Brown the butter:

In a pan over medium heat add the vegan butter. Allow it to melt and foam, and continue to stir. Now add the fresh sage and cook for 2 minutes. Now add the garlic and turn off the heat, continue stirring and cook until lightly golden (1-2 mins). Set aside.

Making the dough

• Preheat oven to 200 degrees
• Place the water in a glass bowl and pop in the microwave for 1-2 minutes until bathwater warm. Add your yeast and sugar and allow the yeast to activate for 5 minutes. It should get foamy.
• Now add the flour, brown butter sage, honey or maples syrup and salt. Combine until it comes together. It will be shaggy and sticky. You can add more to make it easier to work with, but the more you add the dryer the bread will be. Just a little at a time!
• Turn oven off. Place back into the bowl and cover with a towel. Place in the preheated oven with the door open. Allow it to rise until doubled in size, 20 mins or more.

Shaping the bread

• Lay out a piece of parchment paper and dust it with flour. Transfer the dough from the bowl to the paper and behind shaping it. You’ll want to stretch out each side and fold it over and work around until you have it in the shape of a ball. (Don’t worry you can’t mess this up). Work in the parmesan a little at a time.
• Flip it over to where the smooth side is up. Cover with the towel and let it rise for roughly 20 minutes (or until the dutch oven is read in the next step.

Heating the dutch oven

• Place the dutch oven in the oven (I didn’t include the lid). Preheat your oven to 450F and let it come to temperature. Your bread will rise while your dutch oven heats up.

Baking the bread

• Using oven mitts, take the dutch oven out of your oven and place it on top of the stove. Lift the bread using the parchment paper and transfer it to the dutch oven. Score the bread to let steam escape while it bakes. I just did a simple slash down the center with a knife, but you can make it pretty with designs if you’d like.
• Cover with the lid and transfer it to the oven. Bake for 30 minutes. When it’s done the color will be pale. Place it back in the oven without the lid for another 10 minutes, or until is golden brown of to your liking.
• Remove from the oven and lift the bread out of the dutch oven using the parchment paper. Let cool for at least 30 minutes.