This yeasted whole grain sandwich bread is soft and perfect for sandwiches!

So you want to make plant-based, whole grain bread, but don’t want to use a sourdough starter? I’ve got a fantastic recipe for you! This yeasted bread is super easy to make, uses rolled oats and whole wheat flour, has no refined oils, and makes two beautiful, delicious loaves with a soft crust you can use for sandwiches. It is an oil-free, plant-based adaptation of a recipe I learned at the King Arthur Baking School at the Bread Lab.

King Arthur Baking School at the Bread Lab

Making your own bread is a terrific way to eliminate plastic waste and control what ingredients are in your bread!

This bread uses a soaker. This simply means we soak some of the grains in water to soften them before assembling the dough. We do this to soften the whole grain and so the grain doesn’t pull water from the dough. The soaked grains aren’t fermented, just softened.

It is also an enriched dough, meaning things other than flour, water, salt, and yeast are added. In this case, we are adding nut butter, applesauce, and liquid sweetener (maple syrup or molasses). The original recipe called for butter, but I’ve found that a mixture of nut butter, any kind, and applesauce (or another fruit, winter squash, or sweet potato puree) is a great substitute. This combination still keeps the crust soft while being refined oil free, fiber full, and low-fat. Interestingly enough, you don’t taste the nut butter in the final loaf, even when using peanut butter! If you have a nut allergy, you can use sunflower seed butter, just replace the nut butter with more applesauce or pureed avocado. This will still make a beautiful loaf, the crust is just a little tougher, more crusty using applesauce alone. We still like that bread and the crust will soften if you store the bread in a cookie tin.

Making the Soaker

The soaker is just rolled oats and water.

Combine the rolled oats and water in a mixing bowl. Water temperature doesn’t matter. Cover and let rest at room temperature a few hours or overnight. I find that the lid from my stock pot fits perfectly in my bowl above the oat mixture, so no plastic needed. The oats will absorb all the water and look like prepared oatmeal.

The oats soak up all the water and get soft after several hours.

Making the Dough

Really chop up the nut butter and soaker so they mix well in the dough.

To your soaker, add more water, nut butter, applesauce, maple syrup or molasses, salt, and yeast. Use a bowl scraper or rubber scraper to mix this together, breaking up the nut butter and soaked oats.

This is the shaggy, tacky dough you’re looking for.

Add your whole wheat flour. I use whole red wheat because we love that flavor, but you can use white wheat as well. White wheat has a more mild taste. Mix this together with your bowl scraper or hands. You’re looking for a shaggy, tacky dough. Add more water if the dough is too dry. You don’t need to mix this into a perfect dough right now, as it’s going to sit another 20 minutes so the whole wheat has a chance to absorb some of that water and soften the grain.

After a little rest, the dough is less tacky.

After resting, turn the dough out and knead, using as little flour as possible. Use AP flour for kneading, if you use any, as you don’t want to incorporate sharp bran that could cut the gluten strands and keep your dough from rising. Knead until the dough is elastic and has some strength to it.

After kneading, the dough is smooth and elastic.

You can use the doorbell test we talked about in the Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread post, but because of the amount of oats in this dough, it may not have as much spring. Here’s what your doorbell test will look like. Notice that the dough is elastic and strong, just doesn’t bounce back as much:

Doorbell Testing Multigrain Bread Dough

This video shows what a successful doorbell test on a multigrain bread dough looks like.

Put this dough back into your mixing bowl. Cover with a towel and put in a warm place, like your oven with the oven light on, for an hour or so.

Shaping and Baking

After first rise.

The dough rises beautifully! Turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, divide into half. Pat each half into a rectangle with the short end just slightly less than the width of your loaf pan, and form your loaf.

Pat out dough just slightly less than the width of your loaf pan.

Place into the loaf pans seam-side down. Cover with a towel and return to the warm location to proof again, about 1½ to 2 hours.

Shaped loaves in the pans.

Gorgeous second rise!

Heat your oven to 400°F and bake uncovered 35-40 minutes. Take the loaves out of the pans immediately and cool them on wire racks.

Cool the loaves out of their pans.

Let them cool before you slice. I know it’s hard! Your loaves continue baking a bit while they’re cooling, so be patient so you don’t cut into gummy bread.

There’s few things better than homemade bread!

This bread makes great sandwiches! Try it with my Better than Egg Salad, Plum Jam,  Apple Butter, or whatever sandwich fillings you love. I think you’re going to love this bread!

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5 from 6 votes

Multigrain Whole Grain Sandwich Bread

Full of whole grains and refined oil-free, this soft loaf is perfect for sandwiches or toast!

Course Bread

Cuisine Kids, Nut-Free, Soy-Free

Keyword oatmeal, Whole Wheat, Yeast

Servings 2 Loaves

Author Cindy Thompson, MS, NBC-HWC | Trimazing! Health & Lifestyle Coaching

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Ingredients

Soaker

• 170 grams rolled oats
• 236 grams water

Dough

• 680 grams whole wheat flour red or white, your preference
• 410 grams water
• 18 grams salt
• 8 grams instant yeast
• 28 grams applesauce or other fruit, winter squash or sweet potato puree.
• 28 grams nut butter any type, your choice. May substitute more applesauce, winter squash, sweet potato, or avocado puree for a nut-free option.
• 56 grams maple syrup or molasses

Instructions

Make Soaker

• Combine the rolled oats and water in a mixing bowl. Water temperature doesn't matter. Cover and let rest at room temperature a few hours or overnight.

Make Dough

• To your soaker, add more water, applesauce, nut butter, maple syrup or molasses, salt, and yeast. Use a bowl scraper or rubber scraper to mix this together, breaking up the nut butter and soaked oats. Add whole wheat flour. Mix this together with your bowl scraper or hands to form a shaggy, tacky dough. Add more water if the dough is too dry. Cover and let rest 20 minutes.
• Turn the dough out and knead, using as little AP flour as possible, until the dough is elastic and has some strength to it.
• Return dough to bowl. Cover with a towel and put in a warm place for an hour.
• Turn out risen dough onto a lightly floured surface, divide into half. Pat each half into a rectangle with the short end just slightly less than the width of your loaf pan, and form your loaf. Place into the loaf pans seam-side down. Cover with a towel and return to the warm location to proof again, about 1½ to 2 hours.

Bake

• Bake uncovered, 400°F for 35-40 minutes. Take the loaves out of the pans immediately and cool them on wire racks.

Notes

Substituting applesauce or other fruit/vegetable puree for the nut butter will yield a slightly stronger crust. It is still wonderful and does soften when stored in a sealed container, like a cookie tin.