Simple Homemade Bread Recipes (to start you off!)

A nice loaf of good bread should be the most simple thing in the world. But it’s not. Most supermarkets use ‘tanning salons’ to just heat and up and brown part-cooked loaves, then sell them as ‘freshly baked’.

Other bread loaves sold in shops often contain milk and palm oil, plus preservatives that ironically (especially when sold in plastic bags) make the bread go stale quickly. And of course most loaves are too big, leading to a massive food waste issue.

How to prevent bread waste

Use a real bakery to only buy what you need. Or choose rolls in stores, rather than big loaves. If you do buy more than you need, you can freeze bread, just pop slices in the toaster straight from the freezer.

Never give leftover stale bread to garden birds or wildfowls. As well as being a choking hazard (same with pizza crusts and crackers), it can harm due to mould, salt or butter from sandwiches (that smear on feathers, affecting waterproofing and insulation). Birds need their own food in safe garden havens. 

Use good flour to make good bread!

Baking your own bread is pretty simple. You can just simple four-ingredient recipes (flour, yeast, salt, water) to make loaves with or without a bread machine. Once you’ve mastered the technique, you’ll likely never go back to store-bought loaves.

Before cooking, read up on food safety for people and pets (many foods in bread like salt, fresh dough, onion, garlic, dried fruits and citrus are unsafe near animal friends). Bin allium scraps (onion, leeks, garlic, shallots, chives) and citrus/tomato/rhubarb scraps, as acids could harm compost creatures. It’s okay to put them in food waste bins (made into biogas).

For tinned ingredients, fully remove lids (put inside) or pop ring-pulls back over holes (and pinch tops closed) before recycling, to avoid wildlife getting trapped.

Doves Farm is an organic flour company whose flours are widely sold in health shops and supermarkets, and they also make good baking powder and fresh yeast. Look in your area, as many artisan flours are local, helping to keep windmills in use (rather than being turned into holiday homes).

Alongside usual wholegrain and white flours, you’ll find specialty flours:

• Spelt flour (lighter on digestion)
• Chickpea flour (good to make vegan omelettes!)
• Various seed flours (high in protein and calcium)
• Pasta and pizza flours
• Ancient flours (rye, Emmer, Einkorn)
• Buckwheat flour (good for allergies)
• Sacks of flour (for professional chefs & catering)
• Organic baking powders and quick yeasts

The recipe pages includes information on how to make:

• Wholemeal Spelt Air-Fryer Bread
• Heritage Seeded Sourdough Loaf
• Air-fryer Loaves (white or wholemeal)
• Simple Machine Loaves
• No Knead Overnight Bread
• Malthouse Bread Rolls
• Soda Bread
• Rye Bread & Scones
• 2-Hour Wholemeal Bread
• Breadsticks
• Chapati Flatbreads
• Focaccia & Ciabatta

Two simple bread recipes to start you off

Easy no-knead loaf (The Simple Veganista) is a great beginner recipe ready in hours. Great for dipping in soup, sandwiches or even as pizza dough.

This Dutch Oven Bread (The Simple Veganista) only needs four ingredients (flour, yeast, water and salt) and a long overnight rise time. It has a lovely golden crust.

Freshpaper (organic bread saver sheets)

FreshPaper Bread Saver Sheets (from the USA) are not sold here, but should be (Lakeland stores sell something similar). Inspired by the founder’s Indian grandmother’s method of using oils to preserve food (there’s also a version for the fruit bowl), they keep bread fresh for longer.

Just drop a sheet into a bowl or bin containing baked goods, and the organic spices keep them fresher for longer. Ideal for fresh-from-the-bakery or homemade bread, and also good for anything else. This brand has over 5000 good reviews!

One pack of 8 sheets should last around 3 months, and pays for itself in two weeks, due to saving money on bread that goes stale too soon.

Never give leftover stale bread to garden birds or wildfowls. As well as being a choking hazard (same with pizza crusts and crackers), it can harm due to mould, salt or butter from sandwiches (that smear on feathers, affecting waterproofing and insulation). Birds need their own food in safe garden havens. 

Battle Green’s organic cotton bread bag

Battle Green organic cotton bread bag is the ideal way to keep your bread loaves fresh, so you can buy plastic-free loaves at local bakeries or supermarkets. It can easily handle a large loaf or several bread rolls, and is wrapped in a recycled card ‘belly band’.

