Easy Crusty Vegan Bread Recipe (2024)

This post may contain affiliate links. Read our disclosure policy.

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.

Jump to Recipe

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? ›

To make crusty bread, create steam in the oven.

They have a professional secret: the steam-injected oven. Nothing offers the baker quite as nice a crust as an oven filled with steam for the first part of the baking process.

What makes bread soft and crusty? ›

Bake at Lower Temperatures

This technique gives the bread a flaky, slightly crisp crust. But if you want a melt-in-your-mouth soft crust, you need a much lower temperature for a longer period.

How to get a crispy crust on homemade bread? ›

One of the most crucial steps in making bread. is incorporating steam while baking. Baking a loaf on a sheet pan without steam. will give a crust that is dull, thick, and chewy. To bake with steam at home, try using a Dutch oven or combo cooker. They trap both the water that evaporates from the dough.

How do you keep crusty bread crusty overnight? ›

Cloth, being breathable, retains less moisture; the disappointment is that this doesn't translate into a crispy crust, but rather a hard one. So if you want to store bread for a day or so at room temperature, plastic or foil (rather than cloth) is the way to go.

Why is my homemade bread not crusty? ›

LET BREAD COOL IN OVEN

If you let the bread cool in room temperature, that moisture will set on the surface turning the bread "less crusty".

How to make crusty bread from store bought bread? ›

A: To keep your bread crusty, you should heat it in the proper way. Start by letting the bread come to room temperature. Then put it in an oven set to 350 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes.

How to keep crust soft on homemade bread? ›

But one really simple thing you can do is just put the loaf into a plastic bag after it has finished cooling down. So maybe 2-3 hours after it comes out of the oven, just put the loaf into a plastic bag and leave it in there. The crust will soften due to the internal moisture content.

What is the secret to softer bread? ›

The Magic Behind Soft Bread
  1. Oil or Butter: These fats coat the flour proteins, leading to a tender crumb. ...
  2. Sugar: Not only does it sweeten the bread, but sugar also retains moisture. ...
  3. Baking Soda: When added, especially in recipes with acidic ingredients, it can make bread soft and spongy.
Sep 26, 2023

Why does my homemade bread have a coarse texture? ›

Make sure loaf doesn't rise too long before baking – it should only double in size. If it rises too much, the dough will collapse on itself during baking and will have a dense, coarse or dry texture. Because of the drier air at altitudes over 2,500 feet, it is often necessary to use less flour and more liquid.

What makes crust crispy? ›

In-home ovens do not get as hot as the ovens at pizza restaurants, and the stone or steel underneath the crust while baking helps make the best use of temperature. Always bake your pizza pie on the lowest rack in the oven. This allows your pizza crust to get closer to the heat source, allowing it to become more crispy.

What gives bread an open texture? ›

There are two proteins in wheat flour called gliadin and glutenin. When wheat flour is mixed with water these proteins combine with the water to make gluten. Gluten makes the dough stretchy and elastic. The stretchy gluten makes it possible to produce a bread with a large volume and open texture.

References

Top Articles
Latest Posts
Article information

Author: Carmelo Roob

Last Updated:

Views: 5500

Rating: 4.4 / 5 (65 voted)

Reviews: 80% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Carmelo Roob

Birthday: 1995-01-09

Address: Apt. 915 481 Sipes Cliff, New Gonzalobury, CO 80176

Phone: +6773780339780

Job: Sales Executive

Hobby: Gaming, Jogging, Rugby, Video gaming, Handball, Ice skating, Web surfing

Introduction: My name is Carmelo Roob, I am a modern, handsome, delightful, comfortable, attractive, vast, good person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.