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
hello, this looks amazing. I want to try but I recently found out I have a gluten allergy. Can I make the same recipe with gluten free flour?
Hi Kerry, I would not know how to adapt this recipe to be gluten-free without testing it first, i’m sorry!
This bread was so delicious and is every bit as good and pleasing to the eye as a loaf from your favorite bakery. A snap to make.
Florentina, I have two questions. Why all purpose instead of bread flour? And, can the salt be reduced to 1/2 tsp without affecting the end result? Thank you for sharing all the lovely recipes. Now to try the scalloped potatoes.
Yes you can reduce the salt amount, I only increased it because people were telling me it needs more salt haha. As far as flour goes I use all purpose because most people have that in the pantry and I wanted this recipe to be the easiest most basic but awesome bread you can make at home. That being said bread flour should totally be fine too!
We just love, love, love this bread!! it is simple. it is healthy. and to top it all, so easy to bake. Thank you for sharing!
This recipe is amazing and simple, thanks for sharing, I’ve just made it today. I do not have a stone or a dutch oven so I used a preheated round cake pan and it turned out perfectly. I added some olives and rosemary and it taste amazing!
I had never baked in my life and then tried using this receipe and I have got hooked on baking bread. Thank you Florentina for sharing with us. I have used the same recipe with various different ingredients and always been a success. Thanks
That’s really great, my whole goal with this easy bread recipe was so anyone can make it and end up with a decent loaf of bread without much fuss ~ Florentina Xo’s
I echo what everyone says about this being delicious and EASY. For years I made whole wheat bread in bread tins using the Tassajara recipe. It’s lockdown time here and I wanted fresh bread, but can’t go outside and didn’t want to bother any of my wonderful neighbors who have been getting groceries for me this past month. For some reason I had 15# of bread flour in my closet. Don’t ask me why. I used a cast iron skillet for baking. Put a liberal sprinkling of cornmeal on it. What people should note is that the risen loaf must slide off from whatever it is you’ve used to rest it on, and onto the baking surface. Next time I’m going to use an old time smooth cookie sheet sprinkled with flour. THANKS FOR THIS RECIPE!
Super happy you loved the bread and thanks for the tip, YES the bread sliding is a must!
WOW this bread is ammmaaaazing! Thank you so much for sharing. My first ever loaf of bread and it looks decent but tasted divine. Added a few pumpkin seeds nom nom. Sorry this review is short but i need to get back to eating the bread 🤣
Thanks for reporting back Louise, love the pumpkin seed addition, yum!
When there was no bread left in the market, I decided to try making some. I stumbled on this recipe and SO glad I did! Super easy and amazing! I used bread flour and brushed melted butter on it before baking. My husband can’t stop raving about it! Thank you!
Hi Donna! I JUST mixed all my ingredients and the dough seems sticky..should I add more flour? Thanks so much! Jennifer
HI! First time making bread, so I am a little unsure if what I am seeing is okay I mixed as directed, but my dough seems super sticky…is this normal? Should I add more flour?
Thanks for your help! Super excited to see how this goes!
Do not add more flour, the dough is supposed to be sticky, watch the recipe video for step by step visual.
This was my first time making bread with yeast and it’s such a brilliant recipe! I overbaked slightly but it was still soooo tasty – soft inside and crispy crust. I’ve just made it for the second time and I looked at the video again too, but I think I’m going a little bit wrong somewhere…
After first proving, the mixture increases in size but doesn’t hold anything like a loaf shape. It fills the bowl and flattens on top. Then when I try to shape it, it’s SO sticky and no amount of floured surface can stop it sticking. It sticks on the floured cardboard and refuses to slide off. The final loaf is flatter than yours. Would you have any tips?
Thanks so much!
My bread always seems doughy on the inside despite having a brown crust. Is there a reason for this the only part of the recipe that I do not follow is the pizza stone I use a cast iron grill instead?
I wonder if maybe you overworked the dough when shaping the loaf… The step by step video helps a lot. Also I would check the flour you are using and make sure it is fresh.
I haven’t had much luck making bread in the past but this turned out amazingly. The recipe was easy to follow and uses simple ingredients I had on hand. The family loved it. Will definitely go into rotation at home. Thank you for sharing.
Yummy and easy. Next time I will try adding something to give more flavor such as oat milk? honey? rosemary?
Amongst the four of us, before it is fully cooled, it is 3/4 gone 😉
I have made this recipe several times and love it! If I split the dough in half to make 2 small loaves, how would the cook time change?
Thanks!
You will definitely have to watch it closely and experiment, i would say cut the cooking time by a little bit but not too much, you still want the center to cook properly.
I made this bread along with some homemade creamy vegan soup. It was PHENOMENAL. Thank you so much for this easy and delicious recipe! I didn’t have a pizza stone and instead used a large cast iron pan and it worked out great! :^)
How can I transfer the dough to the pizza stone without a cardboard box or wheel? Could I put it on parchment paper and just transfer both to the stone for baking?
Sure, just make sure the parchment paper is suitable for the high temperature in your oven, this should be somewhere on the parchment paper box.