Easy, No Knead, Vegan Vasilopita (St. Basil's Bread)

Easy, No Knead, Vegan Vasilopita

Vasilopita is a Traditional Greek Bread that is baked on St. Basil's Day, January 1st. Every Greek Family has their own special recipe. The bread is baked to remember the generosity of St. Basil the Great, who distributed alms to the poor in such a way as to not embarrass them - he baked their alms into loaves of bread. There are many pious stories about how this happened - including this one and this one .

Here is a short video (about 3 minutes) about the life of this great Saint.

When we bake Vasilopita, we hide a coin somewhere in the dough, and the person who finds the coin is supposed to be especially Blessed in the coming year.

This is a great custom to remember the life of the Saint, and the importance of Alms Giving in the Christian life.

Of course, if you have a Basil or a William in your family, the Tradition becomes even MORE important!


Also, it is worthy of note that Greek Children receive their seasonal gifts not from St. Nicholas on Christmas Morning, but from St. Basil on St. Basil's Day (New Year's Day) - this once again emphasizes the Saint's Generosity & Alms Giving in the Name of Christ.

If, as this New Year approaches, you're considering what New Year's Resolution to make, you cannot make a better resolution than reading the Bible all the way through this year. There's a helpful, free link on the right side border of this page for your convenience all year.  Or, you can go to the site directly and save the link somewhere that is convenient for you.   The site also allows you to listen rather than read if you prefer, offers a variety of translations, including a few foreign languages, and has a app for folks with smart devices. You can customize on their page to listen starting any day of the year, not just on New Year's Day.

There are two basic types of Vasilopita - one is a Sweet Yeast Bread, and the other is a Sweet, Cake-like Quick Bread. This Recipe is for the Yeasted Variety.

Many families decorate their Vasilopita - with the year written in frosting or powdered sugar, or with nuts - but I'll leave that up to you!

This is a special variety of Vasilopita - in that it is both Vegan and Oil Free, whereas the traditional Vasilopita is loaded with seasonal Feasting foods - since this great Feast is during the 12 Days of Christmas! But, those who prefer to avoid those Feasting foods can still enjoy a festive Vasilopita : )

The use of Tapioca Starch, Potato, and Sugar tenderizes & moisturizes the dough, and make a moist, tender, fluffy loaf without the use of oil or eggs.    

Easy, No Knead Vegan Vasilopita
 (Makes 2 pounds of dough - for one large braided loaf)

I prepare a batch this size in an 8 Cup Container - the one in the pictures.
Be sure to add in this order:

1 1/2 Cups Warm Water (if you want an optional mild orange flavor, use 3 Tablespoons Orange Juice Concentrate in place of part of the water -then add water to total 1 1/2 cups liquid)
2 1/2 Cups + 2 Tablespoons Unbleached, All Purpose Flour
2 Tablespoons Tapioca Starch (you can substitute Cornstarch, if you like)
1/2 Cup Potato Flakes
1/2 Cup Sugar (if you prefer less sweetness, you can use 1/4 cup sugar without changing anything else in the recipe)
1/2 Tablespoon Yeast
1/2 Tablespoon Salt
1 teaspoon Mahlepi, Ground****
1/4 teaspoon Mastic, Ground (Optional) ****



Stir well with a spoon till no patches of dry Flour remain.

The dough should look like this right after you stir it.

Cover loosely with lid (don't fasten so securely that it cannot "breathe")
Leave it on the counter for 2 to 5 hours.
Now, put it in the fridge till you're ready to use it **

The dough should look like this after it has sat out on the counter for 2 to 5 hours.

Note - do not "Punch Down" this kind of dough.

This dough CAN be kept in the fridge for a week or more and still be quite good to use, but with this particular dough, you'll find the fluffiest, sweetest results if you bake it within a day or two of mixing.


When you're ready to bake the bread, remove it from the refrigerator and dust it VERY WELL with Flour. This is a moist, sticky dough, so don't be afraid to use lots of Flour!

Oil your pan (I use a Perforated, Non-stick Pizza Pan, like this one for baking)

Separate the Dough into three portions, and form each portion into a long rope. Place the ropes in a concentric rainbow pattern on the pan, like so:

Braid the ropes, starting in the middle (at the top, center of the rainbow) and working out- then start from the middle again and braid the other half of the rainbow. Bring the two open ends together into a circle.

Wash a coin and wrap it in foil, tuck it into one of the strands of the braid from the underside, so that it cannot be detected.

Leave to rise for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and bake in the middle of the oven, without steam for 35-40 minutes.

For best results, cool before serving.


* For my 6 Quart Container, I use a new plastic shoe box from the Dollar Store.
** This dough CAN be used the day it is made - but it is a tad easier to shape after it is refrigerated.

**** Spices are traditionally ground in a Mortar & Pestle. I grind them in my electric coffee grinder - I use some of the sugar in the recipe to add to the grinder to produce enough bulk to grind - then I add the mixture of sugar & spices to the recipe.

