Meghan Markle's Focaccia bread versus Nard Dog Cooks' vegan rolls: Which is better?
Testing whether six-ingredient rosemary bread outranks seven-ingredient, plant-based rolls
Writer’s note on April 4, 2025 at 5:50 p.m.: I baked a fourth batch of Nard Dog Cooks’ vegan rolls. Scroll to the bottom of this post to see which bread recipe I like better.
ORIGINAL POST: Publication date March 26, 2025
When social media users post the “pick one of four” messages about desserts, my usual reaction is, “You can take all four.” Cookies. Cake. Brownies. Donuts. I couldn’t care less. But if I scrolled by a “pick one of four” post about bread, I would be unable to choose. Croissants. Bagels. Unsalted soft pretzels. Toast. English muffins. I love it all. I don’t even have a firm answer for “one gotta go.” If it’s bread, I’m in!
So, when I saw Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle’s idea to bake Focaccia bread on “With Love, Meghan,” my eyes widened and my ears perked up. And to find out it only had six ingredients made me that much happier. I didn’t even have to create a Round-To-It recipe. I already had all of the ingredients from the last time I made Andrew “The Nard Dog Cooks” Bernard’s vegan dinner roll recipe.
The main difference with these two bread recipes was Andrew “Nard Dog” Bernard included one additional ingredient.
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I’d never had Focaccia bread, so I was curious if I’d like Meghan Markle’s bread recipe better than his rolls. (My first batch of vegan rolls was chewy like hard gum and ended up in my garbage disposal. I made the mistake of trying to make the rolls with a teaspoon of yeast. The second time around, with a full packet of yeast, I finally saw how soft they were supposed to be and why my prior batch didn’t rise. By round three, I had the vegan bread roll recipe down, served them to family and it was a hit!)
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So, along with making homemade dog biscuits for very-nosey Junee, I baked a slightly tweaked variation of the Focaccia bread recipe that Meghan Markle made with help from her model friend Delfina Blaquier. Here’s how it went.
Ingredients
2 cups of whole grain wheat flour
2-1/2 tablespoons of Morton lite salt
1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
1 packet of instant yeast
1 cup of lukewarm water
1 tablespoon of margarine
Rosemary
Instructions
1. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the water, yeast, flour, lite salt and vegetable oil into a gooey dough.
2. Drizzle vegetable oil on the top of the dough.
3. Cover bowl with a dish towel.
4. Leave in a warm kitchen to rise for two hours.
5. Ignore the nosey dog who thinks I’m making a second batch of homemade dog treats.
6. Lightly oil a baking pan, and rub the pan with a light layer of margarine.
7. Turn bowl sideways to roll dough into the baking pan. (Although the dough is sticky, it should be together enough to land in a neat clump.)
8. Roll the dough around so it’s a neat ball. Then, gently stretch the dough to the edges of the pan so it fits the entire space.
9. Cover dough so it can rise in the pan for another 30 minutes.
10. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
11. Gently dimple the top of the dough with your fingers to create small wells.
12. Shake rosemary on top of dough.
13. Place dough in the oven, and bake it for 25 minutes until it’s golden brown.
14. Remove the bread from the oven to lightly cool.
15. Slice and serve.
Additional cooking notes
I goofed and used tablespoons instead of teaspoons for the salt, so I was terrified that the bread would end up really salty. I also recall everything I read about how cane sugar works so well with yeast, and this bread had no sugar like Nard Dog Cooks’ version. I was hesitant to do anything that would upset the yeast like my first batch of vegan rolls. I also only had vegetable oil instead of olive oil, so I didn’t want to slather on the olive oil and extra salt in the same manner that Meghan Markle did during the show.
Instead, I made the bread as described above. Then, I tasted it plain to see if I wanted to doctor it some more (some Focaccia recipes add cheese and other spices), and I was pleasantly surprised to find that I liked it as is.
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I then tried three dipping sauces: 1. melted margarine, 2. Specially Selected Strawberry Balsamic Glaze, 3. Specially Selected Classic Balsamic Glaze. I expected to prefer the margarine and the strawberry glaze the most, but I ended up really liking the classic balsamic version the most with this recipe. I pushed the other two dipping bowls to the side and just chowed down on this combination of Focaccia bread and classic balsamic glaze.
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Meghan Markle's Focaccia bread versus Nard Dog Cooks vegan rolls: Which bread recipe is better?
I enjoyed both breads. I now wish I had these two balsamic dips when I made Nard Dog Cooks’ vegan bread recipe so I could compare the dipping sauces. With his, I ate a vegan roll with butter. Then, I sliced one in half and made a vegan grilled cheese the next day for breakfast.
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With Meghan Markle’s version, there’s an unfamiliar and interesting taste, primarily because I never use rosemary. It’s one of those seasonings that I bought, right along with two cabinets full of seasoning, because it seemed like I should have it. But if there’s not a random recipe that calls for it, I never use any of these seasonings on anything else. This may have been my first legitimate introduction to cooking with rosemary. I’m also not quite sure why this bread works so well with balsamic glaze, but it just does.
Update on April 4, 2025: After baking Nard Dog Cooks’ bread recipe again since New Year’s Day, I now remember the “vegan egg wash” that was brushed on top of the bread. That melted butter and maple syrup mix gives this roll recipe an edge over rosemary and olive oil. I’m not much of a pancake eater, but this topping on already-soft bread — even if you don’t have plant-based milk for the vegan egg wash — makes this bread dangerous. I made a cup of coffee and devoured a roll. And now I remember why using these rolls for grilled cheese sandwiches was so good the last time. The inside is soft like a pillow. Between the two, his recipe wins — but I still enjoyed cooking with the Duchess!
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