This is the real “Eat Fresh”! Make your favorite homemade subway-style sub buns at home with fresh milled flour for a tastier, healthier, and budget friendly option!
I love the texture and taste of this bread, thanks to the eggs and extra yeast! We enjoyed our favorite Subway sandwiches at home, fresh-milled style.
What You’ll Need To Make Homemade Subway-Style Sub Buns Made With Fresh Milled Flour
Water
Fresh Milled Hard White Flour– You could also swap hard red or do a combination of hard red and white flour.
Instant Yeast
Honey
Olive/Avocado Oil
Eggs
Salt
For Italian Herbs and Cheese Seasoning You’ll Need
Italian Herb Seasoning– If you don’t have a pre-mixed seasoning you can make a DIY one.
Garlic Powder
Salt
Cheese– You can use your favorite cheese. I’ve used mozzarella, sharp cheddar, asiago, parmesan, etc.
You could also change it up and do jalapeno cheddar or oats on top for oats and honey bread.
How Do I Make My Bread Look Like A Sub?
For this recipe I split the dough into 8 equal pieces. You can eyeball it or you can weigh your dough in grams and divide by 8. It averages out to approximately 270g of dough per sub.
Now shape each piece of dough into a 12 inch log. Tuck the ends under and pinch the bottom seam if needed.
Spray the tops lightly with water and roll the moist top into your Italian herb mixture. Place in sub sandwich mold, on a baguette pan, or on a parchment lined baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap or a damp clean towel, and let rise for about 30 minutes or until tripled in size.
Do I Have To Use A Sub Sandwich Mold?
No, you don’t, but to get the best end result I highly suggest it. I have made these using a parchment lined baking sheet, a baguette pan, and the sub sandwich molds and the baguette pan were the best options for coming out like the real thing.
The only reason I preferred the sub sandwich molds over the baguette pan was how wide the bottom of the sandwiches were with the molds and I could do 5 subs in the mold vs. 3 in my baguette pan. The baguette pan made them slightly more narrow. Not horrible, but totally preference.
The parchment lined baking sheet worked and tasted good overall, but my only complaint was that the bottom was too brown (and a little drier compared to the other 2 methods) from the length of time needed to bake the sub bread thoroughly. This isn’t a fail, it just changed the overall flavor of what I was going for. If you don’t want to buy a special pan, no worries this isn’t a must to make this sandwich bread. It will still come out super tasty!
Pictured below are 2 sandwich loaves. They were baked at the same temperature for the same amount of time in my propane oven. The one on the left is what the bottom looked like with the sub sandwich mold or baguette pan. The one on the right was baked on the parchment lined baking sheet. It was just on the verge of being burnt, but if I would have taken it out earlier the middle wouldn’t have reached 190 degrees F.
This may vary with different ovens. I just wanted to share my experience.
Also note that the sub sandwich molds are meant to be used on a baking sheet. Alone they are flimsy. They fit perfectly on a 13″x18″ baking sheet.
*I bought 2 so I could bake all of mine at once. They rise super fast so they might overproof if you don’t bake at the same time.
Sub Sandwich Ideas
- Turkey and Provolone
- Meatball Marinara
- Steak and Cheese
- Veggie
- Spicy Italian
- Classic Tuna
- Chicken Salad
- or use as garlic bread
Can I Freeze These?
Yes, you can. Make sure they are cooled completely and place into bags and freeze for up to 3 months or deep freeze for up to 6 months.
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Homemade Subway-Style Sub Buns Made With Fresh Milled Flour
Ingredients
Method
- This recipe is going to move a little quicker than normal yeast bread due to the amount of yeast that helps give the soft airy texture.
- In a stand mixer add yeast, water and flour. Mix to hydrate yeast.
- Then add in honey and eggs. Followed by the oil and salt. Knead 6-8 minutes or until windowpane is reached. This will vary with mixers.
- Rest the dough for 10 minutes in an oiled bowl covered with a lid or plastic wrap.
- Punch down dough and divide into 8 equal pieces. To be accurate you can weigh in grams and divide by 8.
- Shape each piece of dough into a 12 inch log. Tuck the ends under and pinch the bottom seam if needed.
