It’s been a minute since I posted a new yeast bread, and as one of the world’s foremost potato lovers, it was about time I updated my ancient vegan potato bread recipe.
Transcending its confusing 2013 origins to become a modern vegan potato bread to please the masses, this recipe now has rewritten instructions, simplified steps, new photographs, and weight measurements.
This bread previously used a blend of spelt flour and brown rice flour as it was originally developed during my WFPB kick. You can still use spelt flour and add some extra vital wheat gluten to get some spring. But I do strongly prefer the “white bread” version for flavor and texture, so that’s now the focus of the recipe.
Most classic potato bread recipes are like the overly sweet white sandwich bread you’ll find on the grocery store shelf. They’re fortified with sugar, as well as eggs and dairy products, to give them a soft, rich texture. I debated veganizing a potato bread in this style, but in actuality I don’t prefer my sliced bread that way.
Instead, I used a really basic bread dough, added mashed potato, and then used just enough liquid to bring the dough together. Using instant (rapid rise) yeast allows for a short proofing time and a substantial amount of oven spring, so there’s not a lot of fuss with shaping the loaves.
The result is a vegan potato bread, with no specialty ingredients needed, an impressive crust, soft fluffy interior, and a little bit of potato flavor. If you would like, you can even used leftover prepared vegan mashed potatoes (the kind with garlic, vegan butter, etc.), substituted by weight for the plain mashed potatoes used here. Bon appetit!
Vegan Potato Bread
Ingredients
- 385 grams mashed potato (2 cups mashed / about 2 Russet potatoes)
- 375 grams bread flour
- 1.5 tsp salt
- 0.25 oz instant or rapid-rise yeast (1 package)
- 1/3 cup plain, unsweetened non-dairy milk (or water)
- 3 tbsp olive oil
Instructions
- To a mixing bowl, add the bread flour, salt, and instant yeast, and stir together. Add the non-dairy milk, the mashed potato, and the olive oil. Stir to combine until a dough forms. It will generally seem dry at first and then come together.
- Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead for 5 minutes, or until elastic. (Alternately, use a mixer with a dough hook). Add as little extra flour as you can get away with during this process.
- Once done kneading, place the dough in a bowl and cover it with a damp towel. Place it in a warm location inside your home, such as near the oven. In winter I sometimes turn on my oven for about 60 seconds to get some heat circulating, then turn it back off and put the bread inside. Let the dough rest until approximately doubled in size, which is generally about 30 to 45 minutes using the rapid-rise yeast, depending on ambient conditions.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Divide the dough in half and shape each half into an oblong ball, and place on the baking sheet. If desired, use a sharp knife to score the top of the loaves. Let the shaped loaves rest for another 10 minutes while preheating the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Don't worry if they look a little flat; this bread gets a lot of oven spring.
- Bake the vegan potato bread for approximately 40 minutes, or until the crust is browned all over the outside, and when tapped the bread sounds hollow inside. Remove from the oven, and let cool for at least an hour before slicing. If you let it cool for a few hours, you'll have the best results. You can slice it earlier than that, but it may still be a bit moist (as in my photos) and not as good for spreading things onto it. If you let it cool completely, the potato bread will have a nice tight crumb.
Notes
Nutrition
Adapted from Happy Foods Tube and my own old recipe.
More yeast-based recipes from the blog:
I'm Shannon, the writer and photographer of Yup, it's Vegan! I'm a morning person based in Baltimore, USA. My mission is to create healthy plant-based recipes that anyone would enjoy, using seasonal produce with inspiration from global flavors.
Benjamin Brackman says
Could you omit the bread flour and us 2 teaspoons of xanthan gum instead, in order to make it completely gluten free?
Shannon @ Yup, it's Vegan says
No this bread cannot be made gluten-free.
Joseph Dubonnet says
We tried it and it was delicious and looked terrific out of the oven. I used yellow potatoes and Oatmilk.
Annie says
I made this as written and it was sooo good. Thank you!
Deb says
I am not supposed to have gluten milk or eggs. But I am going to try this recipe with almond flour and oat flour and see what happens. I think it will actually work out. I have hyperthyroidism and I’m getting away from gluten and trying to get away from dairy and eggs now I think we could actually use egg whites cuz of no iodine. Anyway I’m going to try this thank you so much for the recipe!
Shannon @ Yup, it's Vegan says
I love experimenting and often encourage it but If I’m being completely honest I don’t think substituting oat flour and almond flour would work well in this recipe. Yeasted breads really require a lot of tweaking to make gluten-free and normally a mix of flours and starches would be needed to even come close. Just wanted to give you my opinion before you spend money on the ingredients to make it.
