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This vegan recipe teaches you how to make a super easy no-knead, overnight rainbow bread. There’s a version with all-natural superfood color and a more vibrant version using food coloring. Both methods are for a beginner baker. Add excitement to lunch, dinner, tea parties, and picnics.

This recipe makes 1 round loaf (around 8 thick slices).

Table of Contents

(click the links below to skip to the section you’re looking for)

• Natural Rainbow Bread
• Vibrant Rainbow Bread
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Ingredient Substitutions
• Video
• Nutritional Information
• Contact Me with Questions
• Similar Recipes

Like everyone else in quarantine, I’ve been baking up a storm. I think I’ve used 10 pounds of flour so far, and I just opened a 20-pound bag, so this isn’t stopping anytime soon, haha. When I posted this bread to instagram, someone commented that the colors made them happy, and it made me wonder if secretly, that’s why I’ve been baking so many rainbow colored things. I made my colored burger buns, and also my colored tortillas before this rainbow bread.

This easy vegan bread recipe was inspired by pinch of yum’s no knead bread recipe. It’s such an easy bread recipe, and it’s perfect for the shelter in place order, because it uses such a small amount of yeast (which I can’t be the only one running low on).

This recipe describes 2 different ways to make a single loaf of rainbow bread.

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Ingredients for Naturally-Colored Rainbow Bread

(jump to the substitutions section to see ingredient details and suggestions for substitutions)

• 3 cups (390g) all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons (8g) salt
• ½ teaspoon (1-2g) active yeast
• 1 teaspoon blue spirulina powder
• 2 teaspoons beetroot powder
• 2 teaspoons maqui berry powder
• 1 ⅓ - 1 ½ (330g) cups water

How to Make All-Natural Colored Rainbow Bread with Superfoods

prep time: 30 min | bake time: 45 min

Whisk 3 cups (390g) flour, 2 teaspoons (8g) salt, and ½ teaspoon (1-2g) active yeast.

Weigh those dry ingredients using a kitchen scale and divide that number by 3. Then measure that amount into 3 bowls, so you have an even amount of dry ingredients in each of the 3 bowls. If you don’t have a kitchen scale you can just start by measuring 1 cup into each bowl and then eyeball it. It doesn’t have to be exact.

Add 1 teaspoon blue spirulina to one of the bowls and whisk it in.

Add 2 teaspoons beetroot powder to one of the other bowls and whisk it in. When I made mine, I tried to use pink pitaya powder, and it completely faded to white, so I advise you use beetroot powder instead.

Add 2 teaspoons maqui berry powder to the last bowl and whisk it in.

Pour ½ cup water into each bowl and mix until no flour remains. One of the things that makes this recipe so easy is that you don’t have to heat the water or add sugar to activate the yeast. Just use room temperature water.

Cover each bowl with cling wrap and set on the counter overnight.

Preheat your oven to 450º once the dough has been sitting for 12-18 hours.

Place your oven safe baking dish with lid into the oven while it preheats. I use a pink heart-shaped 2 quart dutch oven that I won (stole) at a white elephant gift exchange. Leave it in there until your oven is preheated (and a little longer if you have the time).

Cut a piece of parchment paper and sprinkle flour on it.

Remove the cling wrap from whichever color you want on the bottom of the loaf and dump that color dough onto the flour-covered parchment paper (I use a silicone spatula to help it come out).

Remove the pink heart-shaped 2 quart dutch oven from the oven using oven mitts. Remove the lid and place the parchment paper with dough on it into the pan.

Remove the cling wrap from the next color, and dump that dough on top of the other one in the pink heart-shaped 2 quart dutch oven using your silicone spatula to spread it out as much as possible.

Repeat with the last color.

Put the lid back on using oven mitts, and stick it back into the oven.

Bake for 30 minutes.

Remove the lid and bake for 15 more minutes.

Remove from the oven, turn off the oven, and lift the loaf out of the pan to cool on the counter top. I lift it out by grabbing the ends of the parchment paper like a little bread hammock.

Cool completely before slicing.

Ingredients for Vibrant Colored Rainbow Bread

(jump to the substitutions section to see ingredient details and suggestions for substitutions)

• 3 cups (390g) all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons (8g) salt
• ½ teaspoon (1-2g) active yeast
• 1 ⅓ - 1 ½ (330g) cups water
• 4 colors of vegan food coloring

How To Make Rainbow Bread with Vegan Food Coloring

prep time: 30 min | bake time: 45 min

Whisk 3 cups (390g) flour, 2 teaspoons (8g) salt, and ½ teaspoon (1-2g) active yeast.

Weigh those dry ingredients using a kitchen scale and divide that number by 4. Then measure that amount into 4 bowls, so you have an even amount of dry ingredients in each of the 4 bowls. If you don’t have a kitchen scale you can just start by measuring ¾ cup into each bowl and then eyeball it. It doesn’t have to be exact.

