This perfectly VEGAN Coconut Milk Bread is unbelievably soft & simple to make. But be warned: it can get addictive!

And when I say addictive, I mean addictive people! I’ve made this loaf thrice in a week, and I’m still not tired of it! It all started when I baked these soft-as-a-pillow slider buns… You guys know I’m trying to go fully vegan this year, right? So I’ve been converting my favorite dairy recipes into non-dairy, to carry with me into my after-life. Because nothing gets you relapsing, faster than cravings and regrets.

And that’s how this Coconut Milk Bread came to be. I swapped milk with coconut milk and instead of fashioning mini slider buns, I baked it into a full loaf and voila! Soft as a sponge, gorgeous rich crust, and creamy tasting bread that brings new meaning to ‘I could live on bread and bread alone’.

The dough is a little sticky, understandably because of the coconut milk, but don’t worry. Knead for about 5 minutes, transfer it to a lightly floured surface and you should be able to shape it into a ball. After the first rise, the stickiness reduces drastically. Again, nothing a little sprinkle of flour won’t fix.

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After the first rise, punch out all the air and transfer the dough into a well-greased loaf tin. If you really want to emphasize the coconut flavor, coconut oil would be a good choice. But I was going for a more subtle, closer to regular milk bread here, so olive oil worked just fine.

Once in the tin, use your knuckles to ‘punch’ the dough to fit the shape of the loaf tin. And make it as evenly flat as possible, so the loaf rises evenly and not lopsided.

Then we let the dough rise a second time, until it peeks just over the lip of the loaf tin. Brush with some more coconut milk for some gorgeous browning on the top.

Quick Vegan Tip: Coconut milk works just as well as an egg-wash! Neat, huh? Yaay!

Would you look at that crust? *sigh* And you’ll have to take my word on how incredibly soft it was. One of these days, I’m just going to accidentally use it as a pillow.

NOTES:

Substitute with Active Dry Yeast 

I’ve used instant yeast here, but if you want to use Active Dry Yeast instead, substitute the same amount given in the recipe. But activate it first. Dissolve the sugar in the coconut milk + water and heat till lukewarm. Stir in the active dry yeast and let sit until frothy and bubbly. Then add this to the remaining ingredients and follow the recipe instructions.

When you make these (which I really think you SHOULD!), be sure to SHARE YOUR PHOTOS with me through Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. I’d love to see what you cook from here!