How To Make Vegan Cinnamon Buns From Scratch

Purpose: You can't accomplish anything in your life if you don't have a purpose. Why did I write this blog? I have never baked my whole entire life. Not quite true. I made Focaccia 4 years ago and learned how to make pizza dough yesterday. The instructions are all under "Chef Hooman" blogs. But that's it. I also know how to make good rice, and I certainly love cinnamon buns - smell of it - taste of it - the way it melts in my mouth, and once it's down, I say to myself "total satisfaction". I made this blog for people like myself, software engineers that do not know how to cook. It's totally fool proof and easy to follow. After Coronavirus inflicted so much fear and deaths around the world, and we were all forced to spend more time at home, I promised myself one thing. I am not going to let this plague to become bogeyman of my dreams and I am going to learn something new. Hope you do the same. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1. 3 cups of all purpose bread flour (Robin Hood)

2. 1 cup unsweetened Almond Breeze (Almond Breeze)

3. 1/4 tsp of salt (Baleine Sea Salt)

4. 21/4 tsp of instant yeast (Fleischmann's)

5. 1 Tbsp sugar

6. 3 Tbsp Earth Balance (Earth Balance)

7. 1 Tbsp ground cinnamon

8. 5 Tbsp coconut oil

9. 2 Tbsp icing sugar (Redpath icing sugar)

Instructions:

1. Add one cup of almond milk to a medium size bowl.

2. Add 3 Tbsp of coconut oil to the bowl.

3. Heat up the almond milk and coconut oil mixture in the microwave for couple of minutes. It should not be boiling (it will kill the yeast). So check it out at 30-second intervals until it is bath water warm.

4. Transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl and add 2 1/4 tsp of instant yeast. If you don't have instant yeast, like I didn't, just add 2 1/4 tsp of yeast in a cup of water for 10 minutes.

5. Add 1 Tbsp sugar and the salt and stir.

6. Add in 3 cups of flour in 1/2 cup increments at a time and stir for 30 seconds.

7. Now you need to get serious and start mixing it using your beloved hand till it looks like a ball (it took me 5 minutes). Do not knead flour for too long, you don't want to overmix it.

8. Dump the ball shaped dough in a medium size Tupperware and coat it with melted Earth Balance.

 9. Put the lid on and let it stay there for 60 minutes to rise double in size.

10. Cut a large tray size parchment paper and cover it with a thin layer of flour to avoid sticking the dough to the paper while we are rolling.

11. Cover the rolling pin with flour as well.

12. Scoop the dough out on the baking sheet (parchment paper) and spread the dough to cover the whole baking sheet into a thin rectangle using rolling pin.

13. Keep rolling for 5 to 10 minutes if you really want to make it thin.

14. Once you start rolling, the dough gets out of shape. To make it to a rectangle you might have to fold the edges and keep rolling.

15. Hopefully, yours is better than mine, but I am giving up at this point.

16. Brush it with melted coconut oil or melted Earth Balance and top it up with sugar and cinnamon.

17. Roll up the dough  tightly from one side.

18. Brush a pan with coconut oil or melted Earth Balance.

19.  Cut the dough into one inch slices with a serrated knife. Slice through the dough like you are sawing!

20. Let it sit and rise again for another 60 minutes.

21. Notice that after 60 minutes the gaps between the buns are all filled. Brush the rolls with melted Earth Balance before you put the pan in the oven.

22. Preheat the oven to 350 F. And once the oven is ready, place the pan in the oven between 25 to 30 minutes until it looks golden brown.

23. Let it cool and frost it with a mixture of half a cup of icing sugar and 2 Tsp Almond Breeze for the topping.

24. It's all ready! Enjoy it.