How To Make Vegan Sandwich Bread With Fresh Milled Flour
How To Make Vegan Sandwich Bread With Fresh Milled Flour This recipe is so soft, and doesn’t require any eggs, milk, or butter. I developed this sandwich bread from my regular every day sandwich bread to try and conserve our egg, milk, and dairy usage. Because grocery prices are on the rise, and this can be a helpful way to save on your grocery budget. Also, I wanted to make a Fresh Milled Flour Vegan Sandwich Bread Option available. So, let’s get to baking this delicious, soft, cheap bread!
The shaping on this loaf was a little loose, but you can still see that soft and airy texture. This bread was made with half hard white wheat and half hard red wheat.
How To Save Money With Rising Grocery Costs
Rising grocery costs is becoming a major concern for most of us across the globe, but especially here in the US. Not only are grocery costs skyrocketing, but some items are becoming difficult to find at all! Lately, early 2023, a carton of eggs upwards of 3 times the average price or more of this time last year. Some areas of the US, like California, are seeing these prices even higher than that! I can’t imagine being able to continue my normal baking recipes with a dozen of eggs costing over $10!
These very few ingredients can save you money at the grocery store! Here is some raw cane sugar (which can be omitted completely or replaced with honey. Also, Light Extra Virgin Olive Oil, and some sea salt. Of course, this recipe calls for Fresh milled flour and yeast as well!
Will The Egg Shortage Last Long?
Hopefully, with Spring just around the corner, the egg shortage issues will subside, and the egg prices will come back down a little. I don’t believe that egg prices will fall all the way down, because of the rising cost of feed and supplies. However, it should give some relief when homesteader chickens start laying again. This will bring more eggs back on the market. So, if you have a homesteader or farmer near you who sell eggs in the spring and summer, then buy local! And, be happy to pay a little more than last year, so they can continue feeding and caring for their chickens.
Easy Vegan Sandwich Bread Recipe With Little Ingredients
So, because of these reasons, I am sharing an easy bread recipe, with little ingredients to try and help stretch your grocery budget. First, because this recipe is made with Fresh milled Flour, I know that just the bread alone is giving my family 40 out of the 44 essential nutrients that humans need to survive. So, even if I have to trim things we love out of our budget, this recipe will help keep bellies full and food on the table.
Here is a close up of this Vegan Bread! Homemade, Fresh Milled, Soft, & Delicious! This shows you how you can also make Sandwich bread without eggs, milk, or butter in a pinch!
How To Make Fresh Milled Flour Vegan Sandwich Bread
So, in excluding eggs, milk, and butter, doesn’t that mean that this bread recipe is Vegan? Well, yes this recipe does qualify as a vegan recipe. My family is not vegan, but this is a great recipe if you are or are looking to start!
This is my dough before mixing in the yeast. I like to let the freshly milled wheat flour sit with the water, so it can start absorbing the liquid. Since, fresh ground flour can take a bit longer to absorb the liquid and create gluten.
Ingredients How To Make Vegan Sandwich Bread With Fresh Milled Flour
- 3.5 – 4 cups Fresh Milled Flour (485g) (I milled 1&1/3 cup hard white wheat & 1&1/3 cup hard red wheat)
- 1&3/4 cup warm water (410g)
- 3 TBSP Light Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 3 TBSP Sugar or Honey
- 1&1/4 tsp salt
- 2 tsp instant yeast
That’s it! A super simple ingredient list that most of us already have on hand.
Instructions How To Make Sandwich Bread Without Eggs, Milk, and Butter
- Firstly, Mill the flour
- Warm the water to about 90*F in the microwave is fine.
- Add warm water to stand mixing bowl, then add sugar, olive oil, and salt. Mix to combine.
- Then, add flour to the stand mixer, and start to mix until all the dry flour is gone.
- Cover and let it sit at room temperature for at least 15 minutes, up to 2 hours to allow the fresh milled flour to absorb the liquid.
- Then, add the instant yeast. Start to mix the yeast in until combined.
