So I have something to admit. It doesn’t have an effect on my baking, but it sure has an effect on my consuming of those baked goods.
I’m allergic to yeast.
That’s right! The horror! But what does that mean for me?
Basically, it means I can’t consume yeast in pretty much any form. I can’t eat bread, pastries, pizza crusts, or anything that uses yeast as a leavener.
Now, it’s not a life-threatening allergy, so sometimes I mistakenly consume it, or not so mistakenly, but if I value my quality of life for a few days (and my family’s! ha!), I avoid it like the plague.
That all being said, I decided it was high time I looked for a recipe for a sandwich bread that I could eat. I haven’t been too upset about not being able to eat yeast (I’ve gotten used to it), but the final push toward looking for a yeast free bread was my daughter.
She’s two, and from what I can see, I’m fairly certain she is allergic to yeast as well. It wouldn’t be surprising. It’s been passed down through the females in my family pretty consistently. It’d actually be more surprising if she didn’t have the allergy!
So my husband and I made the decision to do a trial with her to eliminate yeast and see how she feels. I noticed a HUGE change when I stopped eating it, and I feel like she will too. We’re in the midst of that now, so I’m hoping I know either way soon!
Of course, through all of this, my kids are huge fans of toast. Not just your every day sandwich bread though. They’re fancy with their Italian or French bread, and I knew they would all be difficult to please!
Enter this delicious recipe from RecipeTin Eats. It’s not exactly like the fluffy sandwich bread I was remembering, but without yeast, it’s basically impossible to get that same texture. This is so delicious that I don’t even care!
This recipe reminds me of a delicious homemade biscuit, but the shape and size are perfect for toast, sandwiches, and more!
I do want to note that in the recipe that I linked above, I followed the metric set of ingredients, which included weights. According to the Google, a cup of all-purpose flour is 120g, which would make the recipe need 5 cups of flour, which is what I used. It turned out great!
For the ingredients, I used all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, avocado oil, oat milk, baking powder, nu-salt (salt substitute), and sesame seeds.
Not only is this recipe yeast-free, but I made it dairy and salt-free too!
I want to be able to send this to my in-laws’ house to share, and they avoid extra salt in their diets. Seemed like a good idea to use a salt substitute in addition to the dairy substitute that I try to use for my own little family.
This recipe is unbelievably easy as well!
To start, I preheated the oven to 425°F (~218°C). While that was preheating, I ripped off a piece of parchment paper that was roughly the length of the loaf pan.
I placed the parchment paper in the pan to get a rough size guess, and I adjusted it as I needed to. I then pulled it out and poured a bloop (technical term!) of oil in the pan, which I then spread around to grease the bottom and sides. I put the parchment paper back in the pan and smoothed it out. This will help with removing the bread later on!
On to the bread! I measured out the flour in the bowl using a scale. As I’m sure you’ve seen in previous recipes, I tend to prefer to use weights on dry ingredients for accuracy.
I added the granulated sugar next in the same way. After that came the rest of the dry ingredients – the nu-salt and the baking powder. It can be difficult to measure the baking powder, so I used a knife to level off the teaspoon before adding it to the bowl.
Next, I whisked the dry ingredients together to get them all distributed evenly. Then I made a well in the middle of the dry ingredients for the wet ingredients. I had to make it deeper and still ended up overflowing! Whoops!
Then comes the wet ingredients! I measured and poured out the milk and oil into the well I made in the dry ingredients.
I mixed the ingredients together next, and I started out with a whisk. As soon as it started to get a little too tacky for the whisk, I switched to using a spatula.
Once the ingredients were all incorporated, I scraped the sides down to make sure everything was mixed. The batter was very thick, but instead of being like a normal bread dough, it felt more like biscuits!
At this point, I was ready to put the batter into the prepared loaf pan. The bowl was heavy, and it didn’t pour very well, so watch out for that!
I scraped the batter out into the loaf pan, and I tried to spread it out as well as I could. It was definitely very sticky. Then I smoothed it out as best I could!
Almost forgot to add the sesame seeds! I am a huge fan of sesame seeds for the lovely nutty flavor they lend the bread. Yum.
Into the oven it went! I set it for 30 minutes, with the intention of checking it and adding aluminum foil.
At 30 minutes, I took it out and placed a piece of aluminum foil over top. This allowed the bread to continue baking on the inside while making sure the outside didn’t get too brown!
I didn’t make the bread too tight, but I did fix it after this picture, rest assured!
At this point, I reduced the temperature to 375°F (~190°C). The bread baked another 20 minutes at this temperature.
Then it was time to take it out!
Isn’t she a beaut?
Yeah, she has some character, but the best breads do! Look at that golden brown goodness.
I couldn’t wait to cut it open, but in reality, I should have at least waited until it had cooled down pretty far. Still a beaut and still so tasty.
I’m 100% sure I’ll be making this again. In fact, I’ve already started mixing up the ingredients! Enjoy!
Yeast and Dairy Free Sandwich Bread
An easy and delicious sandwich bread for when you can't have yeast or you've just run out!
Ingredients
- 600 g (5 c) all-purpose flour
- 15 g (3 tsp) granulated sugar
- 8 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp Nu-Salt (or table salt or other salt substitute)
- 565 ml (2 ¼ c) oat milk (or milk of choice)
- 65 ml (¼ c) oil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F (218°C)
- Prep a 9" loaf pan by greasing with oil and placing a piece of parchment paper in it with some overhanging each side
- Add all dry ingredients to a large mixing bowl
- Make a large well in the middle of the dry ingredients
- Pour the wet ingredients into the well
- Mix everything until well incorporated
- Scrape he batter into the prepared loaf pan and smooth out the top
- Place in the oven for 30 minutes
- After 30 minutes, cover the top of the bread with a piece of aluminum foil
- Reduce the temperature to 375°F (190°C)
- Bake for an additional 20 minutes
- Remove the loaf pan from the oven and let cool
- Once cooled, remove the loaf from the pan using the overhang of parchment paper
- Slice like regular sandwich bread
Notes
This bread will slice better after sitting for a bit (or even a day) in the refrigerator.
The texture is very similar to a biscuit, so it may be a little bit crumbly.
Feel free to use other salts, though if you use kosher or cooking salt, increase the amount to 1 ½ tsp.
Sarah is the founder of Baking Kneads, LLC, a blog sharing guides, tips, and recipes for those learning how to bake. Growing up as the daughter of a baker, she spent much of her childhood learning the basics in a local bakery.