Easy Crusty Vegan Bread Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret of crusty bread? ›

To make crusty bread, create steam in the oven.

They have a professional secret: the steam-injected oven. Nothing offers the baker quite as nice a crust as an oven filled with steam for the first part of the baking process.

Bake at Lower Temperatures

This technique gives the bread a flaky, slightly crisp crust. But if you want a melt-in-your-mouth soft crust, you need a much lower temperature for a longer period.

Simply put, you have to control the temperature of the bread. Allowing ample time for your bread dough to rise and the yeast to form will create the holes in the bread that give it a lighter texture. Letting your dough get puffy and grow before it goes into the oven is critical.

Large crusty loaves can be stored unwrapped (to preserve their crispy crust) at room temperature for a day or so, cut side down on the counter. For optimum long-term storage (longer than a couple of days), wrap bread in single-day portions and freeze.

Baking quick breads at too high temperatures can cause a hard outside crust. Most quick breads bake in a moderate oven (350°F to 375°F). Double check your recipe to see the temperature they recommend. Oven thermostats can vary over time, requiring adjustments by the baker or calibration by a professional.

If your crust is becoming soft too quickly and not staying crispy you simply need to bake the bread longer. The best way to do this is to lower the temperature of your oven slightly and bake a few more minutes to achieve the same color you would have at the higher temperature.

Glucose syrup, honey, or agave work great. Glucose syurp and these other liquid sugars are known as invert sugars. Invert sugars are less prone to crystallization. This will then keep the crust soft and flexible rather than hard and crispy because the sugars are not setting on the surface.

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.

A: All DKB bread products are considered vegan and do not contain any animal products, however, our limited edition DKB Snack Bars (Trail Mix Crumble and Oat-Rageous Honey Almond™) are NOT considered vegan as they contain organic honey.

Is Ezekiel bread vegan? ›

Ezekiel bread is a healthy and tasty vegan bread that includes no dairy, no eggs, and no honey. It is a truly vegan bread that is an excellent protein source. The unique sprouted grains and legumes produce a complete protein, which is something you don't typically get from bread.

As the loaf cools, any moisture which is left in the loaf escapes through the crust as steam and this is what causes the softening.

There may be several reasons for a dense, cake like texture in bread. It may indicate the kneading wasn't enough for the gluten to develop properly, or the dough was proved for too short a time or the dough may have been too dry.

Does Rising Bread Affect Its Texture? For a fluffy bread texture, the key is to let the bread rise long enough.

Are you baking your loaf at the right temperature? It sounds obvious, but bread generally needs to be baked at a high temperature. A golden-brown, glossy crust is achieved when sugars and amino acids (the building blocks of proteins) in the dough react together at high temperatures in the oven.

An egg yolk lightly beaten with 1 teaspoon of cream produces a very shiny deep-brown crust, beaten with 1 teaspoon of milk, it gives a shiny, medium-brown crust. Melted butter or oil makes for a soft velvety crust. Glazes can also be used to "glue" or attach seeds to bread before baking.

After your dough is formed and ready for the oven, brush a light coating of the egg wash onto the dough and put it in the oven. After that, cook as you normally would. Another thing you can try is to use a recipe with a little sugar in it.

However, there is evidence of a higher concentration of nutrients in the crust of bread than in the soft center. In 2002, a team of German researchers compared the crust of baked bread to the soft part at the center and found that the crust had eight times more of a cancer-fighting antioxidant [source: Lindenmeier].