Here’s a homemade vegan bread recipe that’s SO easy to make! This sandwich bread is so versatile, you’ll never buy a storebought loaf again.

Vegan bread

Need an easy vegan bread recipe? Do we have the recipe for you. This delectable sandwich bread is actually easy to make: we promise! It’s light and delicious, perfect for sandwiches, toast, and soups. You don’t need special equipment: just a 9-inch loaf pan. (Let’s face it: it’s much simpler than sourdough bread.) Made with a little wheat flour, oats, and topped with nuts and seeds, it’s hearty with a spin of healthy. You’ll never need to buy bread again!

Related: Our Homemade Bread and Whole Wheat Bread use the same concept!

Is bread vegan / plant based?

This bread is! And many bread recipes are vegan. Traditionally bread is made of flour, water and yeast: like our sourdough loaf, artisan bread, and multigrain loaf. Those are totally plant based! But sandwich breads you’ll find on the shelf at grocery stores may have ingredients added for shelf life and to enrich the dough:

  • Dairy like milk, cream or butter
  • Whey or cassein: milk proteins that are used to stabilize bread
  • Eggs
  • Honey

Those types of sandwich breads are not vegan! You’ll have to check the label on breads at the grocery store to see which contain these ingredients. So why not make homemade vegan bread…and eliminate the guesswork? (See what we did there?)

How to make vegan bread: an overview

Here’s a basic outline of what it takes to make this sandwich-style bread loaf! What’s the total time? Baking this homemade vegan bread takes 2 ½ to 3 hours total, then 1.5 hours to cool it. It’s a project you’ll want to save for days off of work like weekends. It does save well, so you can also make it ahead (see below)! Here are the basic steps:

Mix & knead the dough15 minutes active time
Proof 145 to 60 minutes, hands off
Shape10 minutes active time
Proof 240 to 50 minutes, hands off
Bake30 minutes, hands off
Cool90 minutes, hands off
Vegan bread recipe

What’s in this vegan bread recipe?

While many sandwich bread recipes call for butter and milk, this one has none! Meet: your perfect vegan bread recipe. Here are the ingredients you’ll need:

  • Whole wheat flour and all purpose flour
  • Oats
  • Neutral oil (like grapeseed or canola)
  • Almond milk
  • Maple syrup
  • Yeast
  • Optional seed topping: poppy seeds, sunflower seeds
Vegan bread

Equipment list: what you need!

One of the great things about this vegan homemade bread is that you need minimal equipment! Here’s what you need:

  1. 8 or 9-inch loaf pan
  2. Kitchen scale (optional) for measuring the ingredients by weight
  3. Instant read thermometer (optional) for measuring the internal temperature

Why use a kitchen scale instead of cup measurements? Good question. Weighing ingredients is actually the most accurate way to measure flour. The volume of flour and yeast varies based on the environment! But this vegan bread recipe doesn’t require as much precision as other bread recipes, so you can get away with cup measures here.

Why use an instant read thermometer? Reading the bread’s internal temperature is the best way to determine whether the bread is fully baked. It gives you a nice vote of confidence that the bread is actually done. Don’t have one? No problem, just judge whether the top is nicely golden brown.

Toast with almond butter
Try this vegan bread with Nut Butter and maple syrup: it’s heavenly!

How to proof bread?

This vegan bread recipe calls for two proofs. Proofing is letting the bread dough rest so that it rises. This creates the fluffy texture of the bread (also called the crumb). For this recipe, you can proof the bread at either of the following temperatures:

  • Warm place: For best results, the proofing temperature should be between 80°F and 90°F. Many ovens have a proofing setting you can use for this step.
  • Room temperature: You can also proof this vegan bread at room temperature. The proofing temperature for more touchy breads like sourdough bread is more important, but this bread can be proofed at either temperature.

How to store this vegan bread

Last thing about homemade bread: storing it is different than you would with a storebought loaf! Because it doesn’t have preservatives, homemade bread has special storage instructions. Luckily this vegan bread holds up well for all these methods:

  • Room temperature: Store the bread at room temperature wrapped in plastic for 2 to 3 days
  • Refrigerator: Store refrigerated wrapped in plastic for up to 1 week (this bread stores refrigerated much better than an artisan loaf)
  • Freeze: Slice the bread into pieces, wrap in plastic, and it can freeze for 3 months
Vegan bread recipe

Other vegan bread recipes

Looking for a few other plant based bread recipes? Here are some of our favorite vegan baked goods:

  • Artisan Multigrain Bread This no knead artisan multigrain bread recipe requires very little hands-on time and makes two hearty loaves of bread.
  • Vegan Banana Bread This deliciously moist vegan banana bread will become a favorite in no time! It’s easy to make and has just the right banana flavor.
  • Best Sourdough Bread Recipe Here’s how to make the best sourdough on the planet. We’ve broken it down with a step-by-step video.
  • Easy Vegan Cornbread You may not have thought cornbread was life changing…until now. This tender, moist vegan cornbread tastes the Jiffy box, but 100 times tastier.
  • Vegan Pumpkin Bread It’s moist, fluffy, pumpkin-spiced, and seriously cozy.
  • Best Vegan Zucchini Bread This perfectly moist vegan zucchini bread recipe is so darn good, everyone will be hooked.

