During my long stay in Utah I really missed bread. Not eating bread so much – it wasn’t hard to find excellent artisanal loaves – but baking it. As good as store-bought bread can be, there is nothing like making (and eating) your own. For one thing, I didn’t have the time or concentration needed, but the biggest thing holding me back was that my breads at high-altitude flopped. Instead of high and soft loaves with crunchy crusts, I ended up with lumpy bricks with unappealing interiors. It didn’t matter what methods I tried. So I just gave up and bought my bread at Harmon’s (oh, sweet, sweet Harmon’s, how I miss you).
Now that I’m back just a little bit above sea-level, my breads are behaving the way they should and I’m happy to be elbow-deep in dough once again. This is one of my favorite breads. If you don’t like sun-dried tomatoes or roasted garlic, leave them out or add in what you love.
A quick thank you to The Vegan Woman for selecting An Unrefined Vegan as a blog “to keep an eye out for.” It was really quite a terrific surprise to have appeared on their list (a total of 90 blogs) at all. You’ll see quite a few familiar blogs gracing this impressive list of plant-based lady bloggers. Congratulations to all!

Walnut Braid with Sun-dried Tomatoes & Roasted Garlic
- Prep Time: 120
- Cook Time: 30
- Total Time: 150
- Yield: 2 1x
Description
As delicious as it is beautiful, this savory bread makes great sandwiches and pairs nicely with creamy vegan cheeses.
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
- 1 cup boiling water
- 1 package dry yeast
- 1/4 cup warm water
- 1 1/2 cups “buttermilk” (nut milk + 1 tbsp. lemon juice or apple cider vinegar)
- 1 Tbsp. agave nectar or maple syrup
- 3 Tbsp. walnut oil
- 2 tsp. salt
- ~4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
- 1 cup walnuts, chopped
- 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes (not oil-packed), rehydrated in hot water, drained and chopped
- 1 head garlic, roasted and cloves squeezed out of skin
Instructions
- In a food processor, process oats until coarsely chopped. Place oats in a medium-sized bowl and pour hot water over them and let sit for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in 1/4 cup warm water and let sit until frothy. Add the buttermilk to the oat mixture and stir; then add in the agave nectar and walnut oil. Add this mixture to the yeast in the large bowl.
- Add the salt and about 3 cups of the all-purpose flour and all of the whole wheat pastry flour to the yeast mixture. Mix and knead until smooth – adding more flour as needed. When the dough is smooth and elastic (about 8-10 minutes), fold and knead in the walnuts, sun-dried tomatoes and garlic.
- Place the dough in a large bowl that has been lightly coated with cooking spray. Cover and let rise for about an hour or until doubled in size.
- Preheat the oven to 400F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Punch down the dough and divide it in half. Divide each half into three equal portions. Cover three of the pieces while you work with the other three. Roll each third into a rope that is about 14″ in length. Place the ropes lengthwise on one half of the baking sheet. Pinch one end together and then braid the ropes, pinching the end to seal. Repeat this procedure with the other half of the dough. Cover and let rise for about 30 minutes.
- Spritz the dough with warm water and bake in the center of the oven for about 30 minutes. The top should be a deep brown and the loaf should sound hollow when tapped on the bottom. Let loaves cool on wire racks before slicing.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 16
- Calories: 371
- Sugar: 1
- Sodium: 303
- Fat: 15
- Saturated Fat: 2
- Unsaturated Fat: 12
- Trans Fat: 0
- Carbohydrates: 51
- Protein: 10
- Cholesterol: 0
I’ve really got to start baking some lovely bread like this, looks great! Nice tip for the ‘buttermilk’ too, I’ve started using curdled non-dairy milk in baking and it works perfectly for scones.
It’s really pretty simple to do (bread) and the results are so much better than what you can buy in a store. Thanks for visiting!
This bread looks gawguss!
Thank you, dahling!