- Start the kneading process. This could take 25 minutes with fresh milled flour, or less. This varies greatly, so the best way to check if the dough is done being kneaded, is to check for a window pane test. Short Window Pane Test Video HERE
- Once a successful window pane test is done, then, cover the dough and let it rise until doubled. This will typically take 1 to 2 hours.
- After the dough has doubled, on a clean surface, spread a little olive oil with your hands. Then take the dough out, and press the air out.
Shaping The Loaf After The First Rise
10. Then, divide the dough in half if you are making 2 one pound loaves. Press each piece flat, then roll up to shape. Make sure there is some surface tension, see my video for shaping if you are interested HERE
11. Place in a parchment paper lined 4×8 bread pan, and cover for about 40 minutes until puffy looking.
12. Preheat oven to 350*F towards the end of this second rise time.
13. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes until the internal temperature reaches 190*F.
14. Take bread out of the oven, and out of the bread tins right away, and place them on a wire cooling rack.
15. Let cool for at least one hour before slicing.
16. Slice to desired thickness, and enjoy!
Alternative Bread Pan Sizes
My recipes call for the smaller 4×8 bread loaf pans, because I have a tiny oven! lol. Even the 4.5×8.5 pans are a bit larger, crazy how just that half inch each way can make such a difference! So, if you only have the larger pans, I recommend to x1.5 my recipes if you are looking for a large high rise loaf of bread. The large pans will definitely still work, the loafs will just be a bit smaller.
How To Store This Fresh Milled Flour Vegan Sandwich Bread
To store these fresh milled flour vegan sandwich bread loafs, keep in an airtight container, or bag. Then, keep on the counter for 2-3 days. For longer storage, place in a freezer safe bag and freeze for up to 4 months. (Make sure the loaf has cooled completely before freezing, best results to freeze the same day as it is baked.) To thaw, sit on the counter, and let come to room temperature.
If You Want To Learn More About Milling Your Own Flour, I have a Fresh Milled Flour 101 post. I Recommend Starting With That Post.
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Vegan Sandwich Bread Made With Fresh Milled Flour Printable Recipe
Vegan Sandwich Bread Made With Fresh Milled Flour
Equipment
- 2 4×8 bread tins
Ingredients
- 4 cups Fresh Milled Flour 485g (I milled 1&1/3 cup hard white wheat & 1&1/3 cup hard red wheat)
- 1&3/4 cup Warm water 410g
- 3 TBSP Light Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 3 TBSP Sugar or Honey
- 1&1/4 tsp Salt
- 2 tsp Instant yeast
Instructions
- Firstly, Mill the flour.
- Warm the water to about 90*F in the microwave is fine.
- Add warm water to stand mixing bowl, then add sugar, olive oil, and salt. Mix to combine.
- Then, add flour to the stand mixer, and start to mix until all the dry flour is gone.
- Cover and let it sit at room temperature for at least 15 minutes, up to 2 hours to allow the fresh milled flour to absorb the liquid.
- Then, add the instant yeast. Start to mix the yeast in until combined.
- Start the kneading process. This could take 25 minutes with fresh milled flour, or less. This varies greatly, so the best way to check if the dough is done being kneaded, is to check for a window pane test.
- Once a successful window pane test is done, then, cover the dough and let it rise until doubled. This will typically take 1 to 2 hours.
- After the dough has doubled, on a clean surface, spread a little olive oil with your hands. Then take the dough out, and press the air out.
- Then, divide the dough in half if you are making 2 one pound loaves. Press each piece flat, then roll up to shape. Make sure there is some surface tension.
- Place in a parchment paper lined 4×8 bread pan, and cover for about 40 minutes until puffy looking.
- Preheat oven to 350*F towards the end of this second rise time.
- Bake for 30 to 40 minutes until the internal temperature reaches 190*F.
- Take bread out of the oven, and out of the bread tins right away, and place them on a wire cooling rack.
- Let cool for at least one hour before slicing.
- Slice to desired thickness, and enjoy!
