Vegan Pull Apart Bread with Ajvar Butter
If you think baguette is the most boring bread for a BBQ then here’s a perfect alternative for you. Bake this pull-apart bread and take it to your friends. It’s easily baked and prepared but needs some time for rising (don’t be afraid of yeast dough!). Yes, just like you we also get super impatient when it comes to waiting for bread to rise (several times!), BUT we promise you it's worth the wait. In the end, you don't even need a knife to slice this bread, but can pull all the slices apart with your hands.
If you don't like ajvar butter (but why...), you can also get creative and spread some other butter on top of the bread. How about vegan herb or tomato butter? We're curious what you come up with, so tell us in the comments!
Pull apart bread with ajvar butter
Ingredients
For the dough:
- 500 g (4 cups) flour
- 42 g (1.5 oz) yeast
- 200 ml (0.85 cup) water
- 50 ml (0.25 cup) plant-based milk
- 40 ml (0.2 cup) olive oil
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp agave syrup
For the filling:
- 125 g (1 stick) vegan butter
- 2 tbsp ajvar (mild or spicy, as desired)
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 5 g (0.5 oz) basil
- salt
- pepper
Instructions
Heat up milk until it’s lukewarm. Add lukewarm water and yeast and stir until the yeast dissolves. Mix flour and salt in a large bowl. Add yeast mixture and start kneading – you can do this with your hands, a hand mixer or a kitchen machine.
Once the ingredients start to come together, add olive oil and agave syrup and keep kneading until a smooth yeast dough forms. It’s always best to do this with your hands in the end. Transfer into a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a kitchen towel and let rise at a warm place for approx. 30 minutes.
In the meantime soften the butter and add to a bowl with ajvar, tomato paste, and garlic powder. Finely chop basil and add to the bowl, then stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Once the dough has doubled in volume, knead on a floured surface and roll out into a rectangle shape. Spread vegan ajvar butter on top, then cut into stripes. No need to add all the ajvar butter at this point, but just enough so that the dough is covered. You can use the rest as a spread and dip for serving later.
Grease and flour a cake tin. Fold each stripe together and transfer into the cake tin. Cover and let rise at a warm place for more approx. 30 minutes.
In the meantime preheat the oven to 200°C/390°F and bake the pull apart bread for approx. 30 minutes. Let cool down a bit before serving and serve with remaining ajvar butter as a dip.
