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.
Everything about this recipe worked for me just the way it was supposed to up to the final rise and baking. What I took out of the oven smelled and tasted delicious, and I have no doubt I’ll make this again, but the loaves looked more like ciabatta than sub rolls. Not that that is necessarily a bad thing, but it wasn’t what I was expecting. Any suggestions as to what I did wrong, so my next attempt will be more Subway-ish?
Too much flour. It will vary depending on temp and humidity of your house. Only add enough flour to bring the dough to a slight stick but soft consistency. You can always add a bit more later .
I’ve had really good luck with most bread recipes but mine as the same as mentioned above, they were great until final bake …. I was wondering if adding the salt at the beginning with the yeast could have effected it ??
Thank you so much for sharing!!! I am trying so hard to have our family eat at home more and support our local farmers!! I CAN”T wait to make your recipe…Thanks for sharing Kims bread machine tips!
That’s amazing! Eating and buying local is so important. I hope you enjoy the bread!
Thank you ma’am ?❤️ First recipe that done as said ?❤️ Love the smell of homemade bread ? husband approves ??❤️
So happy to hear this!
Love this recipe! I can have warm, delicious sandwich rolls for my family in no time. It works great for holiday dinner rolls, too. I’ve even used it to make a deep dish pizza. Thank you!
That’s so great to hear! I’ll have to try it for pizza!
1 1/2 tbsp sounds like a lot of yeast; is this is for fresh yeast? I only have active dry yeast, so would I need to change the quantity?
Yep, that’s the right amount and no changes will need to be made with active dry yeast. Happy baking!
My bread came out flat like another person said.
Is it 1 1/2 tablespoons of yeast? Not teaspoons?
We used tablespoons.
We also live at high altitude.
Not sure what to change or do…
Do you know if your yeast was fresh?
I agree on the quantity of yeast was too much, in my case. My first batch didn’t turn out. I am trying again with half he amount of yeast.
I’m not sure if someone has mentioned this yet but when you multiply the recipe the temperature of the water also gets multiplied. I was making a double batch and thought 220 degrees seemed a little high for yeast. I love that it’s so easy to multiply the recipe so it’s unfortunate that the temperature also gets multiplied. Hopefully you can figure this out so you can keep that handy tool!
Which type of yeast did you use rapid or the regular?
You can use either, they both work great. I typically use rapid.
Out of all the breads I have made, this is the king….. Mine I took a piece off straight out of the oven and it was a lot crispier than subway yet it devastated theirs. At this time I am wondering if they will make it till MON, as I was going to make sandwiches with them for lunch next week at work. Yet they are so good I am finding myself forcing the same restraint on myself as when I cook bacon.
Thanks for leaving a review!
Ok, made these today, and they were terrific! Billowy and light and tender – the perfect sub-shop style hoagie rolls. I followed the recipe pretty much exactly, except for using half all purpose flour (unbleached) and half bread flour (because I had them on hand, so why not). I also checked them at 15 minutes, because my stove runs hot. They were just showing that golden blush. I temperature checked them and they were at 200F internal – which is just perfect. 8″ rolls have now gotten to 79 cents each at my grocery. They’re pretty good, but that’s just crazy. These came together really fast too – which is nice. So many thanks, and blessings to you and your family. We’ll be making sub night with these rolls for years to come 🙂
So glad they turned out well for you! The tips and tricks are always helpful, so thank you!