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 😂
So Delicious 😁😋😋😋❤😁😁💯👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 my sister and I loved this bread yummy! Quick and simple 💯👏🏾😁! Tyfs! I made a loaf for us to share and sent a loaf home with one of my daughters❤❤😁😁 Be Blessed!
May I use Buttermilk if I sub 1 tsp of the baking powder for 1 tsp of soda?
This came out perfect, we all loved it and it was so easy to make, will use this recepi a lot from now on, thank you Nagi x
This no yeast bread came out very well. Followed the instructions exactly. The bread is heartier than a reg white bread and toasted with butter is a cross with an English muffin. Family loved it!
United States I had to make an
adjustment to 4tsp baking powder (ran out) and 2 tsp of baking soda added 1 tsp of vinegar. It turned out great.
My 4 year old daughter and I made this today and the bread is DELICIOUS! I made it exactly as the directions suggest, but we added powdered garlic, dried rosemary, thyme, and oregano. It’s crusty and so yummy!
I’ve tried this recipe twice, using the metric measurements, once with a loaf pan, the second time with a muffin tin. I followed the instructions very carefully both times but both times the dough was undercooked. The muffins I left in for over an hour and the dough just wouldn’t cook through.
This came out really yummy! I used a half cup of flax seed in lieu of flour, and used a vanilla almond milk. It was delicious and we all loved it. What’s a good way to store this bread? Thanks!
I doubled the recipe. And I used half the amount of baking powder & used 1 level tablespoon of margarine along with the oil.I mixed it up in a bowl & dumped on a floured pastry map. I kneaded it a few times;the cut it in half. I kneaded one half a little more then using a rolling pin rolled it out into a rectangle. The I took one end & rolled it up kind of like a cinnamon roll. Pinched the edges & placed in a greased 5 x 10 loaf pan. Repeated for the other half of dough. Let the dough sit in pans for 20 min. Then put them in the oven for 35 min on 350°. Brushed the tops with melted butter. Couldn’t resist to wait- took out of pan & placed on cooking rack — I cut off the heel & buttered it up !! Delicious 👍👍
Made this up with Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Flour, some Xanthum Gum, and unsweetened hemp milk.
Turned out a bit on the dense side, but has a great crust and held its shape.
I think next time I will try with water for a more neutral flavor.
Overall one of the best recipes I have found so far for sandwich style gluten free loaf.
Thank you!
Water version was not as good.
Then tried with Sweetened Hemp Milk, which was excellent.
Now onto mostly Sweetened Hemp milk, except swap 100 ml of Rum and 100ml of Root Beet (We are just trying to get rid of those after a party).
Bread turned out amazing.
Super easy and great texture!
Thank you for this! Can I sub coconut flour?
I make this Gluten Free with a few modifications, and it is now my favorite yeast free bread recipe. Modifications are: First and foremost, aluminum free baking powder. There is a lot of baking powder in this recipe and the first time I made it I used standard cheap baking powder, so it had a little metallic taste, especially after it had been around a couple days. I have switched to AF baking powder for all recipes using BP now and will never go back. Of course, I use one-to-one type gluten free flour (I use King Arthur’s brand but any will do) instead of regular flour. I reduce the flour by one full cup because gluten free flour tends to be denser, I substitute 1/2 the milk with plain yogurt and add an extra 1/4 cup water to make up for the liquid lost from the yogurt substitution. Olive oil is my oil of choice. The olive oil and yogurt give it a little bit of a savory sour dough type flavor that adds a little something extra I enjoy. Thank you for this great recipe. I have stopped by gluten free bread at the store, which was always expensive tiny loaves that seemed 1/2 dried out even when first purchased. This is so much better!
Huh… been GF baking for years and never seen that part about reducing GF flour in recipes due to being denser.
I will have to try that next time. Thank you!
It was my first time making a bread.
This recipe came out perfect. My family enjoyed it, thank you ♥️🙏
Followed recipe exactly. Excellent! Just what I have been looking for.
The cup & metric measures differ. 4 cups of flour is 480 g (not 600 g) and 2¼ cups milk is 532 ml (not 565 ml). I’m in the US so used the cup scale. The batter is really loose and bread baked with a deep crack on one edge & the top is wonky. My bread pans are dark so the oven temperature is apparently way too high. Bread temperature after 40 minute bake was already 200⁰. The bread tastes good and I’ll make it again but could you clarify the measurement differences please?
Yes they differ because the countries that use volume measurements differ. This is an Australian wesbite. 1 Aus cup = 250ml water/milk. You’re using a US cup = 240ml milk or water. The volume measurements are correct using the Australian volume scale from this website which is very important. (every person measures volume differently, which is why grams are best because you can’t screw up a recipe by not measuring correctly). The author, Nagi, states 1 cup flour (white, wholemeal (named wholewheat in the US) = 140g. And 1 cup water or milk = 250ml.
On a side note, I use American websites, which give both volume and grams as measured themselves (not using a website plug in converter!), and despite stating spoon and level method was used for the flour, the weights are never equal. Some examples: King Arthur Bakers/Flour recipes uses 1 cup = 120g flour (so 4 cups = 480g), Sally’s Baking Addiction commonly uses 1 cup = 125g (so 4 cups = 500g), NYT red velvet cookies recipe state 1 1/2 cups flour = 195g (so 4 cups = 520g flour). These examples give you an idea why your volume – grams won’t match up with what the author used. KAB tell you to follow the weights if you own a scale and they’re right! Because if you follow the recipe using weights, it’s 98% more likely to turn out as the author expected you to get. I hope this helps you going forward.
So happy with this! Yeast is a possible trigger for dh’s gout so I made it for him. But I’ve been disliking how sweet and soggy our go-to brand has become recently so this covers both of us – not to mention it’s delicious. Thank you! You now have a new follower & I’m looking forward to seeing what other secrets you share.
If you follow the recipe exactly, it comes out perfectly. 🥰 Thanks for giving my stepfather something he enjoys to eat!
Thank you for this recipe! It turned out lovely! After much trial and error with previous no yeast recipes, yours is the only one that worked for me. Now, no more store bought bread, instead I get to bake my family fresh bread and save money!! (I used King Arthur’s Bread flour and used almond milk).
This recipe was a big nope for me.. I followed all instructions aside from using non-dairy oat milk. My loaf looked burnt after the first 30 minutes when it was time to cover and put back in the oven. End result was a giant biscuit, very dry, dense, and crumbly. Impossible to slice. I threw it away after having a couple pieces with some honey. :-/
This is exactly what happened to me. Sigh. The first tweet times I made it were excellent and then my control panel on my old stove stopped working and everything was over heating. I got a new oven and tried again. Weirdly it happened again so I have no idea what is wrong. I’m hoping to troubleshoot and maybe try it at a lower temperature. Not sure
Olivia, I’m so sorry this happened to you! I can’t use baking yeast and this has become my go to bread recipe. I, too, use oat milk and the loaf comes out beautifully, doesn’t burn and slices into lovely thin slices on day 2. I have nothing to do with the recipe developer, but I’m open to troubleshooting with you if you want to give this recipe a try again. I have made this loaf with several different flour combos and with half oat milk and half water and have always had consistent wonderful results.