Video
Notes
*This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you! As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases
I’ve been looking and looking for a good bread recipe using freshly milled flour, and every one I have tried has been really tedious and/or used like 7 cups of flour. Your tips were really helpful, I let the dough sit for about an hour before adding the yeast, which I think helped so much. And watching your video of you kneading the dough really helped me achieve success. Texture and taste are both fantastic!
Thank you! I am so happy to hear that! We love this bread, and make it very often for our sandwich bread.
Have you ever done this with active dry yeast instead of instant? I dont usually have instant on hand but I have a large amount of active dry.
Yes, you can use active dry yeast, I would just say to activate it before you use it in the bread. Otherwise, all else would be the same! Thanks!
Hey Kara:
Is this your “go-to” bread recipe? If not, can you send me the link to your “g0-to”?
Thanks!
Karen
Yes, this is my go to Sandwich bread. I also make the 4 Ingredient bread on my site here if we are looking for a free form baguette style bread.
Hi, there. I really enjoyed your video. Have you ever kneaded this by hand? I don’t have a mixer and wonder how long it will take to reach the window pane test. Thank you.
To hand knead, I would recommend you let the dough sit longer before you add the yeast. Like 30 minutes up to 2 hours even, then add the yeast, and begin kneading. This will cut down on the kneading time. Hope that helps!
Can this recipe be doubled?
I have two 2 pound pullman pans I like to use for bread making and baking two loaves at once helps my schedule.
Yes, you can double the recipe, that should give you 2 of the 2 pound loafs! Thanks!
hi there!
Wondering if it’s possible to use a sourdough starter instead of instant yeast for this type of bread or would that require a completely different recipe?
Sure, you can leave out the yeast, and use about 100g of sourdough starter(1/2 cup) instead. Then, allow 4-6 hours for the first rise, then 1-2 hours for the second rise or until it looks puffy. Hope that helps!
I made this recipe for the first time today. And it turned out a super wet dough. I let the dough sit for about 2 hours before I added the yeast. Then kneaded the dough for about 25 minutes (got the window pane just like you described) and doubled in size at about 90 mins. Not sure why the dough stayed so wet though. I am going to bake it in any case. And then let you know how it turned out.
I do like to work with a wet dough, however, each recipe will be slightly different for each person. Measuring varies, humidity, and even the moisture content in the wheat berries themselves. So, you may need to adjust slightly. But, if you got the windowpane, and it rose, and shaped it should be nice and light and airy! In the video I show texture and how the dough looks, that may be helpful if you haven’t seen that yet. Hope that helps!
https://youtu.be/zfX-Qr5Q_X8
I got my dough to pass the window pane test, but the center of my bread is still crumbly. I also had to bake the bread for just over 40 minutes to get the center to 190 degrees. Any thoughts? I’m not new to making 100% whole wheat (been doing it for 15 years) but first time making this recipe of yours. The outside looked beautiful! Thanks in advance!
Hmmm… Other things it could be is too much dough in the bread tin, or a proofing issue. Either over or under proofed.
I just watched your most recent video and I think it may have been that my dough was actually a bit too wet. It was raining and about 99% humidity but I didn’t want to add too much flour! Thank you for replying!
Oh I am happy to hear you figured it out! yay!
Hi, thanks for the recipe! A little confused because the recipe says 4 cups freshly milled flour; 1 & 1/3 c white and 1&1/3 c red. That’s a total of 2&2/3, so where does the other 1 and 1/3 cup come from to equal 4 cups total?
the 1&1/3 cup measurements are for the actual whole grain amount before milling. I just let you know about how much of each of the whole wheat berries you might use to get this amount of flour. I hope that makes sense! Happy Baking!
If I add an egg to this will I need to do anything different or just follow as written?
Thanks so much love your site and really love the videos .
You may need just a hint of a little extra flour, but probably won’t need to, just add it in! Let me know how it turns out! Happy Baking!
Good evening,
Is there anything I could substitute for the oil? For some health considerations, we really try to limit oil. I am so grateful for all the information so far. I started milling my own flour about a year ago and have failed miserably…but as I read all the tips…hah, I now know all the reasons WHY. I cannot wait to begin again!
