
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.
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.











Missy Wilson says
Can you put in grams? I have made this bread recipe 5or6 times and it’s very good. I like using grams and I have tried to convert to grams but it’s seems way off on ingredients. Plus I like to mix my seeds (flaxseeds, pumpkin seeds,sunflower seeds and amaranth seeds.) I haven’t had a problem with this at all.
Marye says
I don't measure so I really can't help with that. If what you're doing is working I'd keep doing it.
Cindy says
I can imagine. This bread’s wonderful potential, but I’ll be throwing the first attempt away due to way too much salt. I’ll prolly reduce it to only about 1:5 teaspoons. I’m truly bummed about it, but I’ll try again. Totally bummed.
Marye says
Are you using table salt or Kosher salt?
Leo chartrand says
I dont try it now but bi sure i gone try it the recipe look good
Sarah says
Hi Marye!
At what point in the process do you add the homemade dough enhancer? Do you still use the vital wheat gluten if you use the enhancer?
Marye says
I add it mixed with the first cup of flour. Yes, I still use the gluten.
Sarah says
Thank you! I made the bread and it seems very heavy and not very fluffy - I didn’t end up using all the bread flour / I had about 1/2 cup left. How do I know when I have added enough? I have a Bosch mixer - maybe I kneaded it too long? I let the sponge rise for 3 hours. I must be doing something wrong - help? 😆
Peg says
Well, I tried this but made some substitutions buckwheat for the whole wheat). I also couldn't find the wheat gluten. It tastes great, but didn't rise much. I used a warmed oven for all the rising steps to counter our cold weather. It rose ok the first 2 times, but not much at all the second time. Maybe I just didn't wait long enough? I used all the highest lengths of time in the recipe.
Marye says
So Buckwheat has very little gluten - and you didn't use the gluten called for in the recipe. The dough requires gluten to rise. If you want a nice, fluffy loaf of bread you'll need to get the gluten (Amazon has it) and use whole wheat flour.
Jean says
In place of wheat gluten I use whey protein powder. I make this bread every two weeks. I freeze two slices wrapped in Saran Wrap and freeze it. I also grind half cup flax seed with 1/2 cup whole flax seed I’m pre diabetic and it does not spike my blood sugar. I only use 3 tbsp honey, 1cup bread flour and the rest is whole wheat flour. It turns out great.