Easy Crusty Vegan Bread Recipe (2024)

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Crusty homemade and super easy Vegan bread recipe (+ Video) with only 3 ingredients: flour, water and instant yeast. Plant based, no knead, no fancy equipment needed, and we won’t be using any oil at all. Truth be told this is really my Italian pizza dough recipe in loaf form.

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The best plant based vegan bread recipe ever!

Easier than making a ciabatta, this is for when you want your house to smell like a French or Italian bakery on a cold December day with minimal effort. It’s as easy as mixing three ingredients together in a large bowl, shaping a loaf and baking it.

There’s nothing else like the comforting sound of crackling crispy crust being torn over a steaming bowl of soup. This artisan bread loaf is also wonderful with this broccoli potato soup, or used for bruschetta, sandwiches and casseroles, for making bread crumbs, French toast, cheesy garlic bread and even Thanksgiving bread stuffing.

Am I right, or am I right…?!

By all means, feel free to chop up some fresh rosemary or black olives to add to your dough and give it that artisan Tuscan flair. You’ll still be under 5 ingredients, like a boss!

This vegan bread recipe is:

  • Quick & Easy
  • From Scratch
  • Egg & Oil-Free
  • Perfect for Sandwiches
  • Crackling Crust
  • Big Holes + Soft Center
  • Dairy-Free
  • Simply the Best!

The Secret to Making Crusty Bread

  1. a preheated pizza stone or cast iron dutch oven with a lid.
  2. a blasting hot oven.
  3. a tray of water to create steam <—crucial!
  4. allow the loaf to cool off in the oven or on its side on a cooling rack.

TIP: If you don’t have a pizza stone you can still bake your bread inside a cast iron skillet or dutch oven (lined with parchment paper) with the lid on instead.

FAQ

  • Is Bread Vegan or Not? Yes it is, as long as you don’t add any animal products into the mix!
  • Can I make bread without yeast? Yes you can but it will have to be a flatbread like this quinoa or potato flatbread.
  • What to do with stale bread?So you forgot you made fresh crusty bread and now you have a stale loaf instead? No problem! it’s a sign from above that you must hurry and make Panzanella + a big pot of this Italian Bread Soup / Pappa al Pomodoro right away.

How to Store It

If you happen to not eat this loaf in the same day just store it on the kitchen counter in a bread box or a reusable bag for a couple of days.

What to Serve With

My favorite way to enjoy bread is fresh out of the oven, grilled for panzanella, dunked in this vegan zuppa Toscana, unstuffed cabbage roll soup, chunky potato soup, chickpea salad sandwich and next to grandpa’s tomato cucumber salad+ vegan ribs.

how to make homemade crusty bread

Easy Crusty Vegan Bread Recipe (6)

4.94 from 45 votes

Easy Crusty Vegan Bread

Easy crusty Vegan Bread made with only 3 ingredients: flour, water and instant yeast. Homemade, plant based, no knead recipe!

Print Recipe

Prep Time:10 minutes mins

Cook Time:30 minutes mins

Total Time:40 minutes mins

Ingredients

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

  • Add the all purpose flour, yeast and sea salt to a large mixing bowl or your kitchen aid mixer. Mix in the water and stir well until incorporated. Cover the bowl loosely with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap and let it rest at room temperature for 2 to 3 hours. ( you may leave it overnight as well but it is not necessary )

    3.25 cups all purpose flour, 1.5 cups warm water, 2 tsp instant dry yeast, 1.5 tsp sea salt

  • After about 2 hours check the dough and you should notice the surface dotted with bubbles. Turn the dough onto a floured surface and sprinkle it with a little flour. Shape it into a round loaf by folding it over on itself a few times. NO KNEADING Allowed!

  • Meanwhile preheat your oven to 450"F with a pizza stone inside. I If you don't have a pizza stone preheat a cast iron dutch oven with the lid on instead). Place a baking dish with a couple of inches of water in it on the bottom rack to help create steam inside the oven for a crispy crust.

  • Sprinkle a pizza peel or a cardboard box with some flour and place the bread loaf on top. Allow it to rest for 45 minutes while the oven warms up.Using a serrated knife make a few slits on top of the loaf.

  • Sprinkle the pizza stone with a little bit of the semolina flour then gently slide the bread dough onto it just like you would do with a pizza. Cook for about 30 minutes until golden brown. Transfer to a cooling rack and allow to cool down before slicing. For an even crispier crust allow to bread to cool inside of the oven with the door slightly open.

Video

Notes

  • No pizza stone? No problem, you can still bake the bread inside a preheated cast iron skillet or a dutch oven with a lid on instead (line with parchment paper but do not preheat the paper with the dutch oven). If using this method you won't need a tray of water to create steam as the lid will trap the steam inside the pot).
  • Can I make bread without yeast? Yes you can but it will have to be a flatbread like this quinoa or potato flatbread.

