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 😂
Can you make this bread in a bread maker
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
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
Love this recipe, i wanted something to test for yeast sensitivity, and replace bread: this worked quite well for both.
i was wondering: gluten development comes from the physical kneading of wet dough. obviously, if we take the time for that w the current method, we lose the activated baking soda.
but it’s separate self-contained leavener. unlike yeast bread, we can add it to begin leavening at any time?
so i hope to test a modified method, leaving the baking powder out, forming a slightly wetter dough, kneading it for gluten development – better consistency, hold, crumb? Then folding in the baking powder in the last minute/s.
the slightly wetter dough is to allow the gluten to thicken the dough while still having a thin enough end result to take the baking powder & not compress it during baking – theoretically.
w a mixer, it might be possible to knead air into the dough & assist leavening, and adjust the amount of baking powder – the rise of the current is excellent, but you notice the taste. perhaps some malt for flavour?
obviously, i now have a great deal of fun kitchen time ahead, thank you so much for that!
also, thank you for the metric conversion system on this site: converting by hand is time consuming & often flawed.
Wow Iain!! It sounds like you are a very experienced baker and I will be quite interested to hear how that all turns out. My main concern would be getting even distribution of the powdered leavener – let me know how you go!! N x
I made this yesterday evening using gluten free self raising flour. Yesterday it looked like there had been too much oil but it tasted nice still so I thought maybe if making the bread using gluten free flour it’s best to use less oil than the recipe states. This morning it looked different…not oily looking anymore and is the best tasting gluten free bread I’ve ever had. Even my brother who isn’t gluten intolerant enjoyed it this afternoon. I have smaller loaf pans so made two loaves. Without adding anything else to the recipe this bread is full of flavour as it is. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe.
Thanks for that feedback T – it’s really helpful for readers who need g/f options! N x
I finally made this today with self rising flour, 2Tbsp of chia seeds and 1/2 tsp of rosemary. Amazing!! So glad I found this recipe. Thank you!
Thanks for that feedback D! N x
Working well,and perfect.we are thinking of adopting the recipe and feed many homes in the Northwest Province of South Africa.
I just made this bread and it smells gorgeous but the crust has split from the lower part of the bread. It looks a bit like a raised pie crust. Would you know what I did wrong I followed the recipe using SRFlour. Many thanks xxxxx
Thanks for your reply, I went ahead and used bread flour Country Grain and of course added baking powder and was amazed how good it turned out.
Thanks for a great recipe!
That’s great Vee!! I am happy it worked out! N x
Thank you so much for this recipe! We found out through allergy testing that my son is allergic to yeast. I’ve made this bread a few times now and he loves it!
I’m glad he’s enjoying it Kyla! N x