How interesting about the altitude problem, it reminds me of the difficulty of making a decent cup of tea up a mountain. Your bread always looks divine and this is no exception. Beautiful!
yeah, its crazy how much of a difference it makes!
Thank goodness I live quite near sea level.
Lorna – is that right? More difficult to get the water boiling?
Beautiful! I love the braiding..gorgeous 🙂
Thank you!
Yum. Can you mail me a loaf please. Man I gotta get my oven fixed…looks beautiful and I’m certain it tastes even better 😀
Girl!! Get that oven fixed!
I know, I know, but it’s full of blogging props that have no where else to go….. X:(
Save me a slice. I’ll be right over. (I wish!)
I’ll bake up a fresh loaf just for your visit ;-)!
awe shucks! thanks. 🙂
Beautiful bread! I’m sure I’d eat way too much bread if I actually baked it myself. 🙂
I do…
I sometimes think I am fully addicted to bread. I love it oh so much.
Count me in. Completely addicted – and UNASHAMED!
Oh that is a thing of beauty! Yeah, baking bread at altitude is no small feat, but thank goodness for Harmon’s. I think it may be one of the loveliest stores around. Huge congrats for being on the Vegan Woman list! I’m headed off to check it out now! xx
Even with your expert guidance/recipes I couldn’t make it happen! What was wrong with me?! So wish we had a Harmon’s…
The flavors sound delicious! Walnuts–I love them, but The Husband doesn’t. I’m planning on baking some pumpkin muffins today with walnuts. Must be something in the air! 🙂
Oh yeah, you gotta have walnuts in pumpkin muffins! Husband: get w/ the program :-)!
He has so few flaws, I’ll let him get away with this one 😉
Nothing like homemade bread – but this is wild Annie!! Walnuts, roasted garlic and sun dried tomatoes – I LOVE it! I must try this very very soon 🙂
Funny, Anne – those are the things I had on hand and well, they go nicely together!
I love the inclusion of oats as well as walnuts. We just picked all of our walnuts and I have been eating HEAPS of them. They are really delicious before they cure but this recipe might have to be a delicious vehicle for some of them 🙂 Cheers for sharing Annie, it looks gorgeous 🙂
I think the oats make the dough nice and soft. OH you lucky duck! Walnuts!
Me and fresh bread are dangerous together. Especially savory breads…..
See – it’s that carb thing again!
You know, I don’t think I’ve ever had walnuts in a savory bread before–but I am definitely ready to give it a try! Sounds so delicious.
You always have the best breads! Love this recipe.
Thanks, Vanessa!
That would be hard to get used to the altitude affecting your bread making. Does it affect the baking times on other things too, or only when there’s a rise involved? Congratulations on the nod on The Vegan Woman. Much deserved!
This looks so tasty and is gorgeous! Congrats on being named a blog to watch out for. I totally agree 🙂
Thanks, Gabby :-). It was a nice surprise!
Wow, this looks great. I am definitely trying this one next weekend.
My weekend treat is baking (and eating) bread. Thank you!
I’m the same – I reserve baking (sweets) for the weekend.
i love a hearty bread and this is just perfect!
Very impressive looking bread. I was the same, none of my breads would turn out right so I finally bought a breadmaker and love it as I can make whole wheat bread now really quickly and easily. Thank you for sharing this with Healthy Vegan Fridays. Check back on Friday to see if you were one of the Top 3! We hope to see you again this week. You can submit a post from Friday to end of Tuesday:
http://www.greenthickies.com/healthy-vegan-fridays
Thanks, Katherine :-)! I hope to have a recipe (or two) to share.
You have a beautiful blog! I am glad to be a follower from now 🙂
Thank you so much! I appreciate it very much!
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Can I make this without oil and if so, what would I sub?
Hi Tracy – you could just use more liquid (water or non-dairy milk), or use mashed cooked pumpkin/squash or even unsweetened applesauce.
This sounds so amazing! I’m sure my braid won’t turn out nearly half as beautiful as yours, but I’m willing to try. Just lovely!