Easy Vegan Bread Recipe
What does a loaf of white bread make you think of? For me, these soft and fluffy staples remind me of lazy Saturday mornings, and picnics in the park. Nothing tastes better than a slice of freshly baked bread, still warm from the oven with a lovely spread of your favorite condiment – vegan of course!
One really interesting part of being vegan is that because it isn’t mainstream (YET!), you have to actually sit down and have a good think about your food; it’s not so much about how to obtain protein like most non-vegans believe that we can get from vegan protein powders, here it’s more about ensuring the products that you buy and consume whilst you are out are not made of animal products or do not involve animal cruelty in anyway.
And this slowly transforms you into a beautifully creative chef and human being, finding yourself cooking and eating healthier meals as you go along. These healthier meals must include plant-based protein rich foods like quinoa. I found this recipe of quinoa Smoothie very tasty, filling and healthy.
Vegan who work-out requires more proteins then the general vegan. We can naturally get proteins from several plant-based protein foods while people who work-out can get from these plant-based foods as well as from vegan protein powders as suggested in this article.
The great thing about bread is that it’s super versatile. There’s bread options for every mood, every occasion and every diet. This includes low carb and gluten free options, sweetbreads and savory bread (you can try out the types of sourdough breads that are vegan listed here) but most importantly, the ENDLESS number of amazing home-made vegan bread recipes! This vegan white bread recipe is easy to replicate, and turns out deliciously soft.
Why Vegan Bread?
It’s Free of Bird Feathers!
But what you are probably thinking is this – Can vegans eat bread? And if you are asking this about your local bakery or bread that you find in your grocery store. Most likely the answer is no. Vegans generally cannot eat bread that is not advertised as vegan bread. Why? Read on to find out the shocking ingredients in bread you probably were completely unaware of.
Unlike commercially available bread found in regular stores, it doesn’t contain any eggs, preservatives (can be sometimes harmful like Disodium Inosinate which is explained here) or dough conditioners (derivatives of bird feathers) etc. Using these non-diary milk alternatives or water is enough to get the moist, softness of the bread you need. You can find the non-dairy milk alternatives in this article.
Made without the eggs and/or dairy products found in conventional bread recipes, my vegan bread recipe is cholesterol and cruelty-free. I have provided the most basic vegan bread recipe below, but to jazz things up you can also add some wholesome ingredients like fresh or dried fruit, nuts and whole grains. I do have another fancy bread recipe, give me a shout out if you want me to do a blog post on something along the lines of that. For now, this is your simple bread that is vegan.
You can easily use this as a base recipe and change it up to include other ingredients such as cracked grains or seeds. This vegan bread sits well on the counter for a few days, but for longer life, refrigerate in an air-tight container. You can eat it as is, toast it or make sandwiches; it tastes just as nice savory or sweet.
The Best Vegan Bread Recipe (Ever!)
Vegan Bread Recipe
Ingredients
- 500 g All-Purpose/Plain Flour
- 5 g Instant Dry Yeast
- 330 g Soy Milk (or Water)
Instructions
- In a large bowl mix together the flour and yeast, and form a well in the bottom.
- Pour in your choice of vegan milk(or water, depends on what you prefer) and with a fork or wooden spoon slowly pull the flour into the liquid, mixing carefully so that it is fully absorbed. By now you should have a rough dough to work with.
- Work the dough into a ball and place on a floured surface.
- Knead the dough for at least five minutes or until it becomes smooth. At this point the dough should be fairly moist and sticky, which is the perfect consistency. Take care to resist the temptation to add additional flour, unless it’s so moist that it won’t combine. Alternately, if it’s too dry, little by little add more of the liquid ingredient to get the correct texture.
- Once that’s done, lightly dust some flour on the top of your dough, place in a bowl and cover it in a kitchen towel. Let it sit in a warm, dry place and allow it to rise for an hour (or until it doubles in size).
- Turn the dough back out and onto your working surface to gently flatten it. Knead it some more to get rid of the excess air bubbles, and start shaping it into a loaf by repeatedly folding it on itself and rolling it.
- Place your dough into the loaf pan and cover it with a kitchen towel. Let it sit in a warm, draft-free environment for another hour.
- Towards the last few minutes of the previous step, preheat the oven to 180 Bake for 25 minutes or until golden. If you are unsure, perform a quick tap test and check that it sounds hollow.
- Let the bread cool its pan for 5 to 10 minutes before you turn it out onto a wire rack to cool completely before slicing.
Nutrition
Vegan Bread Tips & Tricks
- The instant dry yeast can be substituted with 1¾ tbsp of fresh yeast (15 g) or with 2½ tsp of active dry yeast (7.5 g), activated as instructed on the packet.
- With bread-making, the less flour you add and the more you tolerate the sticky dough, the lighter and fluffier the bread will turn out to be.
- Use water instead of cruelty free milk if you want your bread to have a lighter texture and be more fluffier!
- Use a large bowl which can accommodate up to 3 times the size of the dough, so that the dough never touches the towel covering. If the dough rises and touches it, it can stick to the towel.
- It is recommended that you knead the dough for 8-10 minutes. It is not necessary as the bread will bake without that much kneading as well; but the kneading helps get the perfectly formed dome airy crumb.
- If your dough is still too sticky after cooking, my trick is to place some aluminum foil over it and bake for another 10 minutes. Covering it ensures that the top of the bread does not burn, but allows it to cook a little more as you desire.
Enjoy your vegan bread recipe in any of your meals with the simple recipe mentioned above.