Wash on a cool setting and allow to air-dry. Made from organic cotton, so it won’t release plastic microfibers during washing.

Never give leftover stale bread to garden birds or wildfowls. As well as being a choking hazard (same with pizza crusts and crackers), it can harm due to mould, salt or butter from sandwiches (that smear on feathers, affecting waterproofing and insulation). Birds need their own food in safe garden havens. 

Real Bread Campaign’s Honest Crust Act

Real bakers get up at 3am and knead the dough, and you can buy a freshly-made loaf in the early hours that is far more nutritious. In France, bakers don’t go on holidays at the same time, ensuring everyone can visit a boulangerie on any given day, as freshly-baked bread is deemed an important part of life.

Never give leftover stale bread to garden birds or wildfowls. As well as being a choking hazard (same with pizza crusts and crackers), it can harm due to mould, salt or butter from sandwiches (that smear on feathers, affecting waterproofing and insulation). Birds need their own food in safe garden havens. 

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This Honest Crust Act campaign has been submitted to DEFRA, to ask that a full revision of bread and flour regulations comes into place, so that people know what they are buying. This would mean that anything sold as ‘bread’, could not use processing aids or other additives.

All loaves would need to display a full list of ingredients, including at point-of-display (say for loose rolls in supermarkets). It also must legally say if the item was baked from scratch in the last 12 hours, or just ‘baked’ in store from delivered pre-made products.

There would also be a ban on ‘wholemeal’ products that contained refined ingredients, and stricter legislation on sourdough loaves. Keeping the real bread industry alive could support up to 75,000 meaningful and sustainable jobs (twice that of present ‘big baking industry’).

Recently, some big brands have had to amend labels, due to ‘greenwashing the public’:

• Kingsmill had to remove nutritional claims, after Real Bread Campaign made a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority. It was claiming that its 50/50 loaf (with white flour) was meeting UK nutritional guidelines (it was using US guidelines).
• Ocado had to rename its sourdough loaf as it was ‘sourfaux’, made with additional ingredients.
• Marks and Spencer has launched a range of five-ingredient items. But Real Bread Campaign found  the bread rolls had 11 ingredients! Their granary loaf also contains palm oil (from Indonesia).

Two Wonderful Vegan Bread-Making Books

If you like making homemade bread, check out US author Shane’s two books:

The Vegan Bread Machine Cookbook has 65 recipes, and his book Baking Vegan Bread at Home has simple recipes for:

• White or Wholewheat Sandwich Loaf
• Rapid-rise White Bread
• Sprouted Wheat Bread
• Jalapeno ‘Cheese’ Bread (above)
• Oatmeal Bread with Sunflower Seeds
• Rosemary & Thyme Gluten-Free Bread
• Speedy Herb Focaccia
• Bread Machine Cinnamon Rolls
• Walnut Cranberry Artisan Loaf
• Celebration Challah
• Panettone Christmas bread

You’ll also find expert tips on how to get the best performance from your bread machine, especially when working with vegan ingredients. Plus tips on how to store and freeze your homemade bread.

Before cooking, read up on food safety for people and pets (many foods in bread like salt, fresh dough, onion, garlic, dried fruits and citrus are unsafe near animal friends). Bin allium scraps (onion, leeks, garlic, shallots, chives) and citrus/tomato/rhubarb scraps, as acids could harm compost creatures. It’s okay to put them in food waste bins (made into biogas).

For tinned ingredients, fully remove lids (put inside) or pop ring-pulls back over holes (and pinch tops closed) before recycling, to avoid wildlife getting trapped.

Never give leftover stale bread to garden birds or wildfowls. As well as being a choking hazard (same with pizza crusts and crackers), it can harm due to mould, salt or butter from sandwiches (that smear on feathers, affecting waterproofing and insulation). Birds need their own food in safe garden havens. 

Basics of Bread (an e-book of simple recipes)

Basics of Bread is a beautiful e-book from Madeleine Olivia and her husband Alex, on how to make 20 simple plant-based bread recipes for beginners. The book features the basics of how to knead bread plus recipes for pizza dough and bagels, to focaccia, hot cross buns and cinnamon rolls.