Ingredients:

For the Pre-Ferment-

60 grams Active Sourdough (roughly 1/2 cup)

60 grams of All-Purpose Flour (roughly 1/2 cup)

60 grams of Filtered Water (roughly 1/4 cup)

For the Bread-

210 grams (scant 1 cup) Soy Milk, or alternative plant milk of choice, just not coconut.

9 grams (1 tbsp.) Apple Cider Vinegar, 

29 grams (2 tbsps.) Honey, or other sweetener of choice

40 grams (2.5 tbsps.) Vegan Butter, room temperature.

200 grams (1.5 cups) Bread Flour, or All-Purpose, but if you have bread flour, use it!

145 grams (1 1/8 cups) Whole Wheat Flour

7 grams (1 tsp.) Kosher Salt

3 grams (1 tsp) Instant Yeast (a.k.a Rapid Rise), store the rest of the yeast packet in the fridge for the next time you make this bread!

Method: 

(see pictures and video tutorial below the steps)

14 hours before mixing: Make the preferment. Combine the sourdough starter, water, and flour in a bowl. Cover and let rest. I recommend mixing this the night before.

Step 1: Add the Apple cider vinegar to the plant milk and stir. Let rest for 5 mins. This will make vegan buttermilk. 

Step 2: Heat the plant milk in the microwave. You want it to be warm, but not piping hot. Around 110-115 degrees F. Then, add the honey and stir until dissolved. If using regular sugar instead of honey, you can skip this step. 

Step 3: Add all the ingredients to the bowl of a stand mixer equipped with the dough hook. There's really no specific order to add the ingredients in. Just make a layer between the milk and the butter, either with flour or the sourdough starter, to keep the butter from melting right away. I like to do milk, dry ingredients, starter, then butter as my order. 

Step 4: On low speed, mix the ingredients until the dry streaks are gone about 1 minute.

Step 5: Increase the speed to medium on the stand mixer. Mix on medium speed until the dough passes the window pane test*, about 5-8 minutes. The dough should be in a ball and pulling away from the sides of the bowl, not sticking to the sides of the bowl anymore. 

*The Window-Pane test displays the level of gluten development in the dough. If you can stretch the dough with your fingers to make a thin, almost see-through "window", then it has been kneaded enough. See pictures below. 

Step 6: Cover the dough with a tea towel and let rest in a warm area until doubled in size. About 1-2 hours. 

Step 7: Once doubled in size, flour a clean surface. Pour your dough out onto the surface, and push/ flatten into a 12-inch x 8-inch rectangle. Fold one of the short sides in, about 1/3 of the way. Pinch and push the edge of the dough you just folded in to stick to the dough beneath it. Then, fold the other side of the dough in until the edge just overlaps the other folded side (see pictures below). Then, starting from the side closest to you, roll up your dough, pinching the sides and the roll shut. You want to make sure your dough is pinched and stuck, as you don't want the seams to come undone in the oven. Seam-side down, and transfer the loaf to a parchment-lined loaf pan. You can also sprinkle a little flour on top to make it look bakery-style. 

Step 8: Let the loaf rise until doubled in size, about 1-2 hours. Near the end of the rising time, about 15 minutes before the dough is fully doubled in size, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. 

Step 9: Bake the loaf at 375 degrees F for 25-30 minutes. You want the loaf to have a deep brown color and have risen in the oven. 

Step 10: Allow to cool in the pan for about 30 minutes. Then, take it out of the pan and cool the rest of the way. Once cooled, slice and enjoy.