My sweetheart loves these tender Honey Yeast Rolls. He insists they are a must for any Winter holiday dinner. They are swoon-worthy topped with Homemade Vegan Butter.
The recipe was initially inspired by King Arthur Flour's Amish Dinner Rolls. I have perfected it over the years for our family with healthier ingredients and a vegan option.
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Top Tip
Use a shower cap to cover rolls while rising in a pan. It makes a bubble tent with air space for the dough to expand so nothing sticks to the rolls while they rise.
Healthy ingredients
These rolls are still made with mashed potatoes, just like the original King Arthur Flour recipe. It's an essential ingredient to make them extra soft and fluffy. But now they are free of white sugar, eggs, butter, and cows' milk.
- Honey - Makes them sweet and golden. Maple syrup can be substituted for vegan rolls.
- Raw cashews - Enrich the dough and take the place of cream or milk.
- Active dry yeast - I recommend Red Star traditional but saf-instant is fine too in cooler climates.
- Avocado oil - Clean neutral taste lets the salty-sweet flavor of the bread come through.
- Mashed potatoes - The secret to moist and soft old-fashioned dinner rolls.
- Salt - Fine grain sea salt or pink Himalayan salt are prefered.
- Organic all-purpose flour - A must for light textured, springy rolls.
What do vegan dinner rolls taste like?
You may be thinking, sure those ingredients are healthier, but do the rolls taste? How is it possible to still have a delicious, light as a feather yeasted bread?
Well, substituting eggs and dairy products with carefully selected nutritious alternatives miraculously created the best pull-apart dinner roll yet.
Whether you choose honey or maple syrup for these irresistible old-fashioned dinner rolls, they will be pillowy, soft, and utterly delicious.
Make even rolls
This recipe makes a dozen pull-apart rolls all baked in a pan together. You can divide your unbaked rolls evenly for shaping by starