Super-Soft Vegan Cinnamon Rolls

 

Super-Soft Vegan Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients

Tangzhong*
1/2 cup (113g) non-dairy milk
3 tablespoons (23g) King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour
*See "tips," below.
Dough
2/3 cup (151g) non-dairy milk, cold
2 1/2 cups (300g) King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour
1 teaspoon (6g) salt
2 tablespoons (25g) granulated sugar
2 teaspoons instant yeast
4 tablespoons (57g) coconut oil, softened*

Filling
1 tablespoon (14g) coconut oil, melted*
1/2 cup (107g) light brown sugar, packed
2 tablespoons (15g) King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour
3 to 4 teaspoons (8g to 10g) cinnamon*
1/16 teaspoon (pinch) salt

*Use the lesser amount for stronger cinnamons, like Vietnamese (Saigon); the larger amount for milder cinnamons, like Indonesian/Ceylon.

Icing
3 tablespoons (42g) coconut oil, melted, divided*
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/16 teaspoon (pinch) salt
1 1/2 cups (170g) confectioners' sugar, sifted
1 to 2 tablespoons (14g to 28g) non-dairy milk

Directions:
To make the tangzhong: Combine the non-dairy milk and flour in a small saucepan, and whisk until no lumps remain.

Place the saucepan over medium heat and cook the mixture, stirring regularly, until thickened, paste-like, and the spoon or spatula leaves lines on the bottom of the pan, 1 to 3 minutes.

Remove from the heat and transfer to a large mixing bowl, the bowl of a stand mixer, or the bucket of a bread machine.

To make the dough: Weigh your flour; or measure it by gently spooning it into a cup, then sweeping off any excess. Add the ingredients to the bowl in the order listed.

Tips from Bakers

With origins in Japan's yukone (or yudane), tangzhong is a yeast bread technique popularized across Asia by Taiwanese cookbook author Yvonne Chen. Tangzhong involves cooking some of a bread recipe’s flour in liquid prior to adding it to the remaining dough ingredients. Bringing the temperature of the flour and liquid to 65°C (149°F) pre-gelatinizes the flour’s starches, which makes them more able to retain liquid — thus enhancing the resulting bread's softness and shelf life.

While cultured butter substitutes will work in place of the coconut oil, they’re not our first choice. If you do choose to use a butter substitute, know that your dough will be softer, making it more difficult to handle and more prone to collapse when the rolls come out of the oven. You can counteract these effects by making sure your hands are greased when working with the dough and by letting the rolls bake a couple of minutes longer, until they’re a bit deeper gold and their internal temperature is closer to 195°F.