Nutrition

Calories: 188kcal | Carbohydrates: 39g | Protein: 5g | Sodium: 294mg | Potassium: 63mg | Fiber: 1g | Calcium: 9mg | Iron: 2.4mg

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: Italian

Keyword: bread, plant based, vegan bread, vegan,

Servings: 8 people

Calories: 188kcal

Author: Florentina

Easy Crusty Vegan Bread Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret of crusty bread? ›

Use a pizza stone or cloche

So heat and steam are a key part of getting that crust of dreams. To help even more, pre-heat a pizza stone in the oven before starting to bake. Place the baking tray or tin directly onto the baking stone. This brings a hot surface into (almost) direct contact with the bread you're baking.

How to make my homemade bread crusty? ›

Before you start baking the bread, make sure that your oven and the form/stone on which you'll bake the bread are well heated. Bake the bread at high temperature, around 260/270°C, for the first 15 minutes of the baking process so that the crust and its beautiful golden color start developing quickly on the surface.

What makes bread more crusty? ›

Simply put, it has to do with the starch in flour. As bread bakes, its outer layer (crust) eventually reaches 180°F. At that point, the starches on the surface burst, become gel-like, and then harden in the oven's heat to a crackly consistency. Steam hitting the bread's surface facilitates this process.

How do you keep homemade crusty bread crusty? ›

Large crusty loaves can be stored unwrapped (to preserve their crispy crust) at room temperature for a day or so, cut side down on the counter. For optimum long-term storage (longer than a couple of days), wrap bread in single-day portions and freeze.

What causes crusty bread to become soft or soggy? ›

Once the bread has finished baking, it will still contain some moisture, however if sufficient moisture hasn't escaped the crumb during the bake time, it will move outwards to the crust as the bread cools. This can cause the crumb to collapse and also soften the crust, weighing it down and further creating collapse.

Why is my homemade bread not crusty? ›

This seems counterintuitive, but if you've got some soft crust bread you want crisped up, crank your oven up, then wet the bread where you want it crispy (running a wet hand over it is about enough water), and chuck it in the oven directly on the rack and bake for a few minutes until you're satisfied.

Can you make crusty bread without a Dutch oven? ›

Our secret to a brilliant crust even when no dutch oven is in sight is to fill a pot with water and put it below the pan you have picked for your bread. Then as it cooks, make sure you check on the water level so that there is always some as it bakes.

What types of bread are crusty? ›

Ciabatta. Known for its chewy, rustic texture and relative lack of rise, ciabatta is a crusty Italian loaf that gets its unique texture from a very wet, sticky dough. Ciabatta's crunchy, spongy loaf works well as the base of a densely packed pulled porchetta sandwich or as a side to a saucy bowl of mussels.

Why do you spray bread with water before baking? ›

Wetting the dough causes the surface to steam. Covering it traps the moisture. This partnership stops the bread from drying out on the surface in the hot air of the oven and forming a premature crust. Your bread rises more and produces a richer colour, becoming glossy on the surface.

Is crusty bread bad for you? ›

But while the Maillard reaction is responsible for the formation of cancer-protective pronyl-lysine, it can also result in the production of a cancer-causing compound known as acrylamide. That doesn't mean bread crust causes cancer, however. It just means the science is mixed when it comes to crust.

Is crusty bread better for you? ›

The short answer is: yes, bread crusts do contain more nutrients. The reason for this is that the baking process causes the exterior of the bread to become firmer and more browned. This chemical baking process also results in changes to the nutrients in the crust of bread.

What do vegans use instead of butter on bread? ›

What are good vegan butter substitutes? In baking, you can use vegan butter, applesauce, dairy-free yogurt, coconut oil, coconut butter, olive oil, nut butter, mashed banana and mashed avocado. In cooking, you can use olive oil, coconut oil, vegetable stock, or avocado oil to replace butter.

Is Dave's Killer bread vegan? ›

Q: Are your products vegan? A: All DKB bread products are considered vegan and do not contain any animal products, however, our limited edition DKB Snack Bars (Trail Mix Crumble and Oat-Rageous Honey Almond™) are NOT considered vegan as they contain organic honey. Q: Do you make a gluten-free bread?

Can vegans eat peanut butter? ›

The bottom line. Most types of peanut butter are free of animal products and can be enjoyed as part of a vegan diet. However, some varieties are made in facilities that also process animal products or contain refined sugar that was produced using bone char or non-vegan ingredients like honey or fish oil.

Which ingredient makes breads tender and flaky? ›

Yeast is definitely the simpler answer to this question, however the reality is that the gluten and airyness produced by the chemical reaction between yeast and sugar (which produces gluten) that really makes bread soft, rather than just being a block of cooked flour. Bread minus leavening is a recipe for disaster.

What bread is considered crusty? ›

While there are many types of French bread, some of the most popular kinds—like baguettes and boules—have an extremely crusty exterior and a chewy crumb, making them perfect for tearing, dipping or slathering with butter. It's not uncommon for these breads to require a lengthy preparation process.

What gives bread a fine texture? ›

Making an enriched dough, with ingredients like butter, honey, sugar and dairy. Many sandwich loaves are made with enriched doughs to give them a tighter, more even crumb. Because these dough have more ingredients, they rise more slowly.

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