The objective of this study was to produce functional bread combining the microencapsulation of Lactobacillus plantarum PTCC1896 and sodium alginate, salep, tragacanth and whey protein concentrate based coatings. Probiotic bread was manufactured by the application of edible coating forming solutions based either on individual hydrogels e.g. 0.5% w/w sodium alginate (ALG), 0.5% w/w tragacanth (TRA), 0.5% w/w salep (SAL) or binary blends of 0.5% w/w sodium alginate and 2% whey protein concentrate (ALG/WPC), 0.5% w/w tragacanth and 2% whey protein concentrate (TRA/WPC) and 0.5% w/w salep and 2% whey protein concentrate (SAL/WPC) containing Lactobacillus plantarum PTCC1896, followed by an air drying step at 220 o C for 5 min were produced. The results of the viability of probiotics showed that whey protein concentrate could improve significantly (hy; 0.05) the viability of L. plantarum PTCC1896 throughout drying and room temperature storage. At the end of storage period the treatments, ALG/WPC and TRA/WPC having highest survival rate (8.34 and 8.26 Log cfu/g respectively). The result of the viability of probiotics in simulations of gastrointestinal system showed that treatments containing whey protein concentrate have a higher survival than individual treatments. After 2 hours stomach condition and 4 hours intestine TRA/WPC and ALG/WPC having highest survival (7.43 and 7.32 Log cfu/g respectively). A steep decrease of the average puncturing force was observed in all treatments, and binary blends treatmens had the lowest average of puncturing force. There was no significant impact (p 0.05) of the edible coating composition on hardness, moisture and water activity of breads crumb and storage time influenced them significantly (p 0.05). Evaluation of moisture content of breads crust showd the combined treatments had higer moisture content and water activity than individual treatments. Color analysis throughout storage period demonstrated that index L and b dimined while index a enhanced with presence of whey protein concentrate. The sensory evaluation showed that all treatments except ALG and ALG/WPC were not significantly different (p 0.05) with control bread. Overall results show that edible coatings can be used as a vehicle for L.plantarum PTCC1896 and this coatings leading to bread with similar characteristics to common bread, but with additional healthy benefits. Keywords: Lactobacillus plantarum PTCC1896, Edible coatings, Bread, Polysaccharide, Protein