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 making this Basic White Bread literally for years 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), cumin, 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, when I make this bread, I make one loaf with part of the dough and some rolls to use for burger buns. You can also sprinkle some sesame seeds, flax seeds or poppy seeds on top!
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!
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!
Serve the Basic White Bread with…
- spreads (basic hummus, spinach hummus, potato cheese spread)
- creamy soups (carrot ginger soup, broccoli soup)
- stews (goulash, chili con carne)
- tomato bruschetta
Storage
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.
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons instant yeast
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 1/4 cups lukewarm water
Mix all the ingredients and knead by hand until a soft dough forms or put all the ingredients in a bread baking machine or kitchen machine and let the machine knead the dough for you.
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 250 °C or 480 °F.
- Cut the dough in two equal pieces and form the loaves.
- Carve the surface of the dough lightly with a knife (I've made one long cut across the bread).
- Then put the bread in the oven and take it out when the surface is golden. You can knock on the bottom of the bread and when it sounds hollow it's done!
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.
If you give this Basic White Bread recipe a try I’d love to hear how it went! Write me a comment or post a picture on instagram, use the hashtag #elephantasticvegan and tag me via @elephantasticvegan to make sure I’ll see it ^.^ I love to see all your lovely creations! Thanks! <3
Your bread looks so yummy. I can just smell it looking at your pictures. LOL I am definitely going to try my hand at making bread. Thank you so much for the inspiration!
Thank you so much, Haile, for your lovely comment! I hope you enjoy the bread :) they are so many possibilities, you can make a different bread every time so it never gets boring.
Yes, for sure. I’ll be sure to make a video and let you know when it’s up on my Youtube Channel! Thanks again. I’m off to check out your other recipes!!
Hi I was just wondering what do you put the dough in or on to bake in the oven? Thanks!
Heya Lauren, I put the dough on a baking tray lined with parchment paper, because the dough should be firm enough to hold its shape. But you can put it in a loaf pan if you want that distinct shape :)
This looks amazing and I can’t wait to make it! Do you have a suggestion for an olive oil substitute to make it oil-free?
Thank you, Justine. You can simply omit the olive oil to make it oil-free. I forgot to add it in one time and it turned out great too :)
Awesome, thank you.
My pleasure! Hope you like it :)
going to make this right now!!!:)
Awesome! I hope you like it! :)
To bake you didn’t specify if you put it in a loaf pan or what? Would love to make it, just confused on that part. Thanks!
I didn’t put it in a loaf pan (although you could of course use one). The dough is holding together enough, so you can form a round loaf, a long loaf, smaller rolls etc. I simply put the dough on a floured parchment paper on a baking tray, carve it with a knife and bake it like that. :) Hope you’ll like it!
Awesome, going to make it now. Thanks for the response! :)
Do you have a gluten-free option?
Unfortunately not because I’m the worst at gluten-free baking :D But if you have a go-to gluten-free bread mix, you could try using that (and probably it’s better to put the dough in a bread baking form). Let me know if you give it a try :)
I sure will! I’m not so great at it either but I’ll let you know if I work up tha courage to give it a try :)
Can you make this with no bread machine? How long would I hand knead the dough for? Thanks!
Hey Becki, sure, you can knead the dough by hand. It will take about 5 minutes. Start by combining it with a spoon, then knead it with your hands until it’s a nice, non-sticky dough. You may have to add a bit more flour (if it’s too sticky) or more water (if it doesn’t hold together). Happy baking!
I just tried this. I’ve never made white bread before but I would say it only makes one loaf. I split it and the loafs are much smaller than I expected. It tastes really good though!
Thank you for the feedback, Audrey! I’m glad you liked it :)
Do I turn oven to 480 degrees F? Sounds a little too hot
I always bake the bread at full heat, so 250°C and that converts to 480°F ..I keep a close eye on it and once it gets golden/brownish on the crust, it take it out and it’s ready. But there’s nothing wrong with baking it at a lower heat. Especially when making large loaves, reducing the heat and leaving it in longer, makes sure it bakes all the way through. All ovens are different :) Hope you enjoy it, Zona! :)
I tried this recipe at a lower temperature. 480 degrees Fahrenheit seemed way too hot. The other bread I make regularly bakes at 425, but only for about 15 min. Then you lower the temp to 375 for another 15 min. I can’t quite remember what I set my oven to for this recipe, though. 400 maybe? Otherwise, I like this bread SOOOOO much better than my other bread. Thank you so much for sharing!
Thank you for the feedback, Leah! I always bake the bread at full heat, so 250°C and that converts to 480°F..I keep a close eye on it and once it gets golden/brownish on the crust, it take it out and it’s ready. But there’s nothing wrong with baking it at a lower heat. Especially when making large loaves, reducing the heat and leaving it in longer, makes sure it bakes all the way through. All ovens are different :) I’m glad you liked itttt, lots of love! :)
Made this for Thanksgiving. Added fresh thyme and rosemary to one and garlic bread seasoning to another. The bread is best warm. It gets quite hard and breaks up as the day passes. Nonetheless, it’s a good recipe.
