Easy Crusty Vegan Bread Recipe
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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.
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
- a preheated pizza stone or cast iron dutch oven with a lid.
- a blasting hot oven.
- a tray of water to create steam <—crucial!
- 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, roasted butternut squash soup, chickpea salad sandwich and next to grandpa’s tomato cucumber salad + vegan ribs.
how to make homemade crusty bread
Easy Crusty Vegan Bread
Ingredients
- 3.25 cups all purpose flour + more for sprinkling (organic non-gmo)
- 1.5 cups warm water
- 2 tsp instant dry yeast
- 1.5 tsp sea salt
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
Easiest bread recipe you’ll ever find and turned out absolutely perfect. It’s like it came fresh from the bakery, I reached a whole new pride level today and I’m eating the whole loaf with olive oil and tomatoes because it’s Friday and I deserve this people!!
I have been looking for a good bread recipe and this one is great, so thank you. one thing I would like to ask, I have made this twice now. Each time my bread has been quite dense and I do not get the holes that I see in the video for your bread. Could you tell me what I am doing wrong?
Hi Montrell, I’m so glad you enjoyed the bread. It sounds like you might have overworked the dough during the shaping process which is very common to do, so I recommend leaving the loaf to rest and the gluten to bounce back for another 45 minutes or more. To make the transfer to oven really easy you can prep a medium bowl lined with parchment paper and place your shaped loaf inside to rise the second time while the oven is heating up. This will prevent you having to handle the dough again by using the parchment paper as handles and transferring directly in the oven with the paper. The bowl will also help keep the shape of the loaf and prevent spreading sideways. I hope that helps and the next loaf will be turn out perfect ~ Florentina
Very easy recipe. I found I needed to use 500g of bread flour. I proved in the fridge overnight which worked well. It did need longer cooking but that could be my oven. Just has some toasted & it was yummy.
Made this for the first time today to go with our lentil soup.. So delicious and super easy!! My family loved it and I intend to make this to go with some of our holiday meals in the coming months. I am curious what kind of flour I could use to lower the carbs. Any suggestions?
Beyond happy that you love the bread! I’ve only made it with all purpose and bread flour so I really don’t know what else would be fail proof to be honest.. Let me know if you experiment with something new ~ Florentina Xo’s
Could I use bread flour instead of all purpose?
yes you can!
Hi, I don’t have a pizza stone, Dutch oven or cast iron skillet. Can I use something else.
You sure can use whatever heavy pan /baking dish you have but you’ll need to probably extend the cooking time and not sure about how crips the crust will be. Report back!
I just made this for the first time, i just plopped it onto a pre heated baking sheet with a non stick sheet on top! Looks good!!
This was great!! I used my dutch oven (with the lid on), and it was wonderful! Easiest bread I’ve ever made(: Will definitely put some herbs into it next time!
Such amazing bread and such an easy recipe. I just love it! Wondering if using spelt flour would be okay? Would the loaf turn out the same?
Hi Karolina, so glad you loved the bread. Unfortunately spelt is a whole grain so it would not work for this recipe. At the most I would try half and half but the bread will be denser and really not sure how you need to adjust the baking time since i haven’t tested it that way yet. Let me know if you experiment with it.
Can I add olives to this bread?
sure you can!
Hi! t what point do you add olives or herbs? I am making this today. I can’t wait to see how it turns out.
You can add them all in your dough at the very start.
Have you ever tried making this bread in a instant pot?
I have heard people use the IP for bread but not sure if it would work here.
TY
I have not, please report back if you do!
Thanks very much for this amazing bread recipe! I have tried quite a few different recipes using different types of flour,but keep coming back to this one! It’s just so easy and super delicious. My favourite is with organic stone ground plain white flour! 🤗
This was my first time making bread and it was really good. It was very easy. I will definitely make again
Hey there! I don’t have a pizza stone, but I do have a cast iron dutch oven, You say “with the lid on” — does that mean I bake the bread with the lid on? Or just warm it up with the lid on and then put the loaf in there, remove the lid, and put the pan with water underneath and bake? Thanks so much!
You can bake it with the lid on and no need for the water dish below. Or you can bake without the lid and use the water dish. Hope that makes sense :). P.S. Make sure to add some parchment paper with the bread so it’s easy to remove, but do not preheat the parchment paper, only add it at the same time with the bread.
Wonderful, thank you so much! One more question — if I bake it without the lid, do I preheat with the water pan in there as well for the 45-60 mins before I put the loaf in?
This recipe is so easy and the bread turns out soooooo good! I make it all the time from white flour. I just tried making one using spelt flour and the loaf is quite dense. No bubbles. What should I have done differently?
Oh and I meant to leave a 5 star review!