Cinnamon Buns (plant based)

lovely plant based cinnamon buns to try for the weekend ahead!

I’ve been wanting to try out different shaping techniques for cinnamon buns for a while now but never truly got round to it during the busiest days of running my micro bakery. This is a lovely, simple recipe using ingredients which you should hopefully have in your fridge/ cupboard, making it the perfect weekend baking project to try, for Sunday morning breakfast! I hope you enjoy them and do tag me on instagram if you give them a go.

Ingredients

makes 8 buns

for the dough

250g strong wholemeal flour

250g strong white bread flour/ white spelt flour

4g sea salt

310ml oat milk gently warmed

85ml sunflower oil/ melted coconut oil

40g light brown sugar/ coconut sugar 

5g instant yeast (I use this one)

Filling ingredients

80g vegan butter/ coconut oil

80g light brown sugar/ coconut sugar

15g cinnamon

pinch of salt

Method

First gently heat the oat milk, oil and sugar in a small saucepan until warmed. Don’t heat beyond 50c otherwise the yeast might die.

Then add in the yeast to the liquid mix and let it bloom - this takes about 5-10 minutes.

Pour your liquid ingredients into a large bowl of your flour and sea salt.

Combine to a shaggy mess and knead for at least 8-10 minutes with your hands or in a mixer for 5 minutes.

Then return the dough to a clean oiled bowl covered with a tea towel/ cling film and pop in the fridge for at least 2 hours or overnight (I prefer overnight!).

The next morning..

The following morning, mix together your filling ingredients; it’s best to use vegan butter/ coconut oil at room temperature as is much easier to spread!

Take your dough from the fridge and roll it on a floured surface to a large rectangular size (roughly 75cm x 15cm). Then spread your filling all over the dough right to the edges.

Divide the dough into 3 equal pieces. Fold the top half of the dough into the middle, then the final piece on top.

Rotate the dough 90 degrees and roll it out to roughly 32cm long.

Using a pizza/ pastry cutter, make 8 x indents at 3cm and slice into 8 even strips.

Slice each strip in half lengthways and start twisting. Then coil the twist into a snail shape and gently tuck the final piece underneath.

Repeat for all the buns and place on a greased baking tray.

Leave them to prove for about 1 hour in a warm place (you can leave them in the oven switched off with a tray of boiling water underneath).

Then bake at 180c for 18 minutes until golden brown.

Glaze with honey/ apricot jam for a glossy finish. Enjoy!