  We revisit the Hofstadter butterfly for a subset of topologically trivial
Bloch bands arising from a continuum free electron Hamiltonian in a periodic
lattice potential. We employ the recently developed procedure -- which was
previously used to analyze the case of topologically non-trivial bands
[\href{https://journals.aps.org/prb/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevB.106.L121111}{Phys.
Rev. B \textbf{106}, L121111 (2022)}] -- to construct the finite field Hilbert
space from the zero-field hybrid Wannier basis states. Such states are Bloch
extended along one direction and exponentially localized along the other. The
method is illustrated for square and triangular lattice potentials and is shown
to reproduce all the main features of the Hofstadter spectrum obtained from a
numerically exact Landau level expansion method.
  In the regime when magnetic length is much longer than the spatial extent of
the hybrid Wannier state in the localized direction we recover the well known
Harper equation. Because the method applies to both topologically trivial and
non-trivial bands, it provides an alternative and efficient approach to moir\'e
materials in magnetic field.
