Few years ago, if someone had told me that I would be making my own Subway Sandwich Bread at home – I would have asked them to stop joking with me or laughed on their face. Fast forward to today, I am indeed making my own Subway Sandwich Bread and a great one at that! I have come so long in the bread baking journey and this is something I have begun to enjoy thoroughly 🙂
I had been getting this recipe request for quite some time now and I decided to try my hands at making this copycat version of the fresh Subway Sandwich Bread. Until recently, I was buying French bread or loaf from a nearby store and used it for making Subway style sandwich at home. And with these recipe requests, thought why not try it at home? Infact how different could it be from all the bread recipes I have tried.
After many attempts at bread making in the past few months, I have learnt a few things. It is actually simple, if you understand your dough and what goes into it. The amount of yeast, type of flour, sugar, salt and fat – this is all you need to know to have a perfect bread recipe. Depending on the time and patience you have, apart from the climatic conditions – increase or decrease the amount of yeast. Softness of the bread depends on how well it is kneaded (don’t go overboard though) and how much fat is added (either butter or oil). I have realized that adding milk in the place of water need not necessarily impact the texture or softness of the bread. It is quite possible to make 100% vegan bread, without compromising on the taste. Bread maker or stand-up mixer is not needed at all – your hands are your best equipment! I will probably write a post just on my findings, soon.
So for this recipe of Subway Sandwich bread, I ended up using 1tbsp of Active Instant Dry Yeast. Now I can see some of you rolling your eyes at me, don’t! Since we are baking smaller sized individual mini loaves, this yeast is needed. When you see those nice holes when you cut open the bread, you know your yeast has worked well. I used olive oil for this recipe, but feel free to use melted butter. This is neither a sweet nor salty bread and is perfect for any type of filling!
There are a few improvements I can think of, for this Subway Sandwich Bread. While it is perfect in taste, there are few things that can be changed. I added in a few herbs on top but realized my mistake only when applying oil on the baked bread. You can either skip this altogether or add them at the end. Not all my loaves are equal in size. Lesson – always shape them all together and into a long log. In spite of that, they turned out golden and perfect!
I served this with my Crispy Paneer Balls, again my take on a subway sandwich! A layer of lettuce, cheese slice, cheesy mayonnaise, tomato ketchup and then these paneer balls – it was just perfect!
📖 Recipe
In a bowl, prepare the yeast for proofing by mixing the active instant dry yeast with sugar and warm water. Let it stand for 3-5 mins until it is frothy.
In a large mixing bowl, add flour along with salt and olive oil. Mix it well.
Pour the frothy yeast mixture into the dry ingredients.
Mix well until the dough is lumpy.
Invert it onto a clean kitchen counter and knead it well for 5-8 mins at the least. To knead, stretch the dough away from you using the heel of your palm, fold it over, turn it by a quarter and bring it towards you. Repeat this for full 5-8 mins.
The dough would be non-sticky, smooth and when pressed lightly, will bounce back.
Place it a well-greased bowl and cover it with cling film.
Leave it in a warm place for upto 60 mins until it is doubled up in size.
Slightly punch down the dough and knead it for another 2 mins.
Shape it into a log and cut it into 4 equal parts.
Take each ball of dough and shape it into a long log. Make sure each of them is of same length and width.
Leave them in a warm place for another 30mins or until they have doubled up in size again. Apply some oil on top and sprinkle some mixed Italian herbs on the top (this is optional)
Bake them in a preheated oven at 180°C for 25 mins until they are golden brown on all sides. Once out of the oven, brush some more olive oil on top and cover them with a clean kitchen towel. The bread will have hard crust just out of oven but will soften up once cooled down.
Serve with filling of your choice. I placed fresh lettuce leaves and a cheese slice, spread a layer of cheesy mayo and tomato ketchup and filled it with my crispy paneer balls.
Depending on the climatic conditions, increase or decrease the quantity of yeast by ¼ tbsp. Increase the quantity of oil/butter for a softer bread. For a sweet tasting bread, add another tbsp. of sugar. This recipe works well for 50:50 whole wheat flour: all-purpose flour. I have not tried 100% whole wheat version. Oven timings vary for different makes of ovens – keep a close eye on the bread while baking.
Reach out to me at [email protected]! Also follow me on: Facebook – Cooking From Heart Pinterest – CHCooks Instagram – CHCooks Twitter – Cookinfromheart Taking this to Fiesta Friday #185 and co-hosts this week are Suzanne @ apuginthekitchen and Monika @ Everyday Healthy Recipes 🙂
