If you've been looking for the perfect vegan sandwich bread recipe, your search ends here. This bread has a light but tight-knit crumb that is great for sandwiches or just to spread some peanut butter on. And it's an easy, foolproof recipe that anyone can make. Lots of tips included for new bread bakers too. A soy-free, nut-free recipe.
A recipe for a good, basic, hearty sandwich bread is a necessary tool for every home baker. Today, I want to re-share with you my recipe for a basic white--or part whole-wheat--vegan sandwich bread. This is a foolproof recipe that is easy to make and is guaranteed to give you great results each time.
When I first posted this recipe nearly 11 years ago, I shared some tips for new bakers. While most of you likely don't need them, I realize that at this extraordinary time many more of us are cooking, and baking, more at home. So I am going to retain these tips and add to them from my own improved experience over the years that have lapsed.
Bread-baking can sometimes seem daunting to even a veteran baker, because you are not always entirely in control of your recipe. There are so many things to think of, including the weather. The moisture in the air when you bake, the temperature outside and in your home, will all determine how your bread turns out. And unless you are experienced with doing this over and over, you may not always know what's going on or how to modify your recipe or technique so you don't end up with bread that won't rise or bread that's more like a rock than anything you can eat.
My own journey to becoming an experienced home bread baker has not been free of pitfalls, but the only reason I can bake a successful loaf today is because I didn't give up. And that's an important thing to remember. You may not make the best loaf of bread the first time you bake, but stick at it and you'll get there.
Tips for baking bread:
- It all begins with the yeast. I use active dry yeast in all my recipes and I usually buy a big packet of it from Costco. I put it in a jar and freeze it, and it can last a very, very long time this way. When ready to use, measure out your yeast, add lukewarm water (not hot), and make sure it "flowers" -- that is, it bubbles up and becomes frothy after a few minutes. This means your yeast is alive and well and you are ready to move forward. If your yeast doesn't bubble, your yeast is likely dead and you need to buy more.
- There's one more thing I cannot stress enough to new bakers: follow the recipe instructions carefully. You've probably heard this cliche before, including from me, and it's quite true: baking is a science, unlike cooking, which is more of an art. A little substitution here and there can cause everything to go off-kilter.
- What flour you will use will also make a big difference to your bread. Most white breads are baked with all purpose flour or bread flour. Both are refined, but both make the best and lightest breads because they are packed with gluten and that helps your bread dough form great structure and rise effortlessly. Baking wholegrain breads is a little more complicated and that's because such flours include the germ and the bran of the grain, which don't have gluten. So ounce for ounce, whole grain flour has less gluten in it than refined flour does, see? What that means is there is less gluten in your dough and therefore less gluten to help your bread form great structure and rise. This does not, by any means, mean you should not bake with wholegrain at home. There are many ways to ensure your wholegrain breads turn out beautifully, and you can find some of my favorite recipes here, including this Whole Wheat French Bread and my Fast Whole Wheat Bread.
- When you follow a recipe, be sure to follow rise times as closely as possible. For instance, when the recipe asks you to let the dough rise for two hours, don't let it rise for four, because it can seriously damage the structure of your bread. In some cases the rise time is less important, in which case the recipe will tell you so. But usually it does matter.
- That said, how fast your bread will rise also depends on how warm or cold your house it. On cold days it will take longer for the yeast to multiply and for the bread dough to rise, so just follow the rule of thumb of letting your dough double in size. To avoid too much guesswork, I place the dough, tightly covered, in a cold oven with the light on, which creates the right temperature for the dough to rise.
- Make sure you preheat the oven before baking bread. I can't stress this enough because I know it feels like a waste of energy, but if you want your bread to bake as it should, you absolutely need the oven temperature to be where the recipe says it should be before you place the bread inside. Not doing so will result in a flat loaf, a dense loaf, and basically an inedible loaf.
- Also resist the temptation to open the oven while the bread is baking because the unexpected rush of cold air can cause your bread to act in ways you don't want it to.
- Breads can sometimes tend to stick to the pans you bake them in, although most shouldn't. If you find it challenging to get the bread out of the loaf pan, sprinkle some cornmeal on the sides after oiling the loaf, and then place the dough inside. This will make it much easier to unmold and you can brush off the cornmeal after your bread leaves the pan.