You can substitute butter, lard, ghee, or any other type of neutral oil you prefer. I hope that helps! Happy Baking!
This is one of my favorite recipes of yours. I’ve been making 2x 2lbs. loafs every week as our go-to bread, and everybody likes it. Really great!
One problem I’m having- mine take almost an hour to fully bake, and on occasion I get a hole in the middle of the loaf. Any ideas on how to fix that?
Thanks! Your stuff is brilliant.
Yay! I am so happy to hear that. The hole in the middle could be from shaping. Make sure when you roll it up there are no air bubbles trapped, and it is somewhat tight. If you are using glass baking containers they will take longer to bake. OR too much dough in the baking pans could cause this as well. Off the top of my head, those are some reasons that could cause this. Hope that helps!
My pans are just slightly bigger at 8 x 4.5. Do you think any adjustments are needed with that small of a difference?
Many people have done 1.5x my recipe for larger pans if you want a big loaf. I prefer those smaller loafs, so I would probably just use it. But, it is all what you prefer! Happy Baking!
Hi, the recipe calls for 485g flour and 410g warm water. Is the amount of warm water correct?. Thanks
Yes, it is a high hydration dough so that it is nice and soft and squishy like sandwich bread from the store. If you live in an extremely humid climate, you could add 20g less, and go from there. But it should be a pretty wet dough. Let me know how it goes! I do have a very helpful video that I made that goes with this recipe, you can see the texture and wetness of my dough as I make it. https://youtu.be/zfX-Qr5Q_X8 Happy Baking!
Hi! My loaves are not rising as high as yours. What could I be doing wrong?
What size pans are you using? Mine are the small 4×8 pans. Even the 4.5×8.5 pans hold more dough, Many have wonderful results with 1.5x the recipe for those size pans(you can do 2 eggs, instead of 1.5 eggs, lol). Also, I recommend doubling the recipe for the larger 5×9 pans. IF you are using the small pans, and still no rise. I would recommend checking your yeast. You can do this by taking some yeast, and putting it in a small bowl with some warm water and a pinch of sugar. Then await about 10 minutes. It should get nice and foamy. If it doesn’t then there is a problem with the yeast. The last thing that can cause it to not rise, it too much flour added. I do have a video on this bread that has lots of tips, and I show what the dough looks like at different stages of kneading, etc. If you haven’t seen it, here is that video link. https://youtu.be/zfX-Qr5Q_X8
That video was super helpful! Thanks! I will definitely need to double.
Yay! I am so happy to hear that! Thank you so much!
Hi!
Your tips and tricks are so helpful, and I love that fresh milled flour can still reach window pane! Question, is it possible to omit the sugar/honey? If not what’s the least amount of sugar this bread needs?
I am so happy to hear they are helpful! Thank you so much! Yes, you can make this bread with out the sugar, it just won’t have any sweetness to it. Or, if you want just a little sweetness, you can do 1 TBP of honey/sugar. Let me know what you think!
I do have another 4 ingredient bread recipe that does not call for any sugar/honey if interested. https://grainsinsmallplaces.net/easy-4-ingredient-bread-made-with-fresh-milled-flour/
This bread is so delicious!
The first several times I made it, the bread came out perfect. The last two batches, sunk in the middle. What am I doing wrong?
Thanks!
I am so happy to hear it is a hit! If it is sinking in the middle that is most likely caused by 2 main things. First, and most common is over proofing. To fix this, just shorten your second rise time. It may just be warmer or more humid than usual and it is proofing faster than before. OR it could be slightly underbaked, that can cause sinking as well. To prevent that, you can use a digital thermometer and temp the center of the loaf. Make sure it is above 190*F. I hope that helps! Let me know how it goes! Happy Baking!
Can I change one of the hard wheats to kamut and follow the rest of the recipe? Also can I use any dough enhancers like wheat gluten,lecithin &vitamin C?
I like to use 80% hard wheat and 20% Kamut, you can do that with this recipe. Feel free to add any dough enhancers you wish. Let me know how it goes! Happy Baking!