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.
How much is 1 cup of flour (grams?) approx.? And does dry yeast work?
A very nice conversion program for cooking
https://www.convert-me.com/en/convert/cooking/
Ooh this looks good, I want to try this today. Do you reckon instant yeast would work?
I don’t have a stand mixer… are there “kneading” directions?
Just how you’d make any other bread without a stand mixer… just knead your heart out 🙂 Enjoy!
Im a bad baker with that being said every time I make bread I call it sorry bread cause it is so heavy. I followed your times of the mixer and kneading it very little. Would kneading it not enough cause it to b heavy or over working the dough. Another question do u use active dry yeast or fast raise yeast.
@ Lesley ..a few factors here ..I proof my active dry yeast in the mixing bowl with the warm water ( temp. is a factor- somewhere around 110* + / – a couple of degrees ) …sugar , warm water , yeast ..I leave that to sit for 5 minutes or so ..you will know if the yeast is active .. add olive oil and salt .. .follow with the 1 cup of flour ..if you are using a KA mixer with dough hook , I mix for about 2 minutes on speed 1 then speed 2 for about 2 minutes .. add 1 more cup flour ..speed 1 for a minute or so and same on speed 2 ..you should be around 4 minutes mixing time ..I add flour by the heaping tablespoon for the next 2 with the mixer on low speed .incorporate for about a minute …stay with it at watch it .. as it starts to pull away from the side , I add another level tablespoon of flour . this is your call now ..I use to over add flour , but I have found leaving out the 1 more you wanted to add is best left out ..I use this one to dust my kneading area with ..you should be nearing your 8 minutes of mixing time in the mixer bowl ..the dough should be sticky feeling almost to the point of staying on your finger ..roll out on your “lightly” floured surface and knead by hand for about 3 minutes or so .. you should be getting a nice smooth dough now that no longer seems sticky ….form into a ball ..return to bowl with 1/2 tablespoon olive oil ..turn to coat evenly , cover , then rest for the 1/2 hour …I have found I would rather cut 3 loafs out of this batch over the 4 ..making 4 does not yield as large a bun as you would expect from the sandwich shop .. oven temp is critical to any baking ..I use an in oven thermometer as well as check with a digital one when the one in the oven reads 350 … I found 25 minutes was too long in my oven and brought them out aournd 19 to 20 minutes..baste with the butter and cover with a dish towel and be patient and wait the half hour or so cool down .. I am very pleased with the my results after a couple of tries ..good luck and enjoy 🙂 ..
You sound like a baking pro! Thanks for all the tips.
Thanks Tom I’ll try your tips next week and let u know how it turns out.
I am not a baking pro ..I have learned through trial and error ..alot of errors ..those errors just made me more determined….stay with it Lesley untill you get the feel for it ..once it clicks you will be smooth sailing ..enjoy :).. I say this for all baking ..not just the subway bread !
Just made this and it turned out perfect!! Looking forward to a “subway” picnic tonight. Thanks for the recipe.
YEA!!!! And now I want some too 🙂 Thanks for leaving some feedback!
Can u use oil instead of olive oil if u r out???
Yep! It might have a little less flavor but I bet you won’t notice…
What does T mean? I used teaspoons for everything with a T. I used the bread machine for the dough and cooked it in the oven. The bread felt a little heavy, I froze it and used it the next day and aside from the smell of yeast I thought it made a beautiful bread and the texture was perfect for subs. I wish I could get rid of that smell of yeast and I can taste it too.
These were amazing! I don’t know if it’s my climate (my apartment isn’t overly warm this time of year) or if I was mixing at too high a speed like someone mentioned (I used setting 3 out of 12), but I stopped adding flour at probably 2 and a quarter cups because if I could tell the dough was going to toughen up if I added any more. They turned out so nice and fluffy. 🙂 I bet this recipe would make awesome dinner rolls as well.
can one make this dough in a bread maker?
I bet you could mix it and let it rise in the machine! Let me know if you try it…
thank you I will try…also, do you have a thought on how to make bread machine bread
soft in the middle? I added an egg to the simple plain white bread recipe and it seemed to help…I guess I’m a sucker for soft ‘wonder bread’ type of bread…
can you just use a hand mixer?
Yes ma’am! A Kitchen aid is a girl’s best friend 🙂
Thanks for the recipe! I too followed directions to a tee! My bread didn’t rise….hardly.at all….but went ahead and baked the loaves..they are buttered, covered and cooling now. Hoping they taste good for our meatball subs tonight! 🙂