Its soft, fluffy, and light.

Its made with a secret ingredient that keeps it moist and fluffy: a cup of oatmeal is kneaded into the dough, which also lends a bit of chewiness and texture. When you bite into the finished bread, you definitely dont think, oh theres oatmeal in here. Its a stealth operator ingredient. Its the homemade, healthier, vegan version of white Wonder bread. Ive never been a crusty baguette person. Give me soft and tender over jaw-ripping crustiness any day.

The recipe makes one modest loaf, perfect for our family, and uses just two cups of flour for the entire loaf. Sometimes I read bread and roll recipes and they start off with Add 5 to 6 cups of flour. Gulp. We dont need that much bread at once. Begin by boiling water, pouring it over oats, and let the mixture come to room temperature, about 15 minutes. I urge you to use a thermometer. You dont want to add overly hot oatmeal to the yeast because youll kill it. Yet it has to be warm enough so the yeast activates. For me, this is in the 130F range because I used Red Star Platinum yeast. The brand of yeast used dictates the temperature.

Add the warm oatmeal to a mixing bowl containing all-purpose flour, yeast, brown sugar, oil, and a splash of water. I allowed my stand mixer to knead it for about 6 minutes, and if youre kneading by hand, knead for 10 minutes, or until it comes together, adding as little additional flour as possible. This is a fairly moist and sticky dough, but manageable. With bread-making, the less flour added, and the more you tolerate sticky dough, the lighter and fluffier the bread will be. Sure, I could have added another half-cup or more of flour, but refrained and dealt with the stickiness. And I have a light, fluffy loaf in return.

I used all-purpose flour because I wanted really soft bread. Bread flour will produce a loaf thats chewier. I dont know how whole wheat flour would work. If you try it, I suggest not using more than 1 cup (50% of the total amount). I fear it wont rise well and could get very heavy and dense. After kneading, place the dough into a greased bowl, cover it, and let it rise in a warm, draft-free place for about 90 minutes, or until doubled in size. Create a warm environment by preheating your oven for 1 to 2 minutes to 400F, then shutting it off. This creates a 90F-ish warm spot. Slide the bowl in and wait while the yeast works. Just make sure your oven is off.

After the dough has doubled, punch it down, turn it out onto a floured surface or Silpat and knead it for about 3 minutes. With your fingers, shape it into a 10-inch by 6-inch rectangle, just eyeball it. Its being baked in an 8by-4-inch pan and you want the long side slightly longer than the pan, about 10 inches. Fold the short sides in so the dough is about 8 inches in length, and roll to form a tight cylinder. Theres not much to roll, about 3 turns. Place the cylinder in the pan, cover it, and allow it to rise until doubled, 60 to 75 minutes. Optionally, when rolling it, sprinkle with cinnamon, nutmeg, ground ginger. Or go savory with dill, chives, or thyme.

Bake it for about 30 minutes or until domed, golden, and puffy. When tapped, it should sound hollow. Technically, the internal temperature should reach 210F, but I have issues stabbing my beautiful bread with the long, dagger-like spear of the thermometer, so I rarely do this unless Im very uncertain and rely on visual cues and tapping. Because the cooling process is actually part of the cooking process with bread-making, let the bread cool completely before slicing into it, tempting as it is to tear into it asap.

Its so soft and fluffy, with a slight chewiness, thanks to the oatmeal. Youd never know oatmeal was the secret ingredient and even when mixing the dough, youll think theres no way this whole cup of sloppy oatmeal is going to just disappear, but it magically does. It would make great French toast or Grilled Cheese. Its wonderful toasted and with butter, jam, or honey. I made BLTs minus the bacon and used cheese, and they were met with rave reviews.

My husband told me this was the singular best toast hes ever had in his entire life, and hes a bread freak. He can plow down a bread basket at a restaurant, by himself. Bread is his thing. He loves it. Him telling me thatt this was the best toast of his life, and that he could eat the entire loaf at once if he let himself, means I now have my go-to sandwich bread recipe, and can check that off my bucket list. Up next, using it for a Honey Roasted Butterscotch White Chocolate Peanut Butter and jelly sandwich.

Print

Save

Soft and Fluffy Sandwich Bread (vegan)

The bread is soft, fluffy, light, and moist. Its made with a secret ingredient that keeps it moist and fluffy: a cup of oatmeal is kneaded into the dough, which also lends a bit of chewiness and texture. The bread is versatile for anything from sandwiches to grilled cheese to French toast. It's an easy recipe, even for bread-making novices. My husband, a bread lover extraordinaire, said this bread makes the best toast he's ever had in his entire life. Total time from start to finish is ~3.5 hours, most of which is downtime.

