Homemade Subway Bread Recipe
on Jul 13, 2017, Updated Aug 21, 2024
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Perfect Homemade Subway Bread recipe, just like the restaurant. This recipes makes a perfect copycat loaf of Subway bread for sandwiches at home.
I love making homemade bread. It’s easier than you think, makes the house smell amazing, and provides that little extra something for your meal. Plus I can put on as many banana peppers as my heart desires, so I’ll also be making up a batch of easy refrigerated pickled banana peppers, too.
The homemade Subway bread was just perfect. It had a very soft crust (thanks to a little butter and letting it steam in a towel as it cooled) and a light middle, and it kind of smashed into nothing when you ate it. Just like the real thing.
Your family will be shocked and amazed at your mad skills, and you can wow them with an amazing cheese steak sandwich served on this perfect sandwich bread. Mom for the win!
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Soft crust and light as air in the middle – a perfect replica of Subway bread
- This is a great recipe to keep on hand for any future hoagie needs
- A simple bread recipe with basic ingredients you’ll likely find in your pantry
Recipe Ingredients
- Yeast – If buying yeast in the packets, you’ll need to open two to measure out the amount needed for this recipe
- Sugar – Plain old sugar to make the yeast happy!
- Olive oil
- All-purpose flour
See the recipe card below for full information on ingredients and quantities.
Popular Variation: Italian Herb & Cheese Bread
I have had a few people email me and say that just before baking they brushed the outside of the dough with olive oil or butter and then sprinkled on some Italian seasoning and some Parmesan cheese for a great homemade Subway Italian Herb and Cheese bread.
I can’t wait to try this myself on any number of creative sandwich recipes!
How to Make Homemade Subway Bread
- Mix wet ingredients with all dry ingredients except the flour. Let the mixture stand for 5 minutes.
- Add 1 cup of flour and mix for 3 to 5 minutes. Add an additional cup of flour and mix well, and then add rest of flour a little at a time, until a soft dough is formed. Knead until smooth.
- Place the dough in a bowl and cover. Allow to rise and then shape into 4 rolls, allowing these to rise again.
- Bake at 350 for 25 minutes, brushing with butter and covering when they come out of the oven.
Recipe FAQs
If you haven’t ever made a simple bread recipe before, the goal is to add just enough flour for it to be a soft but not sticky dough. If you add too much flour, you’ll end up with Subway bricks instead of bread.
No stand mixer? This recipe can be made by hand, just be sure to knead it for a full 8 minutes. That’s a long time but developing the gluten helps the bread to be soft.
This recipe works well with half whole wheat flour mixed with half all-purpose flour for whole wheat sub buns.
Expert Tips
- This bread froze just about as well as other breads. It was still soft but seemed a bit dryer after freezing. Fresh is best but they do freeze and thaw well.
- Do not skip rubbing with butter and covering the bread with a towel to cool. This is the key to the texture of this awesome bread!
- One of the awesome Bless this Mess readers, Kim, had great success using her bread machine to make this recipe. She let the bread machine run the full dough cycle, which is 1.5 hours long. After the cycle she shaped the loaves and let them rise for an hour before baking.
More Amazing Bread Recipes to Consider
Homemade Bread
100% Whole Wheat Bread Recipe
Homemade Bread
Soft Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread
Yeast Bread Recipes
Brioche Bread
Yeast Bread Recipes
Challah Bread
Did you make this recipe? Leave a ⭐️ review and share it on Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest!
Homemade Subway Bread Recipe
Equipment
- baking sheet These are a go-to that every kitchen should have.
- KitchenAid stand mixer This classic KitchenAid always gets the job done!
Ingredients
- 1 cup warm water, (110 degrees F)
- 1 tablespoon instant yeast
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 1/2 to 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
Instructions
- In the bowl of your stand mixer, add the water, yeast, sugar, salt, and olive oil. Let the mixture stand for 5 minutes.
- Add 1 cup of flour and mix with the dough hook for 3 to 5 minutes. Add an additional cup of flour and mix until well combined. Continue adding the flour, 1/4 cup at a time, until a soft dough is formed. The dough should still stick to the bottom of of the bowl, but pull away from the sides. Let the dough mix for around 8 minutes total.