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Food on Fridays: Holiday Treats
Tuesdays with a Twist

Menu Planning - for a month or a year

For Orthodox Christians, like those of many other Faiths,
Religion and Menu are inseparably intertwined.

Happy St. Basil's Day! Happy New Year!

Here are a few links that might be helpful for celebrating this day:
My Vegan Vasilopita Recipe
About St. Basil & the Vasilopita Tradition

Another Vegan Vasilopita Recipe
Vegan Vasilopita for the Bread Machine


And, some thoughts on planning your menu for the coming year:

A few years ago, I heard a great story of a woman who planned her family's menu for an entire year.

I was inspired! The woman's diet was diametrically opposed to mine, but her idea was great : ) I decided to give it a try, and for the last three years, I have done yearly menu planning to some degree or another. I enjoy it, and it takes a lot of stress out of everyday menu planning - and it can be quite a money saver if done correctly. Usually I spend a few days early in the year with menu planning as my hobby - taking up my spare moments.

For Orthodox Christians, meat is permitted on some days and other days are "Fasting days" when veganism is encouraged. While I am vegetarian myself, I have more than just myself to think of when planning a menu. So, I create a menu with shaded days that let me know which type of menu is needed each day. 

I've learned a few things along the way:

1. Flexibility is good! A word document lets you cut and paste planned menus from the day you scheduled them -  to the day you actually eat them. (Or, in my case, I print the plan, then hand-write the actuality). Truth is, life intervenes - maybe you go out to dinner spontaneously, or friends invite you over, or you suddenly want a fancier meal than you had planned because guests are coming. This method allows for a plan, and also for real life.

2. Most people rotate through the same 9 to 12 menu plans over and over. I couldn't do that (and Omnivores think WE have a lack of variety?!) - but it is true that menus are good for more than just one time. BTW - I've seen this "9 to 12" statistic about meal planning quoted all over the place, but I've never seen a source for the research - for all I know it could be an urban legend. BUT, when I read online menu plans from other people, they do seem to be very repetitive - which makes the figure believable.

3. In light of #2, Plans are re-usable. But, you may not want to eat the same thing in July that looked good in January - so a repeating winter month or summer month or Lenten menu can be a good method.

4. How to be super-lazy   efficient!  THIS January keep a written record of every day's meal. NEXT January's menu is done - without any real effort at all : ) Alternately, you might record 40  menus and toss out the bottom 5 or 10 (you know,  that night that all you had in the house was Rye and Bok Choy and were so hungry you decided that would be a good meal - plain, unseasoned, out of the fridge ; ) This way you can have a good, repeating, one month plan.

5. Menu planning lends itself to a great bulk-cooking method. Look at the next week or two's menu, and stock the freezer with those meals. Then, it doesn't really matter which night you eat which meal - they're all planned, and they're all ready to go. If that's your method, you might plan each week's menu to mesh with a bulk cooking plan. For instance, when I do this method, I plan two Slow Cooker meals (since I have two Slow Cookers), two meals prepared in my two stock pots, two prepared in skillets, and one quick fix meal. That way, on bulk cooking day, I can fill all my cooking pots and prepare 6 meals at once - then just have one night that week that I haven't cooked for and I can plan to get a quick meal onto the table.

6. Planning ahead can save money - no more stocking the vegetable crisper with a bunch of produce that becomes a science project - you just buy what you actually have planned to eat. Likewise, you can plan Eggplant dishes for Eggplant Season if you wish. And, with cut-and-paste, if you find a nice deal on eggplant unexpectedly, you can just move that menu to this week!

7. Planning is more efficient - you can cook all the legumes & grains for the week at once, or prepare all the seasonings or sauces and be ready to go on busy nights - since you already know what you're having the next few nights.

8. Planning ahead prevents ruts. Have you ever had a week of enchiladas, then tacos, then burritos . . . ? Or a week where every menu had hummus in it? No more. You can see at a glance that there's one Chinese meal this week (not five) or one meal that features Blackeye peas or one meal that is some-kind-of-beans over rice, or one meal of soup. This way you can vary textures, types of food, ethnic varieties, etc, so that you have more variety.

9. Meal planning saves time & frustration. You're likely to spend a lot less time running to the store for one necessary ingredient, or discovering that all your menu ideas for today would have required starting the slow cooker 3 hours ago.

10. Do what works for you right now (which may be different from last year!) In addition to yearly meal planning, I also have a one-month plan that can be repeated, and several one-week menus that can be rotated through one after another (each with a bulk cooking plan for that week). So, yes, you CAN do this without necessarily doing a 365-day plan. I haven't even decided which style of planning to use for the coming year yet!

So - if you want to give it a try, the new year is the perfect time to start a new menu planning routine!


You can make your own calendar on this website. If you want to design your own meal planning calendar, or plan for additional months, it's a great site.

Be sure you type in your family's birthdays, namedays and anniversaries when scheduling : )

For specifics for each day from the Greek Orthodox Church, go to this site.

This is being shared on Feeding Big and Encouraging Hearts & Homes