A soft, fluffy vanilla bread with a hint of sweetness and the heady aroma of vanilla. It slices easily and is perfect with a dab of butter for a heavenly snack.
My recipe for you today is this fragrant, sumptuous Whole Wheat Vanilla Bread that is just perfect to eat with just a dab of vegan butter or with peanut butter. It's a wholesome, kid-friendly snack that'll please any adult too.
The fragrance that will fill your home as this bread bakes up is to die for. Contrary to what the name might indicate, this is not a cakey bread, but rather more like a regular whole wheat bread with just a hint of sweetness from the vanilla. I used a vanilla bean in this recipe, but you can also use pure vanilla extract.
If you love vanilla-flavored desserts like vegan vanilla cupcakes or enjoy indulging your sweet tooth at breakfast with vegan cinnamon rolls, you will love that this bread offers some of that same decadence without all those calories. Try it today!
Recipe card
Whole Wheat Vanilla Bread
Ingredients
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 ½ teaspoon active dry yeast
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 vanilla bean (or 3 teaspoon pure vanilla extract)
- 1 cup nondairy milk
- ½ cup water
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Mix the yeast with the water and sugar and wait a few minutes until it froths, indicating the yeast is alive.
- Cut the vanilla bean in half lengthwise, scrape the seeds out with a small knife, and add to the yeast. If using vanilla extract, add it now.
- Add the soymilk, the salt, all-purpose flour, and 1 cup of the whole-wheat flour. Knead and add the last cup of whole wheat flour slowly, until you have a resilient but smooth dough, about five to eight minutes.
- Place the ball of dough in a bowl coated lightly with oil. Turn over once to coat the top with oil, cover with a kitchen towel, and let the dough rise in a warm place until doubled, about 90 minutes.
- Punch the dough down and shape it into an oval. Place in an oiled loaf pan and cover loosely. Let the dough rise until it domes around the top of the loaf pan.
- Bake in a 350-degree preheated oven for 50 minutes. Remove to a rack and let it cool for 10 minutes. Then unmold from the pan and continue cooling on the rack.
Nutrition Information
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Fredah says
I love the post about eating meat ....I have always thought the same...I come from East Africa where you will find people being on an uproar about the Chinese eating dogs or Congolese eating monkeys....there is much hypocrisy in meat eating I myself dropped eating animal products when i realized I can't kill one and how attached I get to animals around me
Pal says
Is it necessary to use non dairy milk can we not use regular cow or buffalo milk ?
Vaishali says
You can, but the whole point of making delicious vegan recipes is to not use animal products like cow or buffalo milk.
Marie says
I am so happy I found you! I cant wait to try some of those recipes, everything looks so appetizing! I decided to go vegan last February, although I never ate lots of meat I was addicted to cheese. Then I had a reality check about the dairy industry, so it came time for me to stop participating in this cruel way of eating and its great to discover all those wonderful new recipes!
Anonymous says
New to baking here!
I followed the recipe perfectly but my dough was not moist enough even before adding the last cup of whole wheat flour. I added some more soy milk and only used about a 1/2 cup of the whole wheat flour before giving in. The dough was not a complete cohesive mass; it wasn't exactly split, but I wasn't able to combine all of the dough to form a proper homogeneous mass.
I decided to just go with it and placed it in a greased bowl for 90 minutes. It definitely rose, but when I went to punch down the dough, it simply deflated and after punching it down some more, it became as flat as a frisbee. Any idea what went wrong?
My only guess is that when I combined all the ingredients, they did just sit in the bowl together for at least thirty seconds or so not being mixed, because I went to wash my hands. Could this have been the issue?
Vaishali Honawar says
Hi Anonymous, You need the dough to be smooth and resilient-- stop adding the flour if it already appears that way. In your case, it sounds like that half cup of additional flour at the end was unnecessary. Moisture levels in the atmosphere will affect how much dough and water are needed, so if your dough appears to have reached saturation point, you should stop at that time.
Also, did you give the dough a chance to rise after you'd punched it down flat? This bread needs a second rise in the loaf pan.
It's not uncommon to make mistakes the first time baking bread-- my first bread was more like a brick and totally inedible. Just keep at it, and always follow instructions closely, and you will definitely have success. As with everything, you'll get better with practice! 🙂
Cheers.
Anonymous says
I did let it rise again and I actually ended up baking it! It obviously wasn't as tasty as it could have been but it was edible, haha. Definitely going to give it another try after reading your response. I love vanilla and bread so perfecting this recipe is imperative! Haha, thanks!
Prema says
Dear Vaishali,
I enjoy browsing your blog. I have tried ur french toast and waffles and they turned out great.
However my baking has been a total failure.
I tried this bread recipe but the crust hardened and the loaf was not baked inside.
I used Ashirwad atta and maida. Is it different from all purpose flour.
I had to leave out a couple of tbsp of wheat flour and still use more liquid than specified.
Though the dough raised, it wouldn't fit into my pan and I had to bake it in 2 batches. This could be a reason for the bad result.
While kneading the dough only, I felt that it was too much and I couldn't handle it and make a smooth dough.
Can you help?
The main doubt is :are maida and apf the same.
And is it ok to leave out a little of the 1cuo of wheat flour that we are supposed to add in proportion?
