Vegan Garlic Pull Apart Bread
Vegan garlic pull apart bread - this irresistible vegan garlic bread is super soft, fluffy and perfect for sharing. It is filled with herby garlic butter, is crisp on the outside, soft on the inside and incredibly moreish!
Servings 1 loaf
Ingredients
Tangzhong:
- 25 g (scant ¼ cup) white bread flour
- 140 g (½ cup + 4 tsp) unsweetened non-dairy milk (soy is best)
Dough:
- 160 g (⅔ cup) unsweetened non-dairy milk (soy is best) cold
- 25 g (2 Tbsp) caster or granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 350 g (2 + ¾ cups + 1 Tbsp) white bread flour (plus extra as needed)
- 7 g (2 ¼ tsp) instant yeast
- 30 g (2 Tbsp) vegan butter/spread (I used Flora original)
Filling:
- 110 g (½ cup) vegan butter/spread (I used Flora original)
- 8 cloves garlic peeled and crushed
- 2 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley
- 2 tablespoon nutritional yeast
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- I like to split making these over two days – I make the dough and refrigerate it overnight for it’s first rise. The cold dough is easier to roll out and the slow rise results in a better flavour. You can do it all on the same day if you prefer though.
- To make the tangzhong, place the flour in a saucepan and gradually whisk in the milk to avoid lumps.
- Place the pan over a medium/low heat and whisk constantly until the mixture has thickened to a paste/pudding-like consistency.
- Scrape the tangzhong into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook and pour the rest of the cold milk on top. This will cool the tangzhong down so that the heat doesn’t kill the yeast.
- Add the sugar, salt and flour and finally the yeast. Stir until it forms a rough dough then set the stand mixer to a medium speed and mix until the dough is smooth and stretchy, this can take about 10 minutes.
- Add the vegan butter and knead for about another 5 minutes until it is fully incorporated and the dough is smooth, elastic and no longer feels greasy. You may need to scrape down the sides of the bowl a couple of times.
- The dough should still be soft and sticky, but it should pull away from the sides of the bowl cleanly. If it seems too wet then you can knead in a little extra flour, a tablespoon at a time. Be careful though, this is meant to be a soft dough and adding too much extra flour will make the bread dry.
- Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover and place in the fridge to rise overnight, or in a warm spot for 1-2 hours, until doubled in size.
- To make the filling, mix together the vegan butter, crushed garlic, finely chopped parsley, nutritional yeast and salt. Cover and store in the fridge until needed. If you have used a non-spreadable variety of butter then make sure you take it out of the fridge about an hour in advance of shaping the loaf so that is has time to soften up.
- The following day (or once the dough has doubled in size at room temperature), knock back the dough and give it a brief 30 second knead to knock out the air bubbles.
- Divide the dough into 12 even pieces and shape each one into a ball.
- Roll each ball out on a lightly floured surface into a circle about 10-11.5 cm/4-4.5 inches wide. They don't need to be exactly round.
- Spread a dollop of the garlic butter over the circle then fold it in half like a taco, encasing the filling. Repeat with the rest of the balls of dough, using all of the filling.
- Grease an approx 11.5 x 21.5 / 8.5 x 4.5 in loaf tin and line with a strip of baking parchment, leaving some overhanging on either side so that you can easily lift the bread out once it is baked.
- Arrange the dough pieces folded edge down in the loaf tin. You will probably have to squish them together a bit to fit them in.
- Loosely cover and leave to rise until puffy, about 45-75 minutes. If you gently press the dough with your finger it should spring back slowly, and maybe leave a slight indentation. If it springs back quickly then it needs a little longer, and if the dough deflates then it is over-prooved so keep an eye on it!
- When the bread is nearly ready, preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/350°F/gas mark 4.
- Gently brush any exposed dough with a little milk, then bake the loaf for 50 minutes. It should be deep golden and a probe thermometer inserted into the centre should reach at least 90°C/194°F.* If the top is starting to get too dark before the time is up then you can loosley cover it with tin foil.
- Allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes then carefully lift it out onto a wire rack and leave to cool for about 30 minutes before serving.
Notes
- See post above for tips, details and step-by-step photos. If you have a question I may have already answered it above!
- As with all of my baking recipes I really do recommend using the metric measurements with a digital scale rather than the cup conversions. Cups are a wildly inaccurate measuring system and you will get far better, more consistent results using a scale, not to mention that it is also easier and less messy than cups!
- I find it easier to weigh out the liquid ingredients using my scale, which is why I have given the amounts in grams. The quantity is the same if using a measuring jug (140ml milk for the tangzhong and 160ml for the dough).
- *If you don’t have a thermometer then a toothpick inserted into the centre of the loaf should go in and out smoothly with little resistance and come out clean.