- Once your bread is out of the pan, cool it thoroughly on a rack before you slice it. Slicing warm bread is not recommended because the moisture in the bread still needs to dissipate and if you cut into it your bread won't slice as well.
Whew. Now that I've got that out of the way, here is my perfect vegan sandwich bread recipe. This bread is really soft and delicious the day it's baked, and it firms up just a little bit the next day, which makes it great for a sandwich or even better for toast. Slather on a touch of banana jam or raspberry jam for the perfect snack.
It stays fresh in the fridge for at least a week, and -- best of all-- unlike most store-bought bread, it has no preservatives.
Although these days I mostly bake with sourdough (you can find my sourdough starter recipe here as well as recipes for all of my sourdough breads here), this sandwich bread is not one I will ever stop making. It's just that good.
Looking for more vegan bread recipes?
- Vegan Whole Wheat Challah Bread
- Tuscan Bread (Pane Toscano)
- Whole Wheat Burger Buns
- No Knead Sourdough Bread
Vegan Sandwich Bread Recipe
Vegan Sandwich Bread
Equipment
- Stand mixer or large bowl
Ingredients
- 4 teaspoon active dry yeast
- 1 ¼ cup warm water
- 1 cup almond milk (or any nondairy milk)
- 2 tablespoon avocado oil
- 2 tablespoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon salt (use less if on a low sodium diet)
- 3-4 cups bread flour (can substitute 1 ½ cups with whole wheat flour)
Instructions
- Mix the yeast and sugar with ¼ cup of water and set aside for five minutes until it froths, indicating yeast is active.
- To the yeast and water mixture, add the remaining cup of water, milk, oil and salt. Then add 2 ½ cups of bread flour or 1 cup of bread flour and 1 ½ cups of whole wheat flour, if using that.
- Mix in a stand mixer on low speed or by hand until a dough forms. If it's sticky, continue adding more bread flour, a little at a time, until you have a soft and supple but not sticky or tacky dough.
- Continue kneading for another 10 minutes.
- Form a smooth ball with the dough and place in an oiled bowl, turning over once to cover the top with oil. Cover and let it rise in a warm place for 1 to 1 ½ hours, until doubled in volume.
- Punch down the dough, form into a ball, and return it to the bowl to rise for another hour.
- Grease two standard (6-cup) loaf pans. Now punch the dough down again and divide it into two. Using a rolling pin, roll out each loaf into a rectangle, about 6 X 8 inches. Roll it up into a cylinder and tuck the seams underneath. Place each loaf into a loaf pan.
- Cover the dough loosely with oiled cling wrap or with a shower cap, and set it aside to rise for about 1 hour until the dough rises above the pan, forming a nice dome.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Bake the loaves for 35 minutes.
- Cool on a rack for about 10 minutes, then remove the loaves from the pan and continue cooling before you slice.
Nutrition
Mahesh
Wt is the weight of the loaf which u had made in shown picture?
London Accountants Worker
This looks like the perfect sandwich bread! Thanks for the recipe!
Namrata
Lovely bread! I tried the recipe today and it came out perfect. I made with regular milk and canola oil instead of shortening. I have been browsing your blog for a while though first time commenting. You have a nice corner here with not so complicated recipes. I am lacto-vegetarian so can relate to so many recipes. Also tried Mushroom biryani..yum. Thanks for sharing.
Mama jj
I tried the recipe last night and doing a second time right now. The bread turned out crisp on outside & perfectly soft inside in a glass and a metal pan. Smells fantastic, tastes great, and beautiful brown color. Thank you so much for the vegan bread recipe and especially for taking the time to add all the little details that my dummy self needs to cook successfully in the kitchen! Everyone that walks in my house says, "Oh my it smells good in here!" Thanks again and God bless 🙂
VegHead
I'm so excited to try making this bread!I was just wondering if you knew how many calories were in it? I've been trying t watch my weight lately. Thanks(:
Kitchen worktops guy
What ruins sandwiches for me is always the bread - I feel like it's wasted, somehow, compared to the filling. But finding the perfect bread will be the solution! But the perfect bread will vary according to the filling, right?
annie
Vaishali, What size pan do you use?