Yield: one 8-by-4-inch loaf Prep Time: 15 minutes Cook Time: 30 minutes Total Time: 3 hours, 30 minutes

Ingredients:
1 cup boiling water 1 cup old-fashioned whole rolled oats (not quick cook or instant) 2 cups all-purpose flour (bread flour may be used and will create a heartier, chewier bread) 1/4 cup water (from the tap, not hot and not cold) 2 to 3 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil 2 tablespoons light brown sugar, packed 2 1/4 teaspoons instant dry yeast (one 1/4-ounce packet, I use Red Star Platinum) pinch salt, optional and to taste

Directions:
1. In a small bowl, pour boiling water over oatmeal, stir to combine. Set aside and let cool until temperature reaches about 130F, about 15 minutes. (I use Red Star Platinum Yeast which necessitates this temperature; allow mixture to cool to the ~100F range for other types of instant dry yeast, or to package directions). 2. To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook (or a large mixing bowl and knead by hand for about 10 minutes), combine flour, 1/4 cup water, oil, brown sugar, instant dry yeast, and cooled oatmeal. Knead for 5 to 7 minutes on low speed, or until a moist, shaggy dough forms. The dough is fairly moist and sticky, but resist the temptation to add additional flour, unless it's so moist that it won't combine. Conversely, if it's too dry, add up to one-quarter cup water. Erring on the side of too moist is always preferable to dry in bread-making. 3. After kneading, turn the dough out into a large, greased bowl, cover with plasticwrap, and let it rise in a warm, draft-free place for about 90 minutes, or until doubled in size. Create a warm environment by preheating your oven for 1 to 2 minutes to 400F, then shutting it off. This creates a 90F-ish warm spot. Slide the bowl in and wait while the yeast works. Just make sure your oven is off. 4. After the dough has doubled, punch it down, turn it out onto a floured surface or Silpat and knead it for about 3 minutes. With your fingers, shape it into a 10-inch by 6-inch rectangle, just eyeball it. The long side should be slightly longer than the baking pan. Then, fold the short sides in so that dough is about 8 inches in length. Roll to form a tight cylinder. There's not much to roll, about 3 turns. Optionally, when rolling, sprinkle with cinnamon, nutmeg, ground ginger. Or go savory with dill, chives, or thyme. 5. Spray an 8-by-4-inch loaf pan with floured cooking spray (or grease and flour the pan) and place the cylinder in the pan, seam side down. Cover with plasticwrap, and allow dough to rise in a warm, draftfree place until doubled, about 60 to 75 minutes. 6. In the last minutes of rising, preheat oven to 350F. (If you were using your oven as a warm, draft-free place for rising, take bread out while oven preheats). Bake for about 30 minutes or until domed, golden, and puffy. When tapped, it should sound hollow. The internal temperature should reach 210F. Let bread cool in pan for 5 to 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely before slicing. 7. I store bread by wrapping a fully cooled loaf in plasticwrap, and place it inside a gallon-size Ziplock, where it stays fresh for about 5 days. Bread freezes very well and can be made from start to finish, cooled, and placed in a freezer-safe airtight container or a ziplock for up to 3 months. I like this bread toasted and with butter and a sprinkle of cinnamon-sugar or Cinnamon-Sugar Butter. It makes great Grilled Cheese, French Toast, and Homemade Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches. Recipe from Averie Cooks. All images and content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words, or simply link back to this post for the recipe. Thank you.

Recipe from Averie Cooks. All images and content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words, or simply link back to this post for the recipe. Thank you. Related Recipes: Healthy Oatmeal Raisin Rolls Hearty oats, chewy raisins, cinnamon-and-sugar combine to create these texture-filled, chewy and hearty rolls

Raisin Bread for Raisin Lovers A soft, slightly sweet bread thats packed to the brim with raisins. Made entirely by hand, no mixer

Cinnamon Swirl Bread As close to cinnamon buns as bread gets. Filled with a sweet cinnamon-sugar butter mixture thats swirled throughout, this is a tender, buttery, sweet loaf that novice bread-makers can successfully tackle

Overnight Buttermilk Soft and Fluffy Cinnamon Rolls They give Cinnabon a run for their money and are the best cinnamon rolls Ive ever had. With the handy make-ahead suggestions, you dont even have to get up at the crack of dawn to enjoy soft, fluffy, buttery, rich rolls

Cinnamon Raisin English Muffin Bread with Cinnamon Sugar Butter If youve never made bread before, this is a goofproof, foolproof, no-knead recipe thats perfect for first-timers. Youll never have a need for storebought English muffins again, especially because this bread is spiked with cinnamon-sugar and raisins

Honey Dinner Rolls My favorite dinner roll recipe, lightly sweetened with honey, soft and chewy. A family favorite and a very goof-proof yeast recipe because this dough loves to rise

Challah Light, fluffy, soft, tender, crossiant-like, and the best challah Ive ever had and extremely easy to make. Made using the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking principles, this is a no-knead, goofproof, and effortless method to making bread and dough can be made in advance and stored for up to five days prior to baking it

Soft Buttery One-Hour Pretzels Almost too good to be true. Fast and easy, soft, chewy, and just like the pretzels at the mall, at home, in an hour

Do you have a favorite bread recipe? Please share recipe links to your favorites. Thanks for the entries in the KithenAid 5-Quart Stand Mixer Giveaway! posted in All Recipes, Bread, Rolls, Muffins & Breakfast, Yeast Bread 181 comments Share Share Share Share More 4 Like 27 2 Tweet 2 You Might Also Like:

Raw Vegan Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Healthy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Miracle Cookies

Honey Maple Beer Bread

35 Favorite Banana Bread and Banana Recipes

181 Responses to Soft and Fluffy Sandwich Bread Previous 1 2