Vegan Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
These vegan sourdough cinnamon rolls are soft, fluffy, swirled with a luscious chai-spiced filling - and topped with the most delicious cream cheese glaze. Yum!
Author:
Serves: 12-14 rolls
Ingredients
Dough
  • ⅔ cup soy milk, lukewarm
  • ¼ cup vegan butter, melted and cooled
  • ¼ cup aquafaba
  • 3 tbsp sugar
  • ½ cup bubbly, active starter (100g)
  • 2½ cups all-purpose flour
  • ¼ tsp fine sea salt
Filling (reduce in half if you are using a glaze)
  • ¼ cup vegan butter, melted
  • ½ cup white sugar
  • ½ cup brown demerara sugar
  • 1 tbsp cinnamon
  • ½ tsp nutmeg
  • ½ tsp ginger
  • A pinch of cloves
  • A pinch of cardamom powder
Glaze
  • 1 tbsp vegan butter, softened
  • ¼ cup vegan cream cheese
  • 2-3 tbsp icing sugar (depending on how sweet you like it)
Instructions
days before...
  1. If your starter is in the fridge, feed it daily for 4 days until it is bubbly and active. If your starter is already at room temperature and active (doubles in size about 6 hours after feeding) you can use it straight away.
The night before baking...
  1. Place the soy milk, melted butter, aquafaba and sugar in a large clean bowl. Whisk to combine well. Place your finger in the liquid, it should not feel too cold or too hot, but about the same temperature as your finger.
  2. Stir in the starter, until well combined. Then sift in the flour and salt and mix until a shaggy dough forms. Scape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Cover and let this rest for 15 minutes.
  3. After the dough has rested, use a dough hook on a stand mixer (or hand knead) for 5-7 minutes until it comes together in a smooth ball. It will be slightly tacky, but if it is too sticky, knead in a tablespoonful of flour at a time.
  4. Cover and let this rest for 30 minutes. After the resting time, take a corner of the dough ball, pull it up to stretch it, and fold it inwards, towards the centre. Rotate the bowl by a quarter turn, and repeat the folding process for a total of four times. Now cover with a damp towel, and rest in a warm place for overnight until it is doubled in size (8-12 hours)
The day of baking...
  1. Flour a countertop well and punch the dough down. Overturn the bowl and scrape the dough out onto the countertop. Flour your rolling pin, and roll the dough out into a large rectangle (about 12 inches by 16 inches), slightly less than ½-inch in thickness. It is easier if you roll this out with the longer edge of the rectangle closest to you.
  2. Melt the vegan butter for the filling, and brush it over the rectangle of dough. Mix together the rest of the filling ingredients in a small bowl, and sprinkle evenly over the buttered dough.
  3. Flour your hands, and roll the dough up, starting with the long edge, into a tight roll. work slowly and Gently to prevent tears in the dough, just remember to keep everything well floured!
  4. When the roll is tight and complete, cut the log into 1½-inch thick pieces. You can do this with a large knife or bench scraper, but I use a bit of dental flosee to keep the swirls perfectly intact. To do this, just wrap a lenght of floss around the log where you wish to cut it, and pull each end of the floss to slice neatly through the log of dough.
  5. Place the rolls on a well-greased (and lined with parchment if necessary) 9-inch cake pan or cast-iron skillet. Leaving some space between them as they will puff up during the second proof.
  6. Cover, and let this rest for about 1-2 hours until the rolls look puffier (no need for them to double in size). Bake the rolls at 180C for 40 minutes, or until golden and fragrant.
  7. ** If you wish to freeze the rolls, place the cut rolls on a parchment-lined tray, and stick the tray straight into the freezer. No need to proof them for a second time. Once the rolls are frozen you can pop them into a ziplock bag and leave that in the freezer. To bake them from frozen, just arrange the frozen rolls in a prepared pan, and let it sit on the countertop until it is at room temperature, and has puffed up slightly. Bake as in the step above.
  8. Make the glaze but whisking all the ingredients together, and once the rolls are cooled, spoon a bit over each one.
Notes
Retarding the dough - If you do not wish to bake the rolls immediately after the overnight proof and after rolling them up, just place the rolls in the pan, as you would just before baking them, and pop the pan into the fridge. This slows down the second proof and can actually help to further develop the flavour of your rolls. You can keep them in the fridge for about 6 hours, but if you want to keep them any longer than that, just follow the freezing instructions above. To bake after resting in the fridge, let the pans sit on the countertop for 1-2 hours until the rolls are back at room temperature, then bake normally.
Recipe by The Sasha Diaries at https://thesashadiaries.com/2018/05/02/vegan-sourdough-cinnamon-rolls-chai-spiced/