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 😂
Just came out of the oven… looks Devine. (I’m not a baker, total newb)
Wow..I was really surprised how easy this no yeast bread recipe is..and best if all it works every time and tastes great. Thank you Nagi..
I just baked a loaf in a round pan (didn’t realize I have no loaf pan!) and even at 6000ft elevation it came out sooooo great! Thanks so much!
What if i don`t have butter or oil?
I made and love it.!!! I shared it with my daughter that have 7 children at home. The whole family love it. My daughter has taken it to a new level. She uses this recipe for so many things. I must have her to share them. Thanks!!!
Mine looks more like pancake batter than dough. I followed the list. 2 1/4 cups of milk seems a bit much
either the first or the second statement is wrong…
1st chilly day so I made Potato Ham cheese soup. Found this recipe and was not only grateful, I will make it again and again. So flavorful
Thank you so much!!
Wooow best simple recipe ever. It came out perfectly. Thank u so much
sorry, but what size baking tray is used?
9×5
Thank you for this yummy and simple recipes 😍😍😍😍😍
Hi
I loved your yeast free bread though didn’t try yet.
As being vegetarian, I don’t use yeast and eggs will you please share some more yeast free recipes for making pizza, burger buns, etc. thank you
Thank you for the Recipe. I have just tried it, I hope I got it right, I am in my last 10 Minutes, and hopefully the result will be close to yours. So long as I get the bread done, I will be happy. It will be my first Bread-Baking experience.
Have just popped it in the oven, so hopefully it comes out alright, although I don’t have foil so improvising on the cover for 20😅 just wondered is this the type of dough that you could make ahead and bake the next day? Or only same day make and bake?
I found your recipe online, tried it once and has been my go to recipe for sandwich bread. Thank you sooooo much! Cheers****
I made this bread when I was so broke I couldn’t even afford a loaf of bread and it is so easy and it taste better than regular bread and it does slice better the second day. I give it ten stars thank you for sharing this so easy bread recipe
Can you make this bread in a bread maker
I tried this bread and loved it
Just made this today with self raising flour and table salt. Seems to have come out ok. A little browner than the maker’s pics are but I have gas oven so takes a lot of adjusting to get oven temps correct. Cut the crust in 5mins as couldn’t resist, but it didn’t crumble. I’d likely do 25mins uncovered and 25-30 covered next time
Thanks for that feedback Mel! N x
I will try this recipe without yeast as I’m allergy to yeast
It is cheaper to make as it is expensive to buy and not always easy to find
I already send my opinion but forgot to click on notify me so there it is
Can you use the bread maker for this recipe thank you
I don’t have one so haven’t tested that Eugenie, sorry! N x
Great recipe! I added about a tablespoon of Italian herbs and it was awesome!
That’s a great tip Joanna!! Thanks! N x
Hello!
Do you know if you can freeze the dough if this bread? Or should you only freeze once it’s been baked? Looking for a recipe that I can make alot of and freeze for later use. Thank you!!
I think it’s best to freeze after baking Michelle! N x
Awww! Dozer looks like a good boy. I hope he got some toast and jam!
I just tried this, using extra-virgin olive oil, and it came out great. One issue I had was that the overhanging bits of parchment paper got so brittle and fragile they were basically useless in taking the bread out of the pan. Fortunately I used an improvised aluminum foil loaf pan with flexible sides so I could still get the bread out pretty easily. The downside was that the flexible sides meant the loaf kind of spread out sideways more than I wanted. Oh, well.