Patrick80132 says
This recipe is so lacking in moisture I couldn’t even combine all the ingredients. I had to double the plant milk to even resemble a bread dough. Something is very wrong with the recipe.
Shannon @ Yup, it's Vegan says
Hi, I’m sorry you had this experience, but it says right in the recipe notes that you may need to add more milk depending on the moisture content of your potatoes, so this experience isn’t really unexpected at all to me.
Chatters says
This needs to have a recalculation of the total time needed. It is at least 3 hours.
Luis says
Hi Shannon! I`ve made this today, they turned out wonderful! I followed the recipe and divided half into 4 balls and the other half on a bread tin. Thank you very much for your recipe! I put everything into the mixer, except for the yeast and water that I kept at lukewarm temperature for a few minutes before throwing in the bowl.
I didn’t adjust the flour. They were a little bit sticky out of the bowl but I didn’t care, they baked just fine!
It`s my go-to recipe now! They were very soft and yummy.
Thank you again!
Bonnie Glover says
Shannon, have you frozen this bread? I would like to make it ahead and freeze the dough to cook Christmas morning. Do you think this will come out good?
Shannon @ Yup, it's Vegan says
Hi Bonnie, I haven’t tried freezing this so unfortunately I’m not sure, but definitely let us know if you give it a try.
Martin says
Made this yesterday and got a couple of small but beautiful loaves. Very light with a lovely sweet finish, but certainly not too sweet as a lot of other potato bread tends to be. I’ll be making this on a regular basis!
Kymmi says
Okay I never leave reviews, and since I’m a (wannabe) food blogger I very rarely follow recipes, but I was desperate for a good Refried beans recipe. And omg! My house smells like Taco Bell, my fiancé who doesn’t even like Refried beans said they look amazing and we are saving the broth to cook our TVP taco meat in!
Kymmi says
Hahahaha
Totally left this comment on the wrong page 🤣🤣🤣
Emma says
This looks tasty! Any idea on the size of the loaf (in pounds)? I think I should be able to adapt this to my bread machine with no problems, but it needs to know if it’s making a 1, 1.5, or 2-pound loaf so it can adjust the cycles accordingly. Thank you!
Shannon @ Yup, it's Vegan says
Sorry, I don’t think I’ve weighed this loaf in pounds before!
Laura Heath says
I did the math and it’s a 2lb loaf.
Courtney says
Could I use yellow potatoes?
Shannon @ Yup, it's Vegan says
Sure!
Val says
Could you use regular flour vs bread flour?
Shannon @ Yup, it's Vegan says
You could, but the bread flour helps a lot in keeping the bread from being weighed down by the potatoes
Wyatt says
This is great! Thanks!
S. Davis says
Hello,
Do you remove the skin from the potato?
Shannon @ Yup, it's Vegan says
I personally prefer it with the skins removed.
Richard says
Hello
I have just been diagnosed with Gluten Yeast cows milk buckwheat and egg intolerance after years of wondering what was.wrong and my Doctor was.prescribing me with Omeprazol all that time 24 years.
I have just read.your recipe for bread. I have picked.up some potato wheat have you ever heard of this. I could replace the yeast with baking sode and lemon juice. Is there such.a thing as Potato Bread
Any advice would.be appreciated
Thank You
Richard
Shannon @ Yup, it's Vegan says
Hello Richard, I’m not familiar with potato wheat… if you mean potato flour, I’m not sure it would be a good substitute here, this recipe is based pretty heavily around yeast and wheat. I’m sorry I can’t be of more help. For things other than bread I do have many gluten-free, yeast-free recipes on my site, though!
Luciana says
Looks delicious!! Can I use any blend of gluten free flour? Thank you Shannon. 😊
Shannon @ Yup, it's Vegan says
Hi Luciana, unfortunately, I don’t think this would work well with gluten-free flour.
Joy Rosenfeld says
Hi Shannon,
Would I be able to substitute oat flour for gram flour?
Shannon @ Yup, it's Vegan says
I don’t think oat flour would work in this.
Sarah Cummings says
I’ll be trying this recipe for sure! Thanks for sharing this wonderful idea!👍👍👍
Melanie says
Came out great, and easy too! I added a little bit of turmeric to get that yellow colorthat potato bread has. Delicious with jam.
Charlotte Babb says
Would this work with no oil…maybe applesauce instead?
Shannon @ Yup, it's Vegan says
I haven’t tested this without oil. I think it might be a little dry without it, even if you substituted applesauce, but I could be wrong, it’s worth a try!
Blonde In Flares says
This looks so delicious! Gah. I need to make this
Kerry says
I want to try this. I hope switching GMO canola oil (unhealthy) to avocado oil will still turn out well!!
Shannon @ Y-i-v says
Any other fat, including avocado oil, should work great for this bread!