Measure 3 ounces or ⅓ cup of water and mix a couple of drops of wilton violet gel color into it. One of the things that makes this recipe so easy is that you don’t have to heat the water or add sugar to activate the yeast. Just use room temperature water.

Pour the purple water into one of the bowls of flour and mix until you can no longer see flour.

Measure 3 ounces or ⅓ cup of water and mix a couple of drops of wilton sky blue gel color into it.

Pour the blue water into one of the bowls of flour and mix until you can no longer see flour.

Measure 3 ounces or ⅓ cup of water and mix a couple of drops of wilton leaf green gel color into it.

Pour the green water into one of the bowls of flour and mix until you can no longer see flour.

Measure 3 ounces or ⅓ cup of water and mix a couple of drops of wilton rose gel color into it.

Pour the pink water into one of the bowls of flour and mix until you can no longer see flour.

Cover each bowl with cling wrap and set on the counter overnight.

Preheat your oven to 450º once the dough has been sitting for 12-18 hours.

Place your oven safe baking dish with lid into the oven while it preheats. I use a pink heart-shaped 2 quart dutch oven that I won (stole) at a white elephant gift exchange. Leave it in there until your oven is preheated (and a little longer if you have the time).

Cut a piece of parchment paper and sprinkle flour on it.

Remove the cling wrap from whichever color you want on the bottom of the loaf and dump that color dough onto the flour-covered parchment paper (I use a silicone spatula to help it come out).

Remove the pink heart-shaped 2 quart dutch oven from the oven using oven mitts. Remove the lid and place the parchment paper with dough on it into the pan.

Remove the cling wrap from the next color, and dump that dough on top of the other one in the pink heart-shaped 2 quart dutch oven using your silicone spatula to spread it out as much as possible.

Repeat with the other colors.

Put the lid back on using oven mitts, and stick it back into the oven.

Bake for 30 minutes.

Remove the lid and bake for 15 more minutes.

Remove from the oven, turn off the oven, and lift the loaf out of the pan to cool on the counter top. I lift it out by grabbing the ends of the parchment paper like a little bread hammock.

Cool completely before slicing.

Frequently Asked Questions

How can I convert this recipe to a non-rainbow bread?

To make this easy bread without colors, whisk 3 cups (390g) all purpose flour with 2 teaspoons (8g) salt and ½ teaspoon (1-2g) active yeast. Pour 1 ⅓ - 1 ½ (330g) cups water into the dry ingredients and mix with a baking spatula. Cover the bowl, and rest overnight. Follow the same baking instructions.

Does the food coloring affect the taste or texture of this rainbow bread?

Since a little goes a long way, the coloring I use in my rainbow bread doesn’t affect the flavor or the consistency of the bread.

How can I make an actual rainbow? Your recipe has only 3 colors.

To make more colors, simply divide the dry ingredients into more bowls. You’ll need to do a little bit of math, but that’s what calculators are for.

Ingredient Details and Substitutions

• Flour: I usually use unbleached all-purpose flour. However, I had also replaced a third of the flour with spelt flour. I’ve never tried this recipe with other flours, so if you do, please let me know how it goes.
• Yeast: For the yeast in this recipe, I always use active yeast. If all you have is instant yeast, you can use that instead.
• Food Coloring: I’ve used every type of vegan food coloring you can imagine to make this bread. Using superfoods is the most challenging, because baking is a science (heat and pH are not my friends). For instance, if you use a red or pink superfood powder, such as beetroot powder, the color might fade when you bake it. If this happens, add a little citric acid or ascorpic acid when you add the beetroot powder.

Video

Here’s a YouTube short of me making this bread with all-natural powdered colors.

Nutrition Facts

• Servings: 8
• Calories per serving: 183
• Calcium per serving: 9mg
• Cholesterol per serving: 0mg
• Dietary Fiber per serving: 2g
• Folate per serving: 102mcg
• Iron per serving: 3mg
• Potassium per serving: 68mg
• Protein per serving: 5g
• Total Carbohydrate per serving: 38g
• Total Fat per serving: <1g
• Total Sugars per serving: 0g
• Sodium per serving: 373mg

Comments or Questions?

If you make this vegan no knead bread recipe, I would love it if you’d snap a pic, post to instagram, and tag me @vegandollhouse. It seriously makes my day/week/month!

Please message me (instagram or email) if you have any questions or feedback about the recipe.

Similar Recipes

If you like this cute vegan rainbow bread, you might also like some of my other vegan rainbow food. My rainbow cookies are just as easy as this bread. They’re a basic vegan chocolate chip cookie recipe, but with colored cookie dough. My rainbow cake recipe is slightly more challenging, but a real show stopper. I also have a recipe for rainbow bagels that uses all-natural food coloring.

If you’re looking for a cute food idea to do with this bread, check out my vegan egg salad tea sandwiches recipe.

I’ve made this bread without any colors to make vegan stuffing for Thanksgiving and to make vegan sobrasada sandwiches.

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I mostly cook with organic ingredients, but only specify organic when it’s necessary to ensure the item is vegan.

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