Good morning!
Thanks for all your great comments on my Fluffy White Clouds post. I loved reading them.
I woke up to a spooky and foggy morning outside…
and the leaves on the ground have at least doubled since I got home last Thursday!
I can’t believe today is the last day of September. Where did it go?
I made an equally spooky breakfast…
Meet Pumpkin Delight Vegan Overnight Oat Parfait:
That would be my Gingerbread Vegan Overnight Oats layered with Pumpkin Gingerbread Soft Serve (recipe below)!
Pumpkin Gingerbread Banana Soft Serve
Process together:
- 1 frozen banana,
- 1 tbsp almond milk,
- 3 tbsp canned pumpkin,
- 1 tsp blackstrap molasses,
- 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice.
It was ridiculously good!
Yesterday marked the first time I have ever made Vegan Dinner Rolls. I admit, I was quite apprehensive about making dinner rolls, especially after the ‘hard as baseball’ rolls I made last year. Those weren’t even vegan either and they were a huge fail. The disaster sort of crushed my roll making confidence.
But I decided to fear a dinner roll was silly.
After all, it was just a bit of flour, yeast, water, salt, sugar, Earth Balance, and egg replacer….
After a few prayers and a lot of patience, magic happened.
Vegan Pull-Apart Fluffy White Dinner Rolls
Adapted from Spark People.
Ingredients:
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp sea salt (or regular)
- 2 1/4 tsp Active Dry Yeast
- 1 cup very warm water
- 2 tbsp Earth Balance Buttery Stick
- 1 egg replacer (1 tsp egg replacer + 2 tbsp warm water)
Directions:
1) Proof your yeast! In a small bowl mix 2 1/4 tsp of Active Dry Yeast with 1/4 cup of very warm water (between 110 and 115 degrees F). Stir and let dissolve. Now add 1 tsp of sugar and stir. Let it sit for a good 5-10 minutes. You will know the yeast is active when it is slightly foamy and smells like bread.
2. In a stand mixer or by hand, add 1 and 1/4 cup of flour, remaining sugar (1 tbsp + 2 tsp), salt, and yeast mixture. Mix briefly for 10 seconds or so. Now, add the remaining very warm water (3/4 cup), slightly melted Earth balance, and egg replacer and mix until smooth. Slowly add in the rest of the flour (1 cup) and mix until smooth.
3. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes. I put my bowl of dough in the oven with the light turned on (but not the oven itself!)
4. Grease a pie pan and set aside. After 30 minutes, remove the dough from the oven and knead with hands for a few seconds. Divide the dough into 12 balls with hands and place the balls into the pie pan (see image below).
5. Cover pie pan with towel and place back into the oven with light on for another 30 minutes. The rolls will expand and fill the pie pan during this time.
6. After 25 minutes, remove from oven and preheat the oven to 400F. After 5 more minutes, it is time to bake the rolls for 15-18 minutes until golden and fluffy. Makes 12 pull apart rolls.
7. Serve with Earth Balance and enjoy!
After rising the dough for 30 minutes, it was time to put 12 balls of dough into a pie pan! I decided to create pull-apart rolls because I think they are so fun.
I was nervous at this point, thinking that they weren’t going to rise, but lo and behold after 30 minutes they filled out and looked beautiful!
Look at that before and after:
Fun, right?
Then I basted the rolls with a coating of Earth Balance and popped it in the oven for about 17 mins. at 400F.
Deep inhale.
The house smelled wonderful!
Insert self-congratulatory pats on the back. ;)
The best part about baking fluffy rolls?
Getting to be the official taste tester!
I enjoyed 2 rolls with Earth Balance and had to practice serious self-control not to devour the entire lot.
These are some good rolls. Slightly crispy on the outside, but soft and fluffy on the inside.
Moral of the story: Do not fear making dinner rolls. It really wasn’t that hard! The toughest part was waiting for the dough to rise as I impatiently peeked at it every 5 minutes like a mother who just brought home her baby from the hospital.
Have you ever made dinner rolls or bread from scratch? Did it turn out?
This will be another one of your recipes that I am going to add to my “Angela’s Must Make” file! Speaking of your “Must Make” recipes..question for you (or your readers)! Come hell or high water I WILL be making your tarts for friends this weekend, however I cannot find vanilla paste to save my life. What can I use in place of vanilla paste? A local store does carry almond paste, is that okay?! HELP!!
