Copy Cat Recipe for Subway Honey Oat Bread

Alright, folks....this is one my husband found online because he wanted me to make him bread to make his sandwiches on for lunches....This was in order to reduce the amount of times he made Subway runs in the middle of his workday, and therefore reduce his lunch spending budget to less than $30 instead of $60 per month.   I of course asked if he would be okay with me buying sub rolls or hoagie rolls from the grocery store, and apparently they aren't good enough and don't work very well.   So we went on a hunt to find a recipe to make this bread which hopefully will solve our problem. (Remember, this is mostly to save money, and I personally happen to have the time, and don't mind baking bread once a week for our family. If you don't have the time or desire, feel free to just buy the hoagie rolls at the store.)

I found the original recipe here, but it was missing some very important details in the directions that you would only notice and know how to do if you were a bread baker to begin with.  I want to tweak it enough that even the most novice bread makers can make this, so it is more fool proof.  Whoever wrote the recipe is possibly great at making bread, but not good at writing recipes.  So I am going to re-write the recipe with a couple of changes in directions (ingredients remain the same) so anyone can make this bread. That is, if you have a desire to make your own subway sandwich rolls. :)

Copy Cat Subway Honey Oat Bread

1 1/2 c bread flour
1 1/2 c whole wheat flour
1 1/4 c buttermilk
1 egg
2 1/2 tsp yeast
1 tbsp sugar (not enough to sweeten, it's just there to feed the yeast)
1 tsp salt

Topping (if desired)

2 tbsp warmed honey
1 tbsp vegetable oil
3 tbsp rolled oats
(Directions: mix together honey and oil. Brush on loaves, sprinkle oats on top when ready to bake)

In a medium bowl, combine flours and salt; set aside.

In a small saucepan, heat buttermilk just until warm. You may need to whisk it as it heats up because it may separate (mine did).  Remember, you don't want it to boil or even bubble, just until it's warm.  Remove from heat and whisk in egg, and then add sugar and yeast.  Let stand for 5 minutes.

In your stand mixer (I have a Kitchen Aid, but a Bosch would work fine.  You can do this by hand but it gets to be a pretty stiff dough so when you add the last half of the flour, you'll need to get rid of your spatula or spoon and knead by hand), slowly add flour mix to the buttermilk mix.  Knead in mixer for 5 minutes, then remove from mixer and hand knead for another 5 minutes.

Spray the inside of your mixer bowl with cooking spray, and then replace dough and cover with plastic wrap.  Let rise for about an hour to an hour and a half.  It should be double in size when done.

Shape dough into 10 inch loaves/logs (like french bread...don't use a loaf pan), and let rise again. Brush with honey mixture and sprinkle oats. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.


**I'm in the process of figuring out if bread flour is really necessary or if all purpose would do just fine.  The difference between the two flours is the percentage of gluten, which makes the dough more elastic and helps it to rise and be softer.  Bread flour has more gluten.  I plan to make a batch with all purpose flour after making the one with bread flour and seeing if there is a marked difference.  Bread flour does cost more and it's harder to get in large quantities.**