It’s a common misconception that anything delicious can’t possibly be vegan. When I went vegan, I assumed that baked goods like breads, muffins, cookies, and cupcakes all contained some form of animal products. But I was surprised to find out that there are indeed many ways to enjoy sweet and savoury baked treats and snacks without impacting your vegan lifestyle.
Take bread, for example, the bedrock of baked goods. It rarely contains more than its base ingredients, flour, water, and yeast, which are all vegan anyway. Eggs and dairy aren’t necessary. And with some clever substitutions, bread and other baked treats can be made completely vegan-friendly and still taste like the originals.
If you need some vegan baking inspo, then look no further. Here’s a roundup of our favourite vegan baking cookbooks to help you make delicious treats that your friends won’t believe are vegan.
Vegan chef and artisan bread-maker Ed Tatton and his wife, Natasha, share techniques and 100 recipes for making naturally leavened sourdough loaves, small breads, and earth-friendly small baked goods.
Sourdough bread is naturally vegan—flour, water, and salt transformed into extraordinary, delicious bread. Ed Tatton, vegan chef, artisan bread-maker, and co-owner of the popular vegan café and bakery BReD with Natasha Tatton, has been baking and refining his recipes and techniques for naturally leavened sourdough for many years—including a wide array of boules, baguettes, loaves, flatbreads, buns, and pizza. As required, he uses plant-based alternatives in some savoury and sweet sourdoughs that would traditionally include dairy (butter, milk, or buttermilk) including panettone buns, hot cross buns, sticky buns, cinnamon buns, English muffins, brioche, and babka. Inside BReD, you’ll find these perfected recipes to start your journey in bread-making; along with a detailed sourdough starter guide with step-by-step visuals on making and maintaining a sourdough starter, levain, mixing, shaping, and baking methods.
BReD is a complete plant-based book for bakers that goes beyond just making bread. Experienced bakers and novices alike can take their baking to the next level with gorgeous vegan baked goods from cakes, muffins, and scones to biscuits, cookies, and tarts. Passionate about a vegan lifestyle for the benefit of all people and the planet, the book also includes gluten-free recipes (bread and other baked goods), discard starter recipes to further zero-waste efforts, and an offering of dips, spreads, and accompaniments to complement the breads.
“Ed and Natasha have revolutionized what it means to bake bread—all with an innovative vegan twist! From inspired recipes like Sesame and Brown Rice Miso Sourdough to Lentil, Mushroom and Herb ‘Sausage’ Rolls, I admire how they have combined their love for bread baking with their passion for animal welfare in this tempting debut cookbook. BReD is filled with seriously creative recipes you’ll be rushing to recreate and impress your family and friends with!”—Angela Liddon, New York Times bestselling author of the award-wining Oh She Glows vegan cookbooks
“BReD lays a deep foundation for understanding sourdough, vegan whole-food baking with strong commitment to true sustainability—starting with bread and growing into a full range of sweet and savory nourishing baked goods that has made the bakery cafe a cornerstone both of their community and in the movement towards sustainable food systems and practices.”—Chad Robertson, cofounder of Tartine, recipient of the James Beard Award, bestselling author of Tartine Bread, and co-author of Tartine and Bread Book
“Ed and Natasha Tatton’s book lays the foundation and explores beyond what it means to be a sourdough baker. Not only do we get their expert advice on baking bread and numerous incredible recipes, but they offer a way toward plant-based baking with zero waste—and right now, reducing our footprint as bakers couldn’t be more critical. Whether you’re a beginning or advanced baker, their inspiring book will elevate your baking.”—Maurizio Leo, author of the New York Times bestseller The Perfect Loaf“Plant-based, seasonal baking is celebrated in this beautiful ode to bread. Let Ed’s passion for and deep knowledge about baking be your guide and soon you’ll bring his bakery into your home.”—Jim Lahey, recipient of two James Beard Awards and author of The Sullivan Street Bakery Cookbook, My Pizza, and My Bread
“This book manages to be inspiring, innovative, and classic all at once. It is comprehensive, laid out beautifully with recipes that you actually want to bake.”—Vanessa Kimbell, award-winning author and course director at The School of Sourdough
Originally written in 2007, The Joy of Vegan Baking is a classic that features creative ways to make vegan baked goods on par (or better than) their non-vegan alternatives. Its latest reprint features 150 recipes for homespun favourites from cakes, pastries, and cookies to pies, crêpes and puddings. This book teaches adaptable and straightforward ways of baking without dairy and eggs while maintaining the same great taste.
