Soft Multigrain Sandwich Bread

If you've never made bread before you'll want to check out this post with all my tips and experience.

Jump to:

• ❤️ Why you'll love this recipe
• Reader review
• 🧾 Ingredients
• 🔪 Instructions
• 💭 Tips for success
• 👩🏻‍🍳 Frequently asked questions
• 🥫 Storage
• High altitude
• 🎥 Video
• 📚 Related recipes
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Comments

❤️ Why you'll love this recipe

This homemade multigrain flaxseed bread is packed with heart healthy ingredients!

It isn't heavy or gummy like other whole grain sandwich breads! It's nutty and slightly sweet with a kid friendly texture and flavor.

Finally, a nutritious, homemade yeast bread that won't crumble under a thick layer of peanut butter and jelly!

Reader review

Ali says, " ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ This is my favorite sandwich bread recipe! I LOVE IT. It works every time without fail."

🧾 Ingredients

• 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.
• 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.
• Vital wheat gluten
• 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.

Other options

You can substitute any of these ingredients in equal measure for the grains and seeds in the recipe:

• Wheat berries - bring them to a boil in 3 times the water (½ cup wheat berries to 1 ½ cups water) and then let them sit in the water overnight in the refrigerator to soften.
• Cracked wheat
• 9 grain cereal
• Barley
• Millet
• Quinoa
• Sunflower seeds

🔪 Instructions

Note: This is an overview of the instructions. The full instructions are in the green recipe card below.

1. Add the yeast and 1 tablespoon honey to the warm water
2. Set the mixture aside for about five minutes.
3. 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.
4. Stir until well mixed.
5. Let rise.
6. Stir down and add the salt and butter.
7. Beat in the remaining whole wheat flour and enough of the remaining bread flour to make an elastic dough.
8. Knead.
9. Let rise.

10. Punch down.
11. Let rest.
12. Form into loaves.

13. Let rise.
14. Bake.
15. Cool completely before slicing.

💭 Tips for success

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.

Expert Tip: Be sure to use bread flour. It keeps whole grain breads like this from being crumbly and falling apart too easily. All purpose flour is not the best choice but will work if that's all you have. Your bread will be a little more coarse. Do not use cake flour in this recipe. More about different types of flour here.

• It takes 5 to 6 minutes to knead the dough by mixer, 15 minutes by hand.
• This bread is best if it is allowed to cool before slicing.
• If you would like to use all whole wheat flour instead of part bread flour you can - it will be a little more coarse.
• It freezes well, wrapped tightly, for up to 3 months.
• You can make this multigrain bread recipe in a round, oval, or any freeform shape. The dough is stiff enough to handle it.
• It makes great dinner or sandwich rolls!
• I make mine in a loaf pan but that's just a personal thing because I love it for sandwiches.
• You need a good stand mixer for this whole grain yeast dough. I've kneaded it by hand in the past but it takes a long time and strong hands.
• I use a Bosch. You can probably use your Kitchen Aid since it's just a little over 2 pounds of dough.
• Multigrain bread has a longer rising time than most of the breads I make. You'll need to be patient but it is worth it.
• It freezes well so you can double up the recipe and make several loaves - or form into rustic dinner rolls.

👩🏻‍🍳 Frequently asked questions

Here are the questions I am most frequently asked about this recipe.

If you have more questions check out this Bread Baking FAQs post!

🥫 Storage

Homemade, from scratch yeast bread doesn't last at room temperature as long as the commercial loaves (and loaves baked from commercial dough that's been frozen). Whole grain breads tend to mold even more quickly than white bread so plan on eating or freezing this promptly.

You can keep this tightly covered at room temperature for about 2 days - maybe 4 if you use a vacuum sealer carefully.

Don't store homemade yeast bread in the refrigerator - it makes it dry out.

For longer storage freeze it. I like to slice it, flash freeze the slices on a cookie sheet, then stack them in a freezer container with parchment in between the slices.

That way I can grab 2 slices of bread for toast or a sandwich without thawing all of it.

High altitude

🎥 Video

Kneading bread can be tough to explain even though it's so easy to do. Here's a video tutorial that will help!

Click on the image - video opens in a new tab so you won't lose your place.

Do you cringe when you see the words healthy and recipe in the same phrase?

I admit that I do. Maybe it's because generally healthy recipe can be translated "tastes like cardboard. "

I promise you this is not the case here. This multigrain flaxseed bread is not coarse or dense. It's a little chewy with a thin, crisp crust and a wholesome, nutty flavor. 

Since there are flax seeds as well as a ton of other good seeds and whole grains this homemade bread recipe is high in omega-3 fatty acids. That's the stuff that keeps your cholesterol at a healthy level.

Multigrain flaxseed bread is delicious toasted  and generously smeared with butter or your favorite jam.

When this is in my house I do not low-carb. It's impossible!

Lock the loaf in a tin breadbox. Have one of my kids (all of them are taller than me...all of them!) put it on the highest pantry shelf...

It still calls to me like a siren song until I drag a chair over, pick the lock, and cut a slice!

I don't even feel guilty afterwards. Not even a little. This nutritious recipe has 151 calories, 17 carbs, and 4 grams of fiber per slice plus all kinds of vitamins A and E and omega-3s.

📚 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!

Here are some of my favorite bread recipes here on Restless Chipotle.

• 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!
• Onion cheese bread is light with a crisp crust, tender crumb, and great onion and sharp cheddar flavor. Try it for your next grilled cheese or ham sandwich!
• Kalamata olive bread has a crispy crust and a chewy crumb that just can’t be beat. Serve along side your favorite pasta dishes or use as sandwich rolls.
• 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.

Also be sure to check out the Muesli Bread recipe with whole grains, nuts, and dried fruit!

📖 Recipe

First published August 2016. Last updated January 10, 2021 for easier instructions and better readability.