Prep Time: 1 hour 40 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

In the mood for something amazing, soft and crispy and packed with flavor? Make this right now.

This is again a really simple recipe, but what takes it over the top are the herbs and spices in the butter. Stay with me here. I’ll explain everything.

First make the dough. You can use your favorite recipe or this one:

3 ¼ cup spelt flour (or plain all-purpose flour)

1 teaspoon salt

6g dry yeast

1-1 1/3 cup rice milk (or any other plant/nut milk), lukewarm

¼ cup vegetable oil (coconut butter works, too)

Mix the dry ingredients together in the bowl of your mixer with the dough hook attachment. Add the liquids and let knead for 10 minutes. Shape the dough into a ball with your hands (it shouldn’t stick), oil it, cover with plastic wrap and leave in a warm place to rise for about an hour.

Once the dough has doubled in size start preparing the butter with herbs and spices. If you have the luxury of using fresh herbs know that I envy you. Use whatever smells good. I mixed together some dried parsley and basil, turmeric, black pepper and salt, half a teaspoon each. With fresh herbs you don’t have to do this, but with dried this helps to bring out the aroma and flavor of the herbs. So I dry ‘fry’ them for a few seconds in a hot pan. Mix the herbs with a few tablespoons of coconut oil in a small bowl. You can use other vegan butters for this (except peanut, I don’t think that would work… Or would it?), even margarine (not the healthiest option but does the trick with this recipe). I prefer coconut oil because the bread gets a really nice golden color and crispy crust.

Place the dough onto a lightly floured surface and cut into small pieces with a sharp knife. Don’t roll the dough just gently press on it with your hands a little. Dunk the pieces in the butter-herb-spice mixture, first few layers only dunk one side and place that side down in the pan of your choosing, as the oil will drip down to the bottom of the pan. For the top few layers dunk the whole pieces.

Cover and let rise for another half an hour. In the meantime preheat your oven to 350 F. Bake for about 30 minutes or until nice golden brown on top. Flip out of the pan and let cool (at least a bit!) on a wire rack.

Other flavors and additions include but are not limited to: sautéed onion, garlic, tomato sauce, pizza style, vegan cheese, spinach, pesto…

This is great for parties, wonderful on its own as well as with dips and veggie spreads. Also makes a pretty nice afternoon snack.