
Finally-a wholesome multigrain sandwich bread that won't fall apart the second peanut butter shows up to the party. It's nutty, slightly sweet, and soft enough for the kids but sturdy enough for a proper sandwich stack.

Table of Contents
No cardboard texture here-just chewy, golden goodness with a crisp crust and a load of feel-good ingredients like flaxseeds and whole grains (hello, omega-3s!). Whether you're toasting it, jamming it, or piling it high with ham and cheese, this bread delivers. And if the words healthy recipe make you flinch? I get it. But trust me-this one actually tastes like something you want to eat.
🧾 Ingredient Notes
This is an overview of the ingredients. You'll find the full measurements and instructions in the green recipe card (printable) at the bottom of the page.
- Active dry yeast is what causes the dough to rise. You can use active dry yeast or instant yeast. Either is fine. If you use instant yeast you'll add it with the dry ingredients and skip steps 1 and 2.
- Honey is the sweetener of choice here. Strongly flavored honeys will add more of their flavor. You can also use maple syrup or agave for a completely vegan recipe.
- 7 grain cereal is a dry mix of grains. I use Bob's Red Mill but you can use whatever you need. You can often find hot mixed grain cereals at Whole Foods and health food stores.
- Rolled oats add chewiness and nuttiness to the bread. The old fashioned oatmeal is best but you can use quick oats if you want. Just don't try to use instant.
- Whole wheat flour is made by grinding the whole wheat berry so that you get all the vitamins and minerals and fiber.
- Whole flax seed adds fiber, texture, and Omega-3s. Be sure to get the whole seed and not the ground.
- Bread flour has a higher protein content that all-purpose flour so the dough rises a little higher than it would with regular flour. More about different types of flour here.
- Vital wheat gluten helps the bread rise high and increases that soft, fluffy texture.
- Salt helps control the yeast (it can get a little wild otherwise) and gives flavor to the bread. I always use kosher salt.
- Butter or use vegetable oil or coconut oil for a vegan recipe.
- I also like to use homemade dough enhancer to help it rise light and fluffy.
🔪 How to make multigrain bread
Yeast looks like this when it's proofed properly. It gets foamy. That shows it's alive and kickin' and ready to be used.

When the dough has risen properly you can see that it's puffy and has nearly doubled in size. If you push your finger into the dough it won't "push back".

Multigrain bread often takes longer to rise than other types of bread. Be patient and keep it in a warm place.

Shape this homemade multigrain bread into loaves or rounds before baking.
Can I make this recipe in a bread machine?
Most bread machines can't handle the stiff dough of this multigrain bread recipe so you'd better plan on using your stand mixer or kneading by hand. Here's a video I made showing you how to knead by hand.
📖 Recipe
Multigrain Bread with Flaxseed
Print Pin Recipe Rate RecipeIngredients
- 2 packages yeast
- ¼ cup warm water, (110F)
- 5 tablespoons honey, divided use (use maple syrup or agave to make it vegan)
- 2 cups warm water
- ½ cup 7 grain cereal
- 1 cup old fashioned oatmeal
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1 cup flaxseed
- 3 cups bread flour, more as needed
- ¼ cup vital wheat gluten
- 1 ½ tablespoons salt, yes, that is tablespoons
- ½ cup melted butter, use coconut oil or vegetable oil to make it vegan
Instructions
- Add the yeast and 1 tablespoon honey to the warm water.
- Set the mixture aside for about five minutes. It will get bubbly.
Sponge
- Add the 2 cups of warm water, remaining honey, 7 grain cereal, oatmeal, 1 cup of the whole wheat flour, 1 cup of flaxseed, 1 cup of bread flour, and ¼ cup gluten.
- Stir until well mixed.
- Cover and set in a warm place to rise - about 30 minutes and up to 3 hours.
Bread
- Stir the sponge down and add the salt and butter.
- Using the dough hook on your mixer beat in the remaining whole wheat flour and enough of the remaining bread flour to make an elastic dough.
- Knead for 6 - 10 minutes, or until smooth and elastic.
- Cover and place in a warm spot to rise.
- Let rise until double, about 1 ½ hours.
- Punch down.
- Let rest for 15 minutes.
- Form into loaves and place in greased pans.
- Oil tops and cover, let rise for 1 hour or until doubled.
- Bake at 375F for 40 minutes or until golden brown.
- Loaves will sound hollow when tapped if they are done.
- Cool completely before slicing!
Notes
Nutrition Facts
Nutrition information is estimated as a courtesy. If using for medical purposes, please verify information using your own nutritional calculator. Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
This recipe has been tested several times. If you choose to use other ingredients, or change the technique in some way, the results may not be the same.
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If you have more questions check out this Bread Baking FAQs post!