Many thanks, Stacie
I used to make bread from scratch all the time, but I must admit I usually used the bread machine for the dough part then took it out and finished it in the oven. One of my favorites was a braided bread with caramelized onion and poppy seed filling in each of the “ropes” of the braid. Insta bad breath, but completely delicious.
i’m STILL afraid of making bread!!!
i can’t believe how many leaves and how many COLORED leaves you guys have falling!!! they are just starting to fall here in chicago! :)
Wow. Everything in this post sounds and looks incredible! I am not a carby bread loving girl, but I could so eat that whole pan of buttery rolls!
“Moral of the story: Do not fear making dinner rolls. It really wasn’t that hard! The toughest part was waiting for the dough to rise as I impatiently peeked at it every 5 minutes like a mother who just brought home her baby from the hospital.”
Okay, I know you might not have meant this, but I can totally see the hidden joke in the context of this post about a bun in the oven. =D
Wow, those look wonderful!
I’m definitely afraid of making bread, but these look too good not to attempt!
You can’t beat the smell of freshly baked bread filling the house, it”s just so cosy.
I got a wonderful Lebanese bread recipe from my boyfriend’s mother, and I was so excited to make it. I followed all the instructions (I swear!), but I thought it turned out too dry and not bready enough. My family pretended to like them, though, so all ended well!
Looks so good! I havbe never made my own bread-I would eat the whole thing!
I had visions of making fluffy wheat bread today. I am not certain it is achievable. Wish me luck!
Trust me if I can do it u can do it!!! hehe. Nothing is better than warm fresh bread with EB.
I want to make this NOW. Ahh!! Using yeast scares me, but I feel like this recipe looks pretty manageable. Maybe I’ll take the plunge…?
I love making bread. I made yeast rolls for dinner last Sunday! I am still trying to master sourdough.
The pumpkin gingerbread banana soft serve looks amazing! I love the idea of adding molasses for that gingerbread flavor! YUM.
I’ve never made homemade dinner rolls, but I may just be brave enough to try now. Yours look so good!! I do make homemade cinnamon rolls once a year at Christmas, and I always get nervous about them rising, too! It’s VERY hard to resist the urge to check on them every 5 minutes. ;)
I’m all about vegan baking right now. Can’t wait to try these out!
hi Angela! you just tapped into one of my fears! these look sooo yummy, I’ll have to overcome the dread and try them out :)
I have never made bread or rolls handmade like that. I usually use the Pillsbury cans if I need rolls :(
When I was younger my parents decided to bake their own bread to save money — it was a disaster! I remember my dad baking these loaves of bread that weighed 5-6 pounds — it was hilarious. I remember hearing my parents just roaring when they took the loaves out of the oven. We went back to eating regular bread after that :)
Your dad must be from my (hippie) generation. When I first started baking bread some 50 years ago we thought that white (all purpose) flour like in this recipe bordered on toxic. Only 100% whole wheat would do. We also thought it was a great idea to throw in a lot of “healthy” additions like pumpkin seeds and oatmeal. The resulting bread “loaves” would better be called bread bricks, but we pretended we liked them and felt righteous. I’ve learned a lot since then.
These look amazing! I’m filing this recipe away for use at Christmas dinner. :)
Yum! Looks like the perfect food for a fall day!
I have tried to make bread, and it never comes out right. I live at high altitude so I know that has a lot to do with it. I do better with things that don’t need to rise.
On a happy note about it being the last day of September, today is my 5th wedding anniversary! My husband gave me the sweetest card this morning. We’re going out for Italian tonight – I can’t wait!
Growing up I had asian dinners every night but whenever I went to my friends houses and ate dinner there, I loved being able to eat “American” dinners. One of the greatest infatuations I had was with the dinner rolls. I thought it was the greatest concept in the world. Warm doughy delicious bread with my dinner? YES please! I was ten, and dinner rolls were apparently the coolest things ever lol. I would like to blame the fact that I was young and was fascinated by odd things haha but even now,I always associate having a nice bread basket with dinner as very sophisticated eating. I usually buy a long thing of italian bread when I get the urge for it but this recipe looks really easy and delicious and I can’t wait to try it out. Officially bookmarked!
I love the misty mornings in the fall. It was foggy this morning and it just felt wonderful!