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?