Last time I put together the sponge for my multigrain bread recipe Sunday before church.
I figured it could do the first rise when I was at church and I'd finish it up when I got home. Although I hadn't tried it this way before it was actually better than the old method.
The longer rising time for the sponge made the bread even more soft in texture and seemed to give it more flavor, too.
📚 Related recipes
I love making homemade bread - I made my first loaf in 1974 and I haven't stopped since! I probably love to eat it as much as to bake it - which may not be such a good thing!
- Oatmeal honey bread is moist, soft, and a little chewy with a slightly sweet honey and oat flavor that makes it irresistible. This is my go to bread for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches - there is no bread that is better for that!
- Whole wheat bread with the chewy goodness of cracked wheat and the sweetness of honey is much easier to make than you might think! This soft, fluffy wheat bread makes fantastic sandwiches, toast, and even dinner rolls.
- Buttermilk bread is a light sandwich bread that is probably the most popular recipe here on Restless Chipotle. It's got hundreds of comments and 5 star reviews. It's an easy for beginners, too. It's the first yeast recipe my kids used when they were learning.











Deb says
Hi Marye,
I have been a professional bread baker for years and I must've taken a wrong turn somewhere when making this bread. It has been my experience that bread sponges are slack. This sponge was very very stiff. I let it proof for about an hour and a half in a nice warm place. "Stirring" it down was not possible. I had to put it in the stand mixer to stir it down before adding the salt and butter. I probably only used about 1 cup of the bread flour after adding in the remaining whole wheat flour. I panned it up and let it rise until it was doubled in size. Baked according to directions. I let the bread cool thoroughly. Once cooled I bagged it up and let it sit on the counter over night. I cut two slices this morning and I was hoping for the best. It was soooooo dense. What did I do wrong?
Deb
Marye says
The only thing I can think of is the bread wasn't kneaded well?
Deb says
Don't think so. Knead time was within the 8-10 minutes recommended and tested @ 8 gave the desired elasticity and smoothness. Is the sponge slack when you put yours together?
Marye says
It was easy to stir down. I'm just coming off of 2 months of bedrest for a broken foot but I will make it again as soon as I can stand long enough and take pictures of each stage. I don't know what else to do - I've had lots of people tell me how much they loved it and were successful so I don't know what happened.
Sharon Juarez says
Do you know if it is safe for someone diagnosed with prediabetes?
Marye says
Sharon - you should discuss this with your doctor.
Oleatha says
Is that much salt necessary? I need to watch my sodium content and am wondering if salt is for the taste or somehow necessary for the recipe. I have made the bread once and like it but want to cut the amount of salt if it doesn' tcompromise the recipe.
Marye says
You can cut it in half. The salt is for flavor but it also helps ensure that the yeast doesn't take over the dough. Half should be fine.
K McWherter says
I have made this twice. The first loaves were like large hockey pucks. The second I let it rise the max amount of time with new dry yeast. I may use instant quick rise this time.
Hand kneaded for 7 minutes. The rise was not that much. Very dense crumb and underproofed. Third time should be the charm or I go recipe hunting again. Any suggestions??
Tired of kneading!
Marye says
What are you using to knead? This is a super light loaf for a multigrain bread - you can tell in the picture. I use a bosch universal kitchen machine and let it knead it until it feels like playdough. You also might try using a bit more vital wheat gluten... but if it's dense I'd say it was underkneaded. A Kitchen Aid will have trouble with this and you may have to knead it by hand afterwards to get the right texture.
Kendy says
I hand kneaded for seven minutes. It felt like it was pretty smooth. I don’t have a good mixer any more. I hand kneaded for 7 minutes.
Maybe it needed less flour. It just did not rise very well. I don’t give up easily! Will try again. Thank you for replying.
Tammy says
Can I just add more oats instead of a 7 grain cereal
Marye says
I've never tried so I'm not sure.