Last Updated on October 1, 2026 by Michelle

When I started using fresh milled flour over a decade ago, I made loaf after loaf of door stopper-style bread.

This fresh milled honey oat sandwich bread was my first break through. Hallelujah–after so many failures, finally, I made a loaf my family would eat. And it was so soft and fluffy.

I truly think the secret is the pre-soaked oats… they make the bread so soft, fluffy and add such a great texture.

That, plus the sweetness of the honey? Get outta here. It’s insane.

I pretty much guarantee this honey oat sandwich bread will become your family’s new favorite.

Why you’ll love this fresh milled honey oat sandwich bread

It’s soft and fluffy. Perfect for enjoying with butter, toasting, or using for sandwiches.
It makes amazing French toast.
It’s easy to make–truly one of the easiest fresh milled bread recipes I make.
It stays soft for days and days. Thanks to the soaked oats and extra sweetness from the honey, this bread is still as soft and fluffy on day 3 as it is on day 1!
It’s nutritious. Thanks to the wholegrain oats, fresh milled flour and unrefined sweetener (honey), this bread is a powerhouse of nutrients.

Why use fresh milled flour?

Milling your own fresh flour allows you to enjoy all of the nutrients found in whole grain wheat. Fresh milled flour goes straight from whole grain wheat berries -> fresh milled flour -> nutritious bread.

As opposed to store bought flour, which is sifted to remove nutrients, bleached for whiter color and heated to remove any remaining nutrients. Then they add “vitamins” back in as well as dough conditioners, enzymes and/or maturing agents.

Yuck.

I much prefer using my trusty grain mill to mill organic wheat berries into nutritious fresh milled flour.

What is the best fresh milled flour to use for sandwich bread?

If you’re milling your own flour, you’re going to need wheat berries.

All flour starts out as whole grain wheat kernels, called wheat berries. If you’re making bread with that flour, your flour needs to be able to form gluten.

Soft wheats don’t allow for strong gluten formation, so avoid using soft wheat flour for bread.

On the other hand, hard wheats (like hard white wheat, hard red wheat, and heritage wheat varieties) are great for making bread.

These days, I stick with heritage versions of hard red wheat for bread making.

Which wheat berries should I use to make honey oat bread?

There are lots of wheat berries you can choose from when you’re making bread.

The easiest choice is simple hard red wheat berries or hard white wheat berries.

However, heritage versions of those same grains are more nutritious and less modified by hybridization. The grains you can use to make bread are listed blow, in order of my personal preference.

Heritage hard wheat varieties

My personal top choices are:

Rouge De Bordeaux,

Turkey red,

or Dakota Snow

Use “soulyrested” to save on heritage grains.

Ancient grains

Ancient grains are great for making bread, but you’ll most likely want to add some Vital Wheat Gluten (I use around 1 Tablespoon per cup of flour). This is because ancient grains have lower or weaker gluten potential, making them a little harder to use for bread. Some of my favorites are:

Modern grains

Modern grains are specifically bred to grow quickly, contain lots of gluten, and make good bread. This makes them a natural choice for bread making, especially for first time millers. They’re at the end of my list of choices simply because they’re generally less nutritious than heritage and ancient grains.

Hard red wheat

Hard white wheat

Can you make fluffy sandwich bread with freshly milled flour?

Soft and fluffy sandwich bread with fresh milled flour is absolutely possible. In fact, you’re in the right place.

This recipe is one of my go-tos for a classic, soft, slightly textured sandwich bread. As a side note, this same dough also makes amazing dinner rolls, if that’s your thing. Soft honey oat dinner rolls are always a hit when we have company over, especially if I have time to make homemade cinnamon butter to pair them with–heaven.

If you want to make sure you get a high-rising, soft, fluffy loaf of fresh milled bread, consider adding vital wheat gluten (see more in recipe). This just helps the dough develop strong gluten, which makes your bread rise higher.

Totally optional to add it, but it does help. I often add it when we’re having company over, and leave it out if I’m making loaves for just my family.

Fresh milled honey oat sandwich bread ingredients

The ingredients you need to make this delicious fresh milled honey oat sandwich bread are probably already in your pantry! You’ll need:

boiling water
rolled oats (learn how to flake your own oats!)
honey
butter
salt
cinnamon
yeast
fresh milled flour
vital wheat gluten (optional)

Do you soak oats before adding them to bread dough?

Soaking oats before adding them to bread dough is a great way to add moisture to your dough. This leads to a softer and fluffier loaf without and added effort.

Soaking the oats also creates a softer crumb in your loaf, because the hydrated oats soften before baking. This helps make sure there’s no hard, chewy, or dry bits of oats in the finished bread.

In this recipe, we’ll soak the oats in boiling water, along with the butter (to melt it), cinnamon, honey, and salt.

By the time we add the rest of the ingredients to the softened oats, the water will be the perfect temperature to help the yeast proof.

Notes/adjustments for honey oat bread

If you prefer dinner rolls, just shape the dough into 12-24 rolls in step 4 instead of shaping into a loaf. Lower cook time.
Prefer maple syrup? The honey can be substituted for any liquid sweetener like maple syrup, date syrup or molasses.
If you’re feeling fancy, brush the top of your loaf with egg wash (1 whole egg whisked with 1 tablespoon of water) and sprinkle with oats before baking.
To keep the top of your loaf soft, try brushing it with butter as soon as it comes out of the oven (while it’s still hot).
For the best crumb, try to wait until the bread is fully cooled before slicing (I often break this rule, though!).

Print Recipe

Fresh milled honey oat sandwich loaf

Soft, fluffy, and perfect for French toast--this fresh milled bread will become a new family favorite!

Servings: 2 loaves

Equipment

grain mill

Ingredients

2 cups boiling water
1 cup rolled oats
½ cup honey
¼ cup butter
2 ½ teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon yeast
5-6 cups fresh milled hard wheat flour see notes
3 tablespoons vital wheat gluten optional

Instructions

Combine the water, oats, honey, butter, salt, and cinnamon in a large bowl and set aside to let that cool for about 15 minutes, or until it’s still warm, but cool enough to touch without burning yourself. Next, add the yeast, most of the flour, and vital wheat gluten.
Knead the dough for about 10 minutes, or until the dough feels soft and stretchy. Add more flour if needed to create a soft, but workable dough. You can use a mixer for this, but this recipe is one that I love to knead by hand. It’s such a lovely dough to work with, it’s almost a shame to let the mixer do it! Form your dough into a ball, grease a large bowl, and grease your dough. Cover and let rise for about an hour, or until doubled in size.
Divide and shape the dough into two loaves. Do this by gently pressing each loaf out into a ½-1 inch thick rectangle, one side being the same size as the length of your bread pan. Fold the top portion of your dough into a triangle shape. Using that triangle as your start, roll the dough up into a log, tucking in and ends that are longer than the log as you go. Don’t be afraid to stretch the dough out as you roll, making sure there are no gaps or air bubbles that will cause a miss-shapen loaf. Place each loaf in a greased loaf pan, cover, and let rise again until almost doubled.
Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes.

Notes

*I like to use heritage grains instead of modern ones. They're more nutritious and taste better. Feel free to use modern hard white wheat or hard red wheat if that's what you have.