Basic White Bread Recipe | Elephantastic Vegan (2024)
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Recipe for a vegan Basic White Bread. Super soft, very versatile, delicious, quick and easy! You’ll only need 5 simple ingredients. You can use this recipe to make loaves, buns, even pizza crust, and flatbread. No need to buy bread anymore in the supermarket!
I have been makingthis Basic White Bread literally foryears now. It’s the perfect base recipe for all of your bread adventures!
It’s delicious, fluffy and you can easily add special ingredients to it like olives (I love that one for grilling), caraway seeds, sunflower seeds, dried tomatoes…
It is perfect for sandwiches, bruschetta or to make some rolls (like these Seeded Burger Buns or these Pretzel Buns).
Usually, whenImake this bread, I double the recipe, make oneloaf with part of the dough and some rolls to use as burger buns. You can also sprinkle some sesame seeds, flax seeds or poppy seeds on top!
How to make a Basic White Bread Loaf
The ingredients
You’ll only need 5 simple ingredients for this Basic White Bread:
all-purpose flour (you could also use a mix of spelt or whole wheat flour with all-purpose flour to make it more nutritious and healthier)
active dry yeast
salt
olive oil
water
Sounds easy, right?! Well, it is!
Even if you have never baked your own bread, this is the perfect time for it! This is the perfect bread baking beginner recipe!
Tip: Just keep in mind that the yeast will need time to make the dough rise for about 1-2 hours depending on the room’s temperature (it needs less time in a warmer room e.g. in the summer). A good bread just needs a bit of time. But as long as you keep in mind to start early enough, you will be rewarded with delicious crispy white bread!
Homemade bread is the best on the day it is baked. Store leftovers at room temperature – a breadbox would be best, or a paper bag or in a container with a not completely closed lid to allow airflow. I like to toast bread slices when I use bread that I have baked the day(s) before.
Versatile Multi-Purpose Bread Dough
What if I told you.. you could make all of this with the basic white bread recipe?! Well.. you can! This bread dough is the perfect base recipe for bread loaves, burger buns, breadsticks, even fluffy naan,and pizza crust! The possibilities are endless!
Bread FAQ
Vegan Bread? Isn’t all bread vegan?
Unfortunately not! Some breads contain milk or honey, sometimes the surface is brushed with egg whites. It’s always good to check the labels for non-vegan ingredients.
Is yeast vegan?
Yeast is classified as a fungus (just like mushrooms) and therefore vegan-friendly. So no worries, you can eat yeast as a vegan!
I hope you enjoy this simple recipe as much as I do! I’d love to hear what you’re making with the basic white bread recipe!
You can use this basic white bread recipe for all kinds of breads: bread loaves, burger buns, flatbread, pizza crust, bagels, pretzels,… Anything is possible!
In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, instant yeast, and salt. Then add the olive oil and water and stir to combine, then knead with your hands (or use a kitchen machine with a dough hook) until it comes together in a smooth dough*.
Let it sit, covered with a clean kitchen towel, in a warm spot until it doubles in size (about 1 1/2-2 hours).
Preheat the oven to 200 °C or 400 °F.
Form a bread loaf andcarve the surface of the dough lightly with a knife (I’ve made one long cut across the bread).
Then bake the bread in the oven until the surface is golden**. You can knock on the bottom of the bread and when it sounds hollow it’s done!
Notes
*Adjusting the dough: If the dough is too crumbly, add a bit more water. If the dough is too sticky, add a bit more flour.
**Baking times: How long the bread needs to be in the oven depends on the form you’re making. Loaves need about 20-30 minutes, rolls 15-20 minutes.
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Is white bread vegan? Generally speaking, yes—most white sandwich breads don't contain animal products. But highly processed white sandwich breads like Wonder Classic White Bread and Sara Lee Classic White often contain dough conditioners and emulsifiers as well as dairy and eggs.
Using milk instead of water in your yeasted bread is an easy way to add a touch of sweetness, making it ideal for challah, dinner rolls, cinnamon rolls, and hot dog buns. Milk sugars not only add a hint of sweetness but also result in a softer, more uniform crumb and ensure a nicely browned crust.
It helps breads rise and gives them their light and airy texture. Unlike yeast, baking soda needs an acid to activate it. By adding an acid to baking soda (such as lemon juice or cream of tartar) a chemical reaction occurs that produces carbon dioxide and fills your bread with air — much like yeast does.
Vegans can eat bread that does not contain animal products or byproducts. This includes breads that only use some variation on flour, water, yeast, and salt including ciabatta, baguette, focaccia, sourdough, pita, and ezekiel breads.
What are good vegan butter substitutes? In baking, you can use vegan butter, applesauce, dairy-free yogurt, coconut oil, coconut butter, olive oil, nut butter, mashed banana and mashed avocado. In cooking, you can use olive oil, coconut oil, vegetable stock, or avocado oil to replace butter.
Yes, absolutely! Rice is a common grain in all cooking and has a significant place in the plant-based world too. Some rice dishes may not be suitable for vegans though, so if you're eating out or following a recipe make sure there are no meat, fish or other animal products being used before you tuck in!
The bottom line. Most types of peanut butter are free of animal products and can be enjoyed as part of a vegan diet. However, some varieties are made in facilities that also process animal products or contain refined sugar that was produced using bone char or non-vegan ingredients like honey or fish oil.
When you substitute oil for butter, you need to take note of the texture. If you want delicate, soft, and tender baked goods, I recommend using oil vs.butter. Butter will result in a denser crumb and not be as moist.
Egg has protein, fat, water and while the fat and water soften the crumb, the protein helps with strengthening the gluten and capturing more CO2. Eggs are also helping with leavening the dough which adds to the rise. Doughs that have more egg usually rise more, so go ahead and play around a bit!
If you're looking to ramp up the taste of your favorite bread recipe, we recommend adding a bit of fat. A fat like butter, olive oil or coconut oil in small quantities will help your bread achieve a higher rise and it will also boost its flavor by tenfold.
Pioneers used both corn meal and wheat flours for bread. They baked bread in cast iron bake kettles set in the coals of the open hearth. Pearlash, eggs, saleratus, an early chemical leavening preceding baking soda, and home-created yeast starters were used to leaven bread.
Instead of using a fungus (yeast) to raise their bread, early settlers used bacteria. Yeast was not readily available yet, so they created their own bacteria-based leavening agent with a base of either potato or cornmeal. When warm milk and a little sugar was added, the potato or cornmeal mixture started to ferment.
The most common source of leavening in antiquity was to retain a piece of dough (with sugar and water in) from the previous day to utilize as a form of sourdough starter. Pliny the Elder reported that the Gauls and Iberians used the foam skimmed from beer to produce "a lighter kind of bread than other peoples".
The simple answer is yes; vegans can eat bread. However, not all bread is created equal, and it's essential to check the ingredients list or labelling to ensure the bread is vegan-friendly. Some bread contains animal-derived ingredients such as eggs, milk, or honey, which are unsuitable for vegans.
White Bread is dairy free. White Bread does not contain milk and should be safe for those with a milk allergy. Fig's dietitian team reviewed this note on white bread.
Flour, water, salt, yeast. White sandwich bread? If you make it at home it has flour, water, salt, yeast, and a few additional ingredients, most likely butter, eggs, and a bit of sugar.
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