- When the dough has come together but is still sticking a bit to the bottom of the bowl, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth. The dough should be very soft. Shape the dough into a ball and return it to the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow the dough to rise for a half hour.
- After the dough has risen, turn it out onto a clean surface and divide it into 4. Roll each piece of dough into a long skinny loaf that is about 9 to 10 inches long.
- Place the rolled loaves onto a baking sheet lined with parchment or a baking mat. Repeat with the rest of the dough. Allow at least 2 inches between each loaf on the pan.
- Cover the loaves with a greased piece of plastic wrap and allow the loaves to rise until doubled, about an hour.
- Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. When the loaves are ready, bake them in the preheated oven for 25 minutes.
- When the loaves come out of the oven, rub the tops with a stick of butter and cover them with a dish towel to cool.
- Let the loaves cool for at least 30 minutes before cutting down the middle and topping with your favorite sandwich fixings.
Notes
- Rubbing the loaves with butter and covering them with a towel to cool are part of what keeps them very soft, so be sure not to miss those steps
- If you don’t have a stand mixer, just mix the flour in a bit at a time, kneading very well after it’s all incorporated.
- Add seasonings to the dough to change it up, like garlic powder or Italian seasonings.
- Instead of shaping the dough into loaves for Hoagie-style bread, make it into whatever shapes of sandwich rolls your family likes. Note that smaller shapes may need a shorter baking time.
Can I use yeast that doesn’t require proofing first?
Yes, that’ll work great!
WOW!! This was a great recipe! I’m pretty new at bread baking, but I decided to try it (since Fast Food is just too expensive now). I made my husband a BMT sub for dinner; he said it was better than Subway’s! Need I say more?!
I’m in love with this recipe. I have never had success making breads but yesterday we were having French Dips and I forgot to get rolls. I made these buns with zero expectation of it being edible, I never get it right. Then, my toddler was in turbo-destruction mode, and i kinda forgot about it rising the first time that was only supposed to be 30 min. Yeah, i forgot it for like 4 hours. It was nice and fluffy though! Followed through with the rest of the recipe as if i hadn’t just ruined the first rise. I made buns, did an egg wash and sprinkled the Everything Asiago Seasoning, they were flippin delicious!!! Perfect!!! My husband and I were like kids in a candy shop. This is the only bread recipe I’ll ever use.
The recipe turned out very well. Soft and fluffy but still holds whatever stuffing you put in. Family and friends loved it.
Glad to have this recipe to add to my list of breads, I can now make for my family. Thank you.
Did everything to a T.
1x recipe, cut into 4. These turned into baguettes. And not sub buns. Would be better for cheese sticks. Usually breads easy for me.
I assume 2x the recipe for 4 loaves. Will try that before disregarding the recipe.
I just made this recipe last night an it it worked exactly how you described it, my kids really loved these buns, they were soft an didn’t fall apart, I lost some veggies but that’s because I packed them lol I will keep making these thank you for sharing 🙂
Turned this into 5 buns. Used part whole wheat and put a couple scoops milk powder in. Turned out great. Would make again.
I am trying to learn and need some advice. I tried this recipe and had the same problem as a couple of the other commenters. All went beautifully until after I shaped the bread. While waiting for the second rise, the dough spread outward. After an hour, I had 4 loaves that were about 4 1/2 inches wide and only 1 inch high. It covered the whole jelly roll pan. I baked it anyway and had flatbread. What causes dough to behave that way? My yeast was fresh. My water was 108°. The yeast/water mixture got nice and foamy. I used the entire 2 3/4 cups of flour and I made the dough in my stand mixer with a dough hook.
I know I’m late commenting on this but you can buy the same bread forms that subway uses on Amazon for $10. I just bought one, that’ll help them from spreading all over and you only let the dough rise in the form until it’s about 2 inches from the top of the form, the width will fill the whole form up, bake it per recipe
I found this post incredibly useful. The tips and insights you’ve shared are going to be very helpful for my work.