These are great variations! I try to keep the bread in a covered bread box to prevent it from drying out over the day. When I’m not using up the bread on the same day, I toast the slices. So they’ll get soft and warm again :)
I have made this 2x’s in less than a week! Delicious and easy….and fun to play with different flavors/add-ins.
One question, though, my bread barely rises. I follow the directions to a T and let sit for the whole 90min, but it doesn’t really expand. Any suggestions?
It still comes out amazing! Dense and delicious (not too sure if the density is because it doesn’t really rise???).
Thank you so much!!!
Hi Jaimie, I’m so glad you like the recipe! Yes, the denseness is because your dough didn’t rise. Let’s change that :)
Reasons why the dough may not rise:
* the yeast is old/inactive (if you’re not sure about your yeast, you can put the yeast in a small bowl, add a bit of lukewarm (not too hot!) water of the recipe and let it sit for about 10 minutes. when it’s bubbly = it’s working. Not bubbly = water is too hot or too cold or the yeast is old or inactive. Once you know your yeast is working, you can add it to the flour, salt, add the rest of the water and oil and knead.
* the room temperature is too cold. The dough needs a little bit of warmth to rise (in winter, I put the bowl on the heating; in summer it’s usually not a problem because it’s warm enough in the room).
* using gluten-free flour (gluten-free flours are so different, they don’t really rise)
* are you using the right kind of yeast (it’s dried baker’s yeast – I always use active dry yeast, but instant yeast or rapid-rise yeast should work just as fine? not to confuse with nutritional yeast << that wouldn’t work.
I hope that solves the problem. Let me know how it goes! Together we can fix it! :)
Best,
Bianca
Can I just say thank you for putting this in metric as well? When I’ve found US recipes on the internet I always have to skip over them, because it’s a lot of pre-thinking to convert from volume to weight! Gonna be trying this tomorrow morning!
You’re welcome! Before I had my measuring cups and spoons, it was so hard for me to cook vegan recipes from the internet when the authors didn’t provide metric measurements. Now, I’m trying to provide both measurements (I sometimes forget though haha but I try!). Good luck, let me know how it goes ^.^
Can you substitute in whole wheat flour instead of white flour? Does it work the same?
You can definitely substitute the white flour for whole wheat flour, but you might have to adjust the flour-water-ratio a bit. Add more water if it’s too crumbly. You could also use a mix of whole wheat and white flour :)
That sounds great.Tthanks for the detailed response :)
Wow! First time making this bread! Loved it!! Thanks so much.
I’m so glad you liked it, Marissa! :)
Hi, this looks really good. Can I just make it entirely in my bread machine?
Totally, I’ve done this many times! Use the *white bread* setting. :)
This bread looks amazing! I’m making it this weekend for sure!! yum!
Yeay! I would love to know know how it turns out :)
This was my first time ever trying to make homemade bread, and it was good! A little too dense for my liking but I think the water was just not warm enough for my yeast. So, I’ll try again tomorrow after my 4 year old devours this loaf with peanut butter on it (currently his favorite food) and see if I can fix that. Great recipe!
Hi Michaela, the water should be lukewarm (if it’s too hot it can kill the yeast, then it results in a dense bread as well), so it’s better to keep it a bit cooler than too warm. And it’s best to keep the bowl with the dough in a warm place (maybe near a radiator) while it’s rising. Then it should work just fine! :) Hope it turns out a bit fluffier next time! :) Thank you for the review!
I figured it out! I forgot to mention I only use whole wheat flour so it was bound to be more dense and it took some tweaking, but now I make this every other day so we ALWAYS have a loaf on hand! If anyone uses whole wheat flour I recommend using about 1/4 to 1/2 cup more water and in my experiments, a pinch of sugar really helps too. Thanks again!
Ah yes! That explains it! :)
It’s fun to see how the use of different flours will change the result, right?
Thank you for the instructions when using whole wheat flour, readers will appreciate that! :)
Never before made bread until now! Thank you for an easy recipe that didn’t scare me!! I used 1/2 AP and 1/2 spelt flour and it came out wonderful! Dense and chewy and hearty and yummy!! THANKS!
So glad to hear that, Barbara! Thank you so much for the great review!
This recipe sounds amazing! Can I make it with corn flour?
Ohh, corn bread! That sounds interesting! Actually, I’ve never tried this Basic White Bread with corn flour. Not sure if corn flour works with yeast.. I don’t think it would rise. Also, it’s probably best to bake corn bread in a loaf pan, not sure if it would hold together in a loaf on its own because of the missing gluten. I think it would be best to stick to corn bread recipes..