- Spray the tops lightly with water and roll the moist top into your Italian herb mixture. Place in sub sandwich mold (set mold onto a 13×8 baking sheet), on a baguette pan, or on a parchment lined baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap or a damp clean towel, and let rise for about 30 minutes or until tripled in size. This will vary with house temperature.Preheat oven to 375℉ while your dough is rising.
- Bake for about 15 minutes until golden. This may vary with different ovens.Cool in the molds before removing from the molds, but set the mold on a cooling rack so there is better air circulation and they don't get soggy from leaving the mold on the baking sheet.If you are baking on a baking sheet go ahead and move to a cooling rack after they come out of the oven.
My bread always falls apart. I use lethicin snd an egg. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I use hard red wheat
I would make sure you’re kneading until you get a passing windowpane test. Also, sometimes the egg is enough and lecithin isn’t needed. For instance: When I was testing this recipe, adding lecithin along with the eggs made it way too soft and floppy. Leaving the lecithin out gave me perfect results for what I was looking for. Hope this helps.
They taste way better than the subway buns! Thank you so much for the recipe!
Thanks for the compliment! <3 Glad you like them!
Made this recipe as is and for some reason it would not come together in the mixer. After some adjustments to see if I could figure it out, I decided to abandon ship and start again. This time I used my Z bread machine. Halfing the recipe and adding wet ingredients first, then dry, I kneaded for about 25 minutes, then followed the directions as described. I only had a sheet pan so I formed the dough free hand and baked that way. They turned out amazing! Taking them out of the oven was like walking into Subway as they take the bread out of the toaster. Definitely a new favorite!!!
Made this for the first time and everyone loved them!
<3 <3
Looks amazing and I can’t wait to try!
Thanks! I would love if you would come back and let me know how you like it!
They turned out great! I’m still learning and they didn’t rise quite right, but they tasted great. I am working on my shaping technique and that seems to have helped.
I would just like to say this is one of the best recipes for sub sandwich Rolls I’ve come across so far so light and air. Thanks so much for sharing your recipe. I’ve made it several times and everyone loves it. I try in a loaf pan haven’t cut it yet, but looking forward to seeing how that turned out. Thanks again Fresh me and mama.
So glad you enjoy them! I would love to hear your results in the loaf pan!
I used in a Loaf pan and it turned out great!!Thanks again🩷
Hi I am having trouble with my dough being very sticky, do I just keep adding flour until it’s no longer sticky to the touch. It is coming off the sides and is not sticky after it rests. But trying to get it out of the bowl it is still sticky underneath, very sticky.
If it seems too sticky you can slowly add flour until it comes away from the sides and bottom of the bowl. If you aren’t using oil on your hands before getting it out that is helpful as well.
These were really good! I did not have a sub pan and rolled mine 8 inches long instead of 12 inches, but they still were great size for Philly cheesesteak sandwiches. I struggled to get a window pane, but after 15 minutes or so of mixing, the dough was stretchy, so I just went with it. This recipe is a keeper!
Thanks!
This recipe is one of my family’s favorites! So easy to make and I love the soft, fluffy texture and health benefits of using fresh milled flour. I would like to make these for our church group, but I was thinking of using all purpose instead of hard white wheat. Have you tried all purpose by any chance? Thanks!
I haven’t.
This bread is so delicious and easy to make it’s a hit with the whole family. I love it and definitely will be making it again thank you so much for sharing!!!!
Glad you like it! Thanks for leaving feedback!
This was indeed the most delicious recipe I’ve tried for a while. I halved the recipe and had to substitute molasses for the honey since I was out. I can’t speak high enough of this recipe!
Glad to hear! Thank you!
This bread tastes so great! It’s the first semi-successful recipe I’ve made with my fresh milled flour. I say semi because they didn’t get as big as I hoped. I’m not sure what to try to fix that? Could it be my altitude, I’m in Wyoming? Or maybe I didn’t let them triple in size like I thought? I’ll definitely be making again for sure. Open to pointers. I also only made half the recipe.
Thank you! It could be altitude, but I’m not sure. Sometimes I don’t let them rise as long as I should because I don’t want them to over-proof.
