
Thanks. Yeah I made it without the sugar and it’s was terrible lol 😆 I just don’t want to give my 18 month old too much sugar. Especially in the moist apple muffins , they’re the most delicious ever but my husband freaked out about a whole cup of sugar.
Best with me here… marmalade
(Also you can make a decent few crumpet rings with foil. Long rectangle. Folded over a few times and then stapled together. Just remember to grease them a little
Hi, thanks so much for sharing this! My Husband seems to have a sensitivity timo yeast and so i have been looking for a sandwich bread alternative. Turned out great. Just a note…while cooling i left the foil from the second half of the cooking sat loosely on top of the loaf and this kind of steam softened the crust a little, not soggy, just less ‘crunchy/hard’. Maybe not great if you really like those crusts but made it much easier to slice without the top and edges breaking away. Hope that makes sense.
Thanks again for sharing!
Sally
Great tip Sally, I’m so glad you love this recipe 🙂 N x
Made this for the first time yesterday and it turned out wonderfully. I even forgot the salt and it was still very tasty. I made a sandwich and the bread didn’t fall apart. It’s sooo easy. Thank you for the recipe.
Good stuff didnt have yeast great french toast
Made this today. I kept looking in the oven window and it was getting bigger and bigger. Its a good size loaf. After it cooled put butter and jam on it. So good. Thank you so much for the recipe.
Hi Nagi, great receipe my entire family enjoyed it. Wanted to let you know, in the video of the receipe there is no mention of salt
Hi Savita, yes that’s correct, but it is in the recipe aa per the written instructions. N x
Hi there. Could this recipe work with gluten-free flour? My wife and I are vegan and she has gluten intolerance so it would be amazing if we could substitute the wheat flour.
My bread turned out great! I just this second made it and it’s on the cooling rack. You mentioned it can be frozen for storage, but how long will it last in the fridge for? 😊
Hi Vincenzo, unfortunately it doesn’t work as well with gluten free flour sorry! N x
Sounds great, but I can’t figure out what temp for the over for 30 min then 20 min.
If I Toast it , will it be crisp like normal yeast bread ?
Hi Imogene, it’s noted in step 1 of the instructions. N x
Hi! Navi,
Bread taste amazing but I think I used to much milk. Kinda crumbled when cutting. Is it 2 and 1/4 cup or just 2… 1/4 cups
Beautiful bread, taste great!!!!
Made it with white spelt flour today and it’s great!!! Thanks Nagi, your recipes are always a winner! 😉
That’s great to know Arlene!! N x
Thanks for devising and sharing this recipe. I’d risked Covid to pick up a bunch of exciting sandwich ingredients without realizing I’d used up the yeast for my go-to no-knead. Now I’m glad I did because my whole family enjoyed the soft texture and mild taste of your recipe. You saved our lunch!
Hi Nagi. Can I roll the dough into ball shape to make burger buns instead?
I haven’t tried with this one sorry! Would love to know if it works! N x