Vaishali
They are both roughly 9 by 5 inches-- standard size loaf pans.
Thamarai
hi Vaishali,
Can I not use shortening? I have some vegan butter sitting in the fridge and I need to use it up. Any suggestion on the substitution quantity? I was just reading today about the kind of unimaginable ingredients that go into store bought bread to make it bake quicker and I was kind of shocked. I am seriously going to start baking my own bread at home. I have tried previously but it ended up smelling very yeasty. But will give this one a try for sure. Thanks again!
Vaishali
Thamarai, absolutely. Just replace it with the same amount of vegetable oil. And yes, it's really shocking what manufacturers add to breads, especially the preservatives. A study last year found that breads are the leading source of sodium in the American diet.
Vaishali
Anonymous, you can definitely freeze this bread but thaw completely before using. And you can also use it to make garlic bread, although a more crusty bread like my whole-wheat French bread would be even more delicious as garlic bread.
Anonymous
Very excited to try this recipe...thank you so much for posting it!! My husband and I went vegan about a month and a half ago, and I haven't been very happy with any store-bought bread. I do have a question...is there any reason I wouldn't be able to freeze a loaf once it's already made, or use it as I would use store bought (ie broil it for garlic bread, etc)?
Brainless Housewife
Can you use almond milk instead of soy? Thanks! 🙂
Vaishali
Yes, almond milk would be perfectly fine.
shellybugster
I made this recipe today and it was my very first venture into bread-making. I'm not much of a baker in general. This recipe is wonderful! It was easy to follow and understand, the bread smelled amazing while baking and it tasted wonderful when done. I used all-purpose flour instead of bread flour, but it still came out perfect. It was spongy and moist with a harder crust on the outside. Delicious! Thanks so much for the recipe 🙂
Amy
Great recipe! My second attempt at making this turned out better than the first. First time I disregarded using oiled plastic wrap on last rise, and the towel I put over the loaves stuck to the dough and deflated the tops. The bread was still good, just a little squished.
Second time they were rounded and gorgeous, just crunchy as heck! The inside is lovely and soft, but the outer crust is very sharp.
Is it supposed to get that hard on the outside, or am I doing something wrong? I substituted coconut oil for the shortening, and I am using glass pans. Could the glass pans be causing the crunchiness? I do plan to get some metal pans for future bread baking.
Vaishali
Amy, the glass pan could be making a difference because different surfaces impart different textures to the crust. Let me know if you see a difference with metal pans.
Vaishali
Deepa, thank you for the feedback. So glad you liked the bread. 🙂
DR
Hi Vaishali, I visit your site regularly but had not tried anything. Just tried this bread yesterday. It came out absolutely wonderful. Soft & Delicious. Great recipe. !!! One of the only recipes with Whole wheat flour that worked for me. Thanks much!
Deepa
Vaishali
Hi AgnostiChica, thanks very much for the feedback and glad you liked the bread 🙂
I just made an all-whole-wheat version of this and it was really mindblowing-- the best bread I've made, I think. I'll be posting it this week so keep an eye out!
AgnostiChica
Thanks for making my day, Vaishali. This is my first ever successful bread after half a dozen failed ones. DH is vegetarian and finding breads devoid of eggs here in Hong Kong is quite a trip. So this recipe is a godsent 🙂 I'm now off to trying some other breads from you!
Vaishali
Hi Vanessa, glad you liked the bread and thanks for the feedback. And yes, I think you could definitely freeze it, then defrost and rise before baking. I've not tried freezing with this dough but I do often freeze pizza dough and it rises fine once it's thawed. 🙂
Vanessa
This recipe is great!! I made it for the first time today, perfect!
I was wondering if it is possible to freeze the dough for baking later? It would be great to be able to make a few batches at once and save some for baking.
If it is possible, would one freeze the dough before the last rise, defrost it and let if rise in the pan after coming to room temperature?
Thanks for posting this recipe!!
Vaishali
Anonymous, i usually scoop it out with the cup itself and then level off the top with a knife or my finger. You have to be flexible with the flour while bread-baking: a dry winter kitchen might require less flour, a humid summer kitchen would require more. Add enough flour so the dough does not stick to your fingers.