Vaishali Honawar says
Hi Prema, thanks for your kind words, and so glad you've tried the recipe.
I do think that the maida might be causing the problem. Keep in mind that it is different from all-purpose flour which has a higher gluten content. I would advise trying to find all purpose flour and using that instead of the maida. And yes, you can leave out some of the flour if your dough gets too hard-- if you're cooking in a drier climate than mine, you'd probably need less flour. Hope that's of some help!
Prema says
That's indeed helpful. I have since acquired apf. Will try again. Yes, Singapore is dry and hot.
Activista says
Hi Vaishali, question for you: do you know if a bread machine/maker would be alright to use here? I'm new to bread baking and rather intimidated, but really love the idea of this recipe. Thanks!
Vaishali says
Activista, I've never used a bread machine, so I cannot answer that question. I would assume that if any other oven-baked bread recipe can be adapted to a bread machine, this one can too. Any other readers have tips they can share?
Anonymous says
This looks so good... but I could not see in your instructions the temperature it should bake.
Vaishali says
Thanks for catching-- I've added the temperature.
ammasdtr19 says
Amen Sister!
Anonymous says
Hi Vaishali,
this bread looks amazing! I'm going to try this recipe very soon! Question - what oven temperature did you bake with?
thanks!
Vaishali says
Thanks for pointing out-- added! 🙂
Cozinhar sem Lactose says
Wonderful recipe! Thank you for sharing and inspiring us!
Priya says
Wonderful crust and beautiful bread..Thanks for the wonderful article.
Vaishali says
Thanks, Priya, and glad you enjoyed reading it.
maesti says
Thanks for the great article. I wish there was some way to get such articles more exposure. I started my vegetarian journey over 50 years ago when my father left London UK to become a pig farmer. Yes our pigs were not factory farmed but at age 11 I didn't realise how they became 'meat'. Until seeing the young pigs going off to 'market'. Ten years ago I became vegan - and cannot imagine ever eating animals again. Pig, chicken, horse... dog or cat - they are all sentient beings and deserve better than a traumatic and terror filled life and death.
Vaishali says
Maesti, what an inspiring story about your journey to veganism. Thanks for sharing.
Nivedhanams Sowmya says
Oh these poor animals...
And this bread is super tempting!!! question is did u get one loaf or two loaves from it?
Sowmya
Ongoing Event - What is with my Cuppa
Ongoing Event - HITS - Diabetic Friendly
Vaishali says
Sowmya, this makes one loaf.
Rajani says
Same thoughts here - funny how people who rant about one meat in the guise of another meat, how does it matter?
Baking bread is so close to Bliss, would love to try my hand at this recipe.
I am not a robot, do i have to prove it? 😉
Is 'comment moderation' good to keep out spam, would like your thoughts on this since I am using that feature to block out spam in my blog. Thanks. Cheers.
Vaishali says
Rajani, yes, it does help keep out spam to a good extent, although there are still a few individuals posting links who will get through.
divya says
Totally drooling here !!! This looks amazing 🙂
Vaishali says
Divya, thanks.
Jackhu says
Thank you
Richa says
i hear you about the uproar about the horse meat.. it sounds pretty ridiculous. it did get a couple of threads going with both sides talking about how an animal is an animal is an animal. i hope some of that got through to some people.
i love this gorgeous loaf! and the name chikni:)
Vaishali says
Thanks, Richa.
Pavani says
You got me with the namr of bread itself. I'm going to try this very soon.
Vaishali says
Thanks, Pavani! Hope you do. 🙂
Susan G says
That bread sounds so lovely. How much salt do you usually use? And do you really use 3 tablespoons of vanilla extract?!
Vaishali says
Hi Susan, I use around a teaspoon, but you could get by with less or more. And yes, 3 tbsp of vanilla extract is crucial to give this bread the right aroma and flavor.
Josh says
Tbsp is tablespoon. Not teaspoon. 1 tablespoon is 3 teaspoons. You are telling your readers to use 9 teaspoons when you just said you use 1. Please revise, as to avoid rather expensive wastes of delicious vanilla.
Vaishali says
A tablespoon is 2 1/2 teaspoons, and yes, this is a vanilla bread so it does need 3 tbsp, or 7 1/2 tsp of vanilla.
Kamini says
Oh gosh Vaishali, so true. When everyone got crazy about the horse meat story, thats exactly what I was thinking. How is it different from any other animal meat you are eating???
Anyways, great recipe. Was planning to make some cookies for my neighbor's kids, but I think I'll make this instead!
Now lets hope I pass the "prove you're not a robot test" below. I always fail at first go..... 🙁
Vaishali says
🙂 Yes, that robot test-- I fail at first go too. Sorry to put you through it, but you won't believe the amount of spam that comes through if I don't have it on.
Ashwini Deshpande says
I love baking bread. It has a calming effect on my nerves. Sunday morning summer baking is what I wait for every summer. I am so glad I found your blog, I hopped over from Cook@Heart. I am not Vegan but love healthy recipes that I can cook in my kitchen.
Love Ash.
Vaishali says
Ash, welcome, and hope you'll enjoy the blog. 🙂 You can certainly find healthy here.