Colleen Patrick-Goudreau has put together a step-by-step playbook of recipes and information that would come in handy for bored teenagers and professional chefs alike, as well as for people of vegan and non-vegan interests. With her book, you can learn easy recipes to enjoy your favourite delectable goodies without putting your vegan values on the line.
Modern Vegan Baking is the self-proclaimed “best resource for creative, substitution-free treats that are both savoury and sweet.” With a mix of resourceful ingredients like aquafaba, agave and arrowroot, as well as avant-garde approaches to vegan baking, we are inclined to agree with those claims.
The brains behind Gretchen’s Vegan Bakery, Gretchen Price, has packed her vegan baking cookbook with 125 recipes with instructions that are super simple to follow. In addition to recipes for savoury and sweet treats, including rosemary and fig focaccia, triple chocolate glazed donuts, and lemon lavender shortbread, the book also includes tutorials and vegan-baking substitutes showing just how delicious butter and dairy-free baking can be.
A New Way to Bake reinvents and reimagines cakes, bakes and desserts, using plant-based ingredients that are available globally.
Chef Philip Khoury has delved deep into patisserie in an attempt to make desserts that are ‘cleaner’, and that present finer flavours and textures. In A New Way to Bake, Philip transforms the traditional building blocks of baking by using plant-based, natural ingredients or ingredients that have been in use for over 100 years.
A New Way to Bake uncovers a brief history of baking before setting out the Plantry, where the main ingredients and their functionalities are explained. Full of delicious bakes, from Apple Pie to Banana Bread, to Lamingtons and Tiramisu, there are sweet treats for any occasion.
Recipes are broken down into digestible steps, with explanations as to why steps are important, and tips along the way too. Plus, there are even QR codes to help navigate through the recipes.
Written in an informative yet approachable style, A New Way to Bake is a comprehensive guide that arms readers with a new outlook and tools to bake a better future.
In The Nordic Baker, Sofia Nordgren guides you through a year of plant-based Nordic cakes, buns, breads, cookies and crackers and invites readers to keep things simple, go back to basics and cook with nature in mind.
From Thumbprint cookies, Kladdkaka and Rhubarb galette in springtime, Raspberry and cardamom cupcakes when the weather begins to warm up, and a Midsommar cake for summer celebrations, through to Lingonberry roll cake, pear tart and cardamom rolls for cozy fall nights and Gingerbread bundt cake, Saffron buns and Semlor for snowy winter days.
Set to the backdrop of stunning location photography and interspersed with advice on embracing the Nordic lifestyle, bringing the outdoors into your home and tips on seasonal slow living, this is a charming celebration of a magical corner of the world and the wonderful food it has to offer
The book says “for every occasion” and means that. From Sticky Buns and Fudgy Brownies to Salted Caramel Cupcakes, Sara McGlothlin has provided a solution for gluten-free vegans who love to bake or enjoy delicious homemade treats for all occasions. If vegan baking cookbooks can cater to non-dairy and non-animal baking needs, why not kick it up a notch with gluten-free options as well?
It includes 75 recipes from breads and cookies to brownies, cakes and pies, and the basic “rules” of baking delicious gluten-free and vegan baked goods. Its recipes also include ingredients you can find at your local corner store.
Annie Markowitz has authored this great vegan resource that explores the intersection between whole foods and vegan baking options to prove that food can always be healthy while still being delectable. Her recipes revamp traditional baked treats into healthier versions that retain the same flavourful taste.
The book explores ways to remove refined sugar and other processed food ingredients from recipes leaving only natural and plant-based ingredients. The recipes are inclusive for both vegans and people searching for healthier ways to enjoy their favourite sweets.
Whole Food Vegan Baking shows a variety of recipes with creative substitutes for processed food ingredients in your favourite vegan-friendly delectables. It gives easy-to-understand instructions on methods to follow and the essential equipment needed.
However, if spending long hours in the kitchen mulling over culinary perfection is not your cup of tea or loaf of bread, then you can visit a local vegan bakery, like BReD, to get your favourite vegan baked goods and bread without making a mess in your kitchen.
All images credit from https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/
