Sunday, September 28, 2008

Cinnamon rolls

In honour of finishing my scholarship and med school aplications, and because I am an awesome labmate, today I veganized my first recipie: super-awesome yeasty cinnamon rolls! All I really needed to do was swap the milk with soymilk and the eggs for silken tofu, and I also changed up the icing. They turned out pretty tasty. I really enjoy the texture of yeasty baked goods. The only problem was that I went temporarily insane and basically made a struesel topping instead of just mixing the brown sugar and cinnamon for the filling... so it was really hard to spread around and I didn't get an even filling. I don't even know what I was thinking because I've been making cinnamon rolls regularly since like the seventh grade. Sigh.

No food porn on this one, but here's the recipie (adapted from GWS):

Dough:

  • 1 C. soy milk, warmed
  • 4 1/2 C. all purpose flour (approximate!!)
  • 1/2 C. granulated sugar
  • 2 1/4 tsp. yeast (or one packet dry)
  • 1/2 C. silken tofu, whipped
  • 1/3 C. margarine melted (yet not face-meltingly hot)

Filling:

  • 1/4 C. margarine
  • 2 tbsp cinnamon
  • 3/4 C. brown sugar
Method:
In a large bowl, combine the warm soymilk with the sugar and stir to dissolve. Sprinkle the yeast overtop of the milk and set aside to activate (about 10 min). When the yeast is all bubbly, gently mix it into the sugar-milk mixture, then add about half of the flour in small portions, mixing as you add. Next, add the silken tofu and mix; add the margerine and mix. Add the remaining flour portionwise. When it gets hard to mix with your spoon, mix with your hands. Add just enough flour to get a soft, non-sticky dough - you probably won't need the full amount. Knead briefly.
Grease a clean bowl, and throw the doughball in there to rise for about 2 hours.

Go spend some time with the cats, do some homework, etc.

Punch down your enormous doughball (which should have doubled in size), knead briefly, then turn out onto a lightly floured countertop and roll out into a rectangle approximately 30cm x 80 cm. Spread the margerine for the filling over the dough, and sprinkle the cinnamon-brown sugar mixture over the dough, leaving about a 3-cm space at the top edge.

Roll up the dough to make a long rope. Cut into about 12 rolls (or go crazy and make like 18 the way I did) and arrange the cinnamon rolls in a foil-lined pan. Allow about half an hour to rise, during which time you can preheat your oven to about 400F. Bake those delicious bastards for about 30 minutes, until golden brown.

Try to stop yourself from eating them while they are still molten.