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-try these simple bread recipes: Homemade Italian Bread, Easy Bread Sticks Recipe and Mom's 4 Loaf Wheat Bread Recipe.
Homemade Subway Bread
You guys, they turned out amazing! Really and truly. Plus, it wasn't all that hard to do. Next time I'm going to double the recipe so that I have some leftovers and I'm going to try to freeze them. Lucky for me, I found a jar of pickled banana peppers in the pantry too. My sandwich was half banana peppers and half everything else because those are my favorite thing ever.
The homemade Subway bread was just perfect. It had a very soft crust (thanks to a little butter and letting them steam in a towel as they cooled) and a light middle, and it kind of smashed into nothing when you ate it. Just like the real thing. Sure, Subway is cheap, but it's pretty fun to make them at home. Your family will be shocked and amazed at your mad skills and you'll be able to put on as many banana peppers as your heart desires. Best deal ever!
Just top with your favorite sandwich toppings and a heavy hand of mayo and you'll have yourself something ridiculously close to an authentic Subway sandwich made at home. Even if you aren't craving Subway, this homemade Subway bread recipe is a great one to keep on hand for any future hoagie needs.
Tips and Tricks for making Homemade Subway 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.
- 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.
- Like pickled banana peppers as much as I do? Check out my recipe on how to make easy refrigerated pickled banana peppers (great use for extra garden or farmer's market produce).
How do I know how much flour to add to bread dough?
If you haven't ever made dough 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.
Can I still make homemade bread without a stand mixer?
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.
Can I incorporate whole wheat flour in this bread recipe?
This recipe works well with half whole wheat flour mixed with half all-purpose flour for whole wheat sub buns.
More amazing bread recipes:
- Classic French Baguette Recipe (this is an overnight recipe, easier than you'd think, and makes such amazing sandwiches)
- My Favorite Go-To Sourdough Bread Recipe
- 100% Whole Wheat Bread Recipe (my favorite whole grain sandwich bread, it's super soft)
- Sourdough Hamburger Buns
If you’ve tried this easy homemade subway bread recipe or any other recipe on Bless this Mess, then don’t forget to rate the recipe and leave me a comment below! I would love to hear about your experience making it. And if you snapped some pictures of it, share it with me on Instagram so I can repost on my stories AND add your photo to your comment so that other can see your creation.
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Homemade Subway Bread Recipe
- Total Time: 2 hours
- Yield: Makes 4 9-inch sub buns 1x
Description
Perfect homemade Subway bread recipe, just like the restaurant. This recipe makes a perfect copycat loaf of Subway bread for sandwiches at home.
Ingredients
- 1 cup warm water (110 degrees F)
- 1 tablespoon instant yeast
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 ½ to 2 ¾ 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, ¼ 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.
- Prep Time: 1 hr 35 min
- Cook Time: 25 min
- Category: Bread
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: subway bread recipe, subway copycat recipe, easy hero bread recipe, best sandwich bread recipe, subway bread
Tried and True Bread Recipes:
- Homemade Cornbread Muffins
- Grandma Lucy's Famous Clover Rolls
- Jumbo Dinner Rolls
- Whole Wheat Spinach Bread
- Big Soft Pretzels
- Homemade Italian Bread
- Easy Bread Sticks Recipe
- Pineapple Zucchini Bread Recipe
- One Hour Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls
NOTE: One of the awesome Bless this Mess readers, Kim, had great success using her bread machine to make this recipe. Since so many have asked about that I thought I would share her notes. Kim said that 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. Here's how Kim's homemade sub bun turned out:
Thank you for sharing Kim! I hope that helps someone else out too.
Enjoy this perfect Homemade Subway Bread recipe, just like the restaurant. This recipes makes a perfect copycat loaf of Subway bread for sandwiches at home.
Laura
This wasn’t bad, just certainly didn’t taste like a copycat recipe of Subway (though now I’m realizing it might have never intended to be a Subway copycat recipe and I just read into the recipe name?…). I also found 25 minutes to be too long for cooking the loaves— that king made for a crunchy bottom. I had one spare dough loaf that I didn’t want to squeeze onto my pan so I cooked it following the others; a 15-minute cook time seemed to be just right.
★★★
Deborah
love the recipe but wondering why no one ever lists what speed to use on the mixer.
Kelly
How is the loaf the next day? I have picky bread eaters and they have to have it soft. Would be nice to make this the day before.
Thanks!
Amanda
I’ve tried 2 batches & it doesn’t rise once formed into the rolled loaves. My yeast blooms, the dough doubles in size on first 30min rise, but then doesn’t rise anymore…looks like flatbread 🙁 Help! I so badly want this recipe to work but don’t want to keep wasting ingredients or time. I’ve made other breads & rolls successfully for many years so I’m at a loss.
Jolene
I haven't tried this recipe yet but I did manage a subway back in the late 90's. Of course their bread came in frozen sticks and were placed on racks to thaw and stretched and twisted while rotating them until they were at the full length then misted with water and placed in a proofer to finish rising. Do you think that if making several loaves in one big batch that the dough could be frozen and allowed to raise later even if you had to use the oven on the lowest setting with a bowl of water inside as a proofer?
Melissa
You for sure could play around with that! Let us know how it goes!
Tom
I made this in the bread machine, came out great!! I added the full 2-3/4 cups of flour all at once. Add all the ingredients and hit the "dough" cycle, then pick up the recipe at the point of rolling out the loaves.
I made 3, 12-inch sub rolls instead of 4, 8 or 9-inch rolls. I cooked mine on a silicone sub roll mold. I also used spray margarine instead of rubbing on butter. The 25 minute cook time seemed too long. Mine were great after about 15 minutes.
Stephanie
What did you click for the pounds 1.0, 1.5 or 2.0?
Gloria Rhinehart
Very easy recipe and it turned out good.
Suseb
Family raved about these sub rolls! They started brainstorming how else we could modify the recipe for other uses as well. This one just became a staple in my meal planning rotation.
★★★★★
April
Can I add my sourdough into this recipe? If so what would you recommend?
Thanks!
Jamie
Loved this recipe. I topped mine with a little oil, shredded cheese, and oregano before baking. Making for the second time tonight.
Jessica Loney
This was so delicious! We made them twice in the first week we found it. Highly recommend! Thanks for the scrumptious recipe!
★★★★★
Visitor
How about trying to make a real Subway multigrain bread. For a start whole wheat means whole wheat, all whole wheat and nothing but the whole wheat 🙂 and then additional seeds.
Missie
Is there a way to make this without the salt? Or can you use No Salt?
Melissa
Bread made without salt tastes really really bland, I don't recommend it. It's not "needed" for the recipe, it would still turn out but it doesn't taste great.
Lacey
Mixing salt and yeast together in the begging will kill the yeast correct?
Melissa
Nope it'll be fine.
Gretchen
I realized when I read your comment that I forgot the salt! Baked the sub rolls and they turned out great. We made turkey and cheese sandwiches, but we didn’t notice the flavor was off or anything with the bread. I worried the yeast would over rise but nope everything was fine.
★★★★★
Dana
Salt balances the yeast so the dough doesn’t explode. Maybe less yeast if you don’t use salt. Flavor will be affected, however
Ella Trout
Thank you for sharing this recipe. It turned not perfect the first time. And what a great sandwich it made. I just had to watch a video on kneading bread, I don’t have a machine. That was pretty fun too.
★★★★★