My Vegan Apron: Vegan Braided Sandwich

I truly do not have a name for this recipe. Other people have probably made a variation of this, or actually know the true name for this bread/sandwich. All I know is that it's delicious and oh-so-versatile. You can't go wrong with this recipe. Today I stuffed it with onions, green olives, red and green peppers, Beyond Meat chicken, and Daiya mozzarella. Other times I make a pizza using red sauce, Daiya cheese, garlic, and veggies. You can stuff this dough with anything you like. Heck, make a pie!

Ingredients For The Dough

2 1/2 cups organic unbleached all purpose flour
1 cup warm water
2 1/4 teaspoon yeast

In a bowl of a stand mixer place the yeast and warm water and let sit for 10 minutes to let the yeast bloom.
Attatch the dough hook, add the flour, and turn mixer to medium speed. Mix until the dough comes clean from the bowl. If the dough is sticky and clinging to the hook and bowl, you can add extra flour, 1 tablespoon at a time. Next, allow the mixer to knead the dough for a few minutes.

Remove the dough and place in a lightly greased bowl. Cover with a clean dish towel and let rise for a hour.

Assembly:

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Sprinkle a tablespoon of flour evenly over the parchment. This will help the dough not stick to the parchment when you roll it out.

When dough has finished rising in the bowl, gently punch it down to deflate the air that has built up. Remove the dough and place it in the center of your parchment lined baking sheet. Using a rolling pin, roll out your dough to the edges of your baking sheet.

Next, using a pizza cutter, knife, or a pastry wheel, starting on one of the sides, make a cut up towards the center of the dough. Stop about 2 inches before reaching the center. Make a cut every 1inch or so. Do this on both sides. Make sure your cuts line up on either side of each other.

Now you can add your ingredients. I never measure my ingredients. If you really like onions, add a lot. If you're so-so on spinach, add a little. You can't go wrong here.

Now it's time to close up the bread (sounds eery doesn't it). It's like braiding but much easier. Starting at one end and one side to start, pick up one strip of dough and fold it over to the center on a diagonal. Then do the same on the opposite side, crossing on top of your first strip of dough, then back to the other side. Keep alternating folding the dough strips over each other until you reach the other end. I have provided a picture below on how to do this.