This vegan bread recipe is…

Vegetarian, vegan, plant-based, and dairy-free.

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Vegan bread

Vegan Bread Recipe (Perfect Sandwich Loaf!)


  • Author: Sonja Overhiser
  • Prep Time: 2 hours
  • Cook Time: 30 minutes
  • Total Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
  • Yield: 1 loaf (12 to 14 slices) 1x

Description

Here’s a homemade vegan bread recipe that’s SO easy to make! This sandwich bread is so versatile, you’ll never buy a storebought loaf again.


Ingredients

Scale
  • 2 tablespoons maple syrup
  • 2 tablespoons grapeseed or neutral oil
  • ½ cup almond milk, unsweetened (118 grams)
  • ¾ cups warm water (177 grams)
  • 2 teaspoons instant or active dry yeast (8 grams)
  • 1 cup whole wheat flour (125 grams)
  • 2 ¼ cups all purpose flour (280 grams)
  • ½ cup rolled oats (45 grams)
  • 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt (8 grams)
  • 2 tablespoons seeds: sesame seeds, poppy seeds, sunflower seeds, etc (optional)

Instructions

  1. Make the dough: In a small saucepan, combine maple syrup, oil and almond milk. Heat over low heat until barely warm to the touch.
  2. Pour into a large bowl with the warm water and yeast and mix with a wooden spoon or dough whisk until just combined. In a separate bowl, stir together whole wheat flour, all purpose flour, oats and kosher salt. Add the flours and oats to the bowl and stir with the spoon until just combined. Turn the dough out onto a clean, lightly floured countertop and form the dough into a ball.
  3. Knead the dough: Knead the dough by pushing with the base of your palm, then reforming it into a ball. Continue kneading for 8 minutes until the dough feels pillowy and has a smooth, stretchy exterior. If the dough is very sticky, add a small amount of flour while kneading. Alternatively: attach the dough hook to a stand mixer and start the mixer on medium-low speed, then allow the mixer to knead for 8 minutes.
  4. Proof 1: Place the dough ball in a clean bowl and cover with a clean dish towel. Allow the dough to stand in a warm place (proof) until it rises to double in size, about 45 minutes to an 1 hour.
  5. Shape the dough: Once proofed, grease an 8 to 9-inch loaf pan. Turn the dough onto a counter and gently press the dough into a large rectangle about 1/2-inch thick. The short side of the rectangle should be about the width of the long edge of the loaf pan. Roll the dough into a log (the width of the loaf pan). Pinch the seams on the sides and bottom of the roll and then place it into the greased pan seam-side down. Gently press the dough to fill the bottom of the pan.
  6. Proof 2: Cover with a clean dish towel and allow to proof for 40 to 50 minutes until the dough doubles in size.
  7. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350°F.
  8. Bake the bread: Once proofed, brush with the top of the loaf with water. If desired, sprinkle the seeds on the top. Bake 30 to 35 minutes. The bread is done when the top is golden brown and the inside of the bread reaches 190°F on an instant read thermometer. Remove the bread to a cooling on a rack and cool completely, at least 90 minutes. (However tempting, cutting the bread while warm will ruin its texture!)
  9. Serve (+ storage info): Slice the bread and serve. Store the bread at room temperature for 2 to 3 days wrapped in plastic, or refrigerator for up to a week. The bread can also be frozen, sliced into pieces and wrapped in plastic, for 3 months.
  • Category: Bread
  • Method: Baked
  • Cuisine: Bread

Keywords: Vegan Bread

About the authors

Sonja & Alex

Meet Sonja and Alex Overhiser: Husband and wife. Expert home cooks. Authors of recipes you’ll want to make again and again.

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27 Comments

  1. I’m eager to try this and I know it will be fabulous because all your recipes hit it out of the park! (Congrats on the IBJ acknowledgement.) . This is a dumb question but what would you consider a neutral oil if one doesn’t have grape seed oil? That stuff is crazy expensive! Thank you for all your time, talent and sharing your delicious recipes.

  2. 10 stars—out 5! I made this a week ago. I used avocado oil and no seeds, but followed the recipe otherwise. My vegan son really liked it. It’s a soft bread, but it stays intact. I normally stick with my own low carb bread concoction (isolates not nut flours), but I did eat a slice or two of this. It keeps very well both on the counter for up to 3 days and in the freezer. Although not the same, it became the substitute for the unavailable Panera sourdough loaf. It makes a great addition to our vegan breads: southern buttermilk biscuits using coconut milk yogurt for buttermilk; simple white bread; and focaccia.

  3. I just made it but it didn’t seem to rise enough. The recipe didn’t mention proofing the yeast before mixing it in, so I’m wondering if I made a mistake. Otherwise, it seems okay and I can’t wait to eat it.

  4. This is my go- to recipe. I’ve been adding all sorts of things (seeds, nuts, herbs and spices) and it always makes a perfect loaf every time. Thank you so much for sharing! I am going to try to add fruit to the next batch and see how it goes.

      1. Awesome recipe! I’ve made it a few times and started playing around with it, I replaced the oil with a blend of garlic and basil oil mix I made not too long ago and it really added a nice savoury flavour to it!! Thanks for the recipe

  5. I was just curious if you could completely omit the oil or replace it with something else as we’re an oil free family. Thanks!

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