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
This bread is amazing. My daughter made it and it was gone in two days. This recipe is a keeper. Thanks so much.
I don’t know what I am doing wrong, but the finished product comes out dense and not as airy as the one shown in the video. I tried overnight proofing but it still turned out dense. What am I not doing right?
Hey Loucas, sound slike you might be overworking the dough while shaping the loaf. Watching the video really helps with that step however if unsure just allow the loaf to proof a little after shaping and bounce back before baking it. Hope that helps ~ Florentina
Total success! I did it in the iron casserole pot and it is truly amazing! I don’t think I’ll ever buy a loaf of bread again. Thank you SO much for this recipe!
Thank you for this wonderful recipe, Florentina! I used bread flour and it turned out great. I will make it again until I get a better shape. The dough was wobbly and sticky and I lost the shape when I was transferring it to the baking tray. Then I also forgot to transfer it right away to the cooling rack. Overall still turned out great we loved it. 🙂
I used organic wholemeal flour, added cinnamon, chopped organic nut mix, baked in a bread tin in my normal over. Delicious!
I used half the amount of ingredients as wanted to see how it would taste. Love it! Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Unbelievably easy and delicious! Thank you for this recipe! My daughters and I took it out of the oven and devoured almost the whole thing. I baked mine in my Dutch oven and it was very cripsy and perfectly cooked.
Made this bread. Had to add a bit more water than in the recipe. This was the best bread I have ever made. Crusty, soft and chewy middle – and so easy to make!
Easy and tasty!
Did not have a Dutch Oven or Pizza Stone so I just used a regular baking pan.
Worked fine for me!
First try and I’m super happy! I’d upload pics if I could! I followed the recipe, however, made 4 smaller rounds, decorated with flowers, veggies and herbs from my garden. Gorgeous and delicious! Hardest part was getting them our of the tins I used. More oil or I’ll use parchment next time! Thank you for this simple and delicious recipe!
After 30 minutes the top wasn’t brown. I think another 5-10 minutes with the top off will give it that nice crunchy brown top I’m looking for. The bread was delicious and didn’t even last a day in my house! Can’t wait to make it again!
Wow! I can’t say how impressed I am with this recipe! I have a bread machine and I’ve always made bread in that, hut this is sooooo much better! Not only is the appearance better, but the texture and taste is perfect! It reminds me of the crusty bread to infect with a bowl of soup at Panera. Thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe!
This bread is AMAZING! It is easy to make and delicious. This is a great healthier alternative bread than the store brands. The fact that there is no oil and minimal ingredients needed makes it awesome. I will be using this recipe going forward to make bread, buns and pizza dough. Thank you for sharing this recipe. 🙂
This was amazing! Like my mother used to make when I was a kid!
I can’t believe how easy this was to make! Delicious too!
Ive tried loads of vegan no oil bread recipes and theyre all a disaster. This is by far the best, simplest recipe Ive come across and it makes bread easily as good as any Ive had at a shop. Thanks so much for this.