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 😂
I just baked this. Used water instead of milk. Came out amazing baked in round cake tin. Cut within 30 minutes, and was not crumbly.
That’s great to know Ttello! N x
Hey! Was just wondering what size loaf pan you used?
It’s in Step 2 of the recipe at the bottom of the post: Grease a 22 x 13 cm / 9 x 5″ loaf pan, then line with parchment/baking paper with overhang (to lift out). N x
Just made this with unflavored Almond milk. Super simple, let sit for 2 hours before cutting. Edges are somewhat crumbly but who cares,.it tastes delicious!
Thanks for that feedback Mae – very helpful for people who can’t have dairy milk! N x
I just made my first loaf and it turned out so good. I managed to let cool for almost two hours, just in time for afternoon tea, and it was worth the wait. I used 1 cup whole wheat, 3 cups of all purpose flour, and there was great flavour. Tender, soft bread. It was so easy. I will definitely make it again. Can’t wait for the cookbook!
This recipe is so good! It smelled so nice when I took the foil off that I had to work really hard not to eat the whole thing right then and there! Alas, my impatience forced me to slice it and eat it before it was fully cooled and it crumbled apart….. A delicious mess.
Plan to make this first thing in the morning. I was wondering, can you substitute butter for oil?
I’m considering making 2 loaves, one with oil and one with butter and seeing which turns out better.
My loaf just came out of the oven!! It looks and smell wonderful, and we can’t wait to dive into it.. I followed the recipe exactly as it was written – and it baked perfectly.
I tried leaving a picture but wasn’t able to. Anyways, thanks so much for sharing your recipe.
I did follow it but I use self rising flour . in the center still very slightly dough ugh but did use Everything seasoning on top of bread while it dough it looks good and smells good but did put it back for like 10 more min for center to cook more…
That’s great Marge! Well done! N x
Cant wait to try this. We have major flooding coming again and wont be any bread around. Thank you so much for the recipe Nagi.
Oh Susie – stay safe! I hope it’s all ok where you are! N x
Yes. The brand is Cup4Cup multipurpose Flour Gluten Free. I get it at Target but they do have it on Amazon. It measures just like regular all purpose flour
I made the sandwich bread with out yeast but I made it using cup4cup gluten flour. I followed your instructions except After taking the foil off the bread I cooked it 32 minutes instead of 20. It was delicious. Thank you!!!
That is great feedback Claire – thanks for letting me know. Is Cup4Cup the name of the brand? I always like to know which brands have been successful! N x
Used the metric weights and it worked perfectly. Would love to know if you can bump up the taste with herbs like rosemary and maybe garlic. If so, how much would you put in?
I rate your recipe a 5 star for its simplicity! I am going to make a couple loaves sometime this week for sure. I will let you know how my bread turns out. Thank you so much!
Thanks for the wonderful recipe. Can I make this in a bread maker?
This recipe looks amazing and simple! Can I use brown sugar instead of white? I wonder if that would change the chemistry much.
I haven’t tried that Jay but I think it would work fine – it might change the colour slightly! N x
I baked this, but instead of 220°C, I mistakenly used °F and my loaves came out beautifully after adding an extra 20 mins at 350°F and 10mins at 300°F – for the white flour bread, and skipping the last 10 for the whole wheat version. They came out high, smooth on top, fluffy and not crumbly at all. I love this recipe.
I just made this receipt using gluten free plain flour. Thought you might like to know, it’s amazing and worked really well.
Thank you for letting us know that it works well with gluten free flour. I am using JustAboutFoods brand. Trying to eat healthier.
Yes thanks for the feedback! It will help other readers…what brand did you use? N x
I just made this as a last resort for bread but had to make in muffin pan looks good taste like bread but next time will make it sweet topped.
Make the yeast free bread, was lovely & easy. Had crust slathered in butter yum! Will try to make sandwich/toast tomorrow. Thank you
The BEST bread recipe I’ve tasted so far!!
Just made and in the oven for first round and glad I stumbled across the recipe as I’m without yeast but tons of gelatine 🤦♀️(note to self must remember when last time of ueast is opened and to restock!). Have seven minutes remaining before removing from oven and covering and returned to a reduced temperature 180 oven….
Excellent Recipe! Followed directions exactly and it came out perfect! Thanks so much for an easy bread recipe!