The Vegan Basics
Basic Bread & Pizza Dough
Making homemade bread that no one can resist is quick and easy if you have all the right ingredients and tools. I don't knead and pound the bread and I don't use a bread machine... too big and bulky! But I do use a Cuisinart Food Processor to make my vegan breads in a FLASH! With this basic vegan bread and pizza recipe, you can create an endless variety of sweet or savory breads or pizza doughs.

The secret of my Basic Vegan Bread Recipe is Bob's Red Mill Vital Wheat Gluten Flour. A mere 1/4 cup of this precious flour turns every vegan bread loaf and pizza crust into a delectable mouthful! The flour tends to create a loft and chewiness to the bread that does not occur without it. So if you baked bread in the past and felt that it was too heavy, hard or tough, gluten will solve those problems when baking this recipe. You can purchase all the Bob's Red Mill products from iHerb.com and receive a $5 discount for first time buyers if you use the code: BET563.

I've also found an affordable home pizza oven by Cuisinart. Read the Review of the Cuisinart Pizza Oven Deluxe. If you want your bread to get crispy on the surface, use a preheated pizza stone on the oven shelf. This will give you can even better baking surface like a pizzeria brick oven.

Ingredients
2 cups Bob's Red Mill Organic Whole Wheat Pastry Flour or Organic Spelt Flour

2 cups Bob's Red Mill Organic Unbleached Flour

1/4 cup Bob's Red Mill Gluten

2 teaspoons Saf-Instant Yeast (French Lesaffre Yeast) or Bob's Red Mill Yeast

2 teaspoons French Sea Salt or Hawaiian Sea Salt

1/4 cup 100% Real Maple Syrup, Agave Nectar, or Unsulphured Molasses (I suggest that you try each sweetener in separate batches to see how it changes the texture and taste of the dough)

2 tablespoons organic extra virgin cold-pressed olive oil

16 ounces warm water, approximately

Non-Stick Oil Spray


Individual Saf-Instant Yeast (French Lesaffre Yeast) found at Trader Joe's.

HINT: If you run out of wheat pastry flour, try regular wheat flour. I have even used all wheat flour... the texture of the bread will be heavier... 3 cups of whole wheat pastry flour and 1 cup of unbleached flour is a good combination too.

I also like to use chapatti India flour. It is fine milled and used by India chefs to create flat breads... naan. Experiment with different flours to create your own favorites.

Tools
Cuisinart Food Processor
measuring spoons
measuring cup
large bowl
plastic wrap
insulated cookie sheet or pizza pan
pizza stone
parchment paper
pastry scraper
pizza peel
aluminium foil

Preparation
For baking a loaf of bread, preheat oven to 375 degrees F. about one hour before baking and 450 degrees F. for a pizza. It's best to use a pizza stone when baking unstructured loaves or pizzas.

Cuisinart Food Processor Mixing and Kneading Method
The Dry Ingredients
Add the dry ingredients and pulse to combine.

The Wet Ingredients
Add the sweetener... molasses or maple syrup or agave nectar.

Pulse to combine.

The Warm Water
With the machine running, add the warm water SLOWLY.

Allow the bowl contents to combine by backing off of the water and giving time for the gluten and flour to absorb the water... every flour has a different absorption rate, so give it water in a drizzle, back off and then add more. It is possible that you will only use 12 ounces of water rather than 16 ounces, but have it ready even if you don't use all of it.

The Silky Dough Ball
A silky smooth ball will form and once it pulls all the ingredients together and leaves the sides of the work bowl clean, you are finished.

Carefully remove the work bowl and dump the dough into an olive oil coated large bowl... careful not to cut yourself on the blade.

Let The Dough Rise
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in a warm place... I turn the oven light on in my oven and place the bowl in the oven with the door shut.

Clean The Equipment
Clean your Cuisinart NOW... otherwise, it will be very hard to get the gluten flour to release without some hard scrubbing.

Use hot water to rinse the Cuisinart work bowl and blade. With your fingers you will be able to get all the leftover dough released. Use dish detergent and a sponge to finish the job. I use a special tool that came with my original Cuisinart to twirl inside the blade base to make sure that no dough remains lodged inside the blade stem. The Glass Dharma has some tiny brushes that fit into all the crevices that you can order.

HINT: If you'll rinse most of the dough off with your fingers, it will save picking out the dough bits that will become lodged in the sponge or wash cloth.

Form The Pizza Crust
After the dough ball has doubled, about an hour, pull the risen dough out of the bowl, cut into two equal parts. I use this pastry scraper to cut the dough and to scrape the leftover flour caked onto my countertop. If you like thin crusted pizzas, cut the ball into four parts.

On a floured work surface, roll the dough into a pizza shape... square or round and place on top of a sheet of parchment paper. Yes, parchment paper! Then top with your favorite pizza ingredients... see my recipe for a Cheeseless Sausage Pizza. The parchment paper allows me to use the pizza peel to slip my loaded pizza or unstructured bread loaves onto the HOT pizza stone just like a professional. And when done, I can pull a corner of the parchment to get the peel under it without disturbing the toppings. Not to mention saving clean-up time too!

Another feature of using parchment paper is that I can make up two or three pizzas all at once and easily get them into the oven, one-after-the-other using the peel.

Form The Bread Loaf
If you want to create a loaf of vegan bread, spray the loaf pans or pan with the non-stick oil spray and depending on the loaf sizes you want to make, divide the dough and knead it again by hand and cut into the appropriate size. Place kneaded dough into the loaf pan or pans and spray the tops with the non-stick oil spray or brush with olive oil.

Set the pans in a warm draft free area and let rise again till the dough doubles in size. This may take another hour or more depending on the temperature of your kitchen.

Preheat the Oven for Bread Baking
Before baking, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and bake the risen vegan bread loaves for approximately 30 minutes. Bread is done when the interior reaches 190 degrees F, so you may want to use an instant bread thermometer to test the loaf when you decide to remove it from the oven. Personally, I use the thump method. When I hear a dull thump to the exterior, I know it's done. I can do the same for the edge of the pizza crust too. This takes experience, but try it with each baking and you'll understand what I mean.

Bread Loaf Tops Too Brown?
If your vegan bread loaf top browns too fast, try gently draping a piece of aluminum foil over the top, half way through the baking process. Remember, all ovens cook differently, so be patient, take notes about what worked and start creating your very own homemade vegan breads.

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