BEST EVER!! My teens LOVE these rolls and ask for them every week for lunches. So THANK YOU for creating and sharing this recipe! My daughter went to a week long camp and missed these rolls every day at lunch or dinner. She couldn’t wait to come home and have some Mommy bread. (which is FreshMilledMama bread LOL) Also, I have many friends who began the FMF / bread making jouney well before I did. However, everyone is impressed with these sandwich rolls and ALWAYS asks me how I made them. You have such a talent for baking and creating recipes. (((((HUG)))) I truly appreciate the time investment you make to share these recipes with us!
You’re welcome! I love it! Mommy bread! lol! I’m so happy to hear that you all love them, and appreciate your kind words. Thank you!
Can I subsitute einkorn or durum wheat and get the same results?
I have not tried either of those so I am not sure what the outcome would look like. Sorry!
Recipe looks great but I haven’t tried yet. I need a good Philly cheesesteak roll for a reunion. Wondering if this gets nice and crusty.
It would be good for that. It gets nice and crusty if you broil them kind of like Subway does, but it’s not crusty like French bread if that makes sense.
Easy recipe to follow and oh so good! Turns out everytime.
That’s wonderful! Thanks for sharing!
This bread is so delicious and soft! I had used another recipe before FMF to make subway bread, which my family adored. I was a little worried I couldn’t compete with the white flour ones I had made in the past, but that is not so. My family loves these hoagies and they are on regular rotation in my baking. Thank you for sharing such a wonderful recipe!!!
These are the perfect sub roll. They are soft and light, perfect far meatball subs and cheesesteaks. We like to make smaller sandwiches, so I make them 6 inches and bake them on a sheet pan. They turn out perfect every time, and I like that they freeze well, so I always have some on hand.
We love meatball subs on these! So glad you enjoy them!
These sub buns are absolutely delicious! They have become a favorite for our lunch!!!
Glad to hear!
I made these for Italian beef sandwiches. I had to bake them a little bit longer than the recipe said to, but they came out perfect. My entire family loved them and they said that they are the best sub buns they have ever had. My 11 year old has been coming up with sub sandwich ideas just to have an excuse to eat the extras that I put in the freezer.
Oh, yum!
I made these exactly according to the recipe and they turned out great! Actually that’s partially true- I halved the recipe and made the subs smaller than 12” because we didn’t need them that big. But I did everything with ingredients and instructions exactly as you said, with the Italian seasoning and cheese and it was perfect. Super soft, smelled and tasted just like subway sandwich bread (but better!)
So glad you enjoyed them!
Just made these and they turned out perfect! I doubled my baking sheets to prevent the excessive browning on the bottom and they came out perfectly.
That’s a great hack!
I made these sub rolls this morning. So fast and easy! I was blown away at how soft and squishy they were. My husband said our kitchen smelled like Subway. I made the Italian herb version with freshly grated parmigiana reggiana. They were heavenly tasting. I’ll definitely be making them again.
<3 <3
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe! These are the best sub rolls I’ve ever tasted!! Soft, fluffy and packed with flavor! I’ll be making these often!
You’re welcome! Glad they were enjoyed!
We have an egg allergy. Do you think it would work to leave out the egg and use sunflower lecithin?
That should be fine!
I tried and the gluten did not develop like it was supposed to I am trying again today but is there a length of time to hydrate the flour and yeast. In other yeast bread recipes I wait 15 minutes till adding salt oil and sweetener and egg. I really am praying these turn out better. Also I have a Bosch mixer and was wondering if number 2 is to fast to knead the dough as the gluten gets ripped apart?
I don’t leave it to hydrate and I use a Bosch. Maybe you have a batch of wheat berries that is off? I have ran into one bag of my wheat berries that were hard, but whenever I used them my dough wouldn’t develop. It is rare as I’ve only had that one time in the 5 years I’ve been milling, but we just use those for cream of wheat now.
Sooo soft! They came together fast and worked perfectly for our meatball subs. Fresh Milled Mama is becoming my go-to source for fresh milled recipes. They never fail!
Awww! I’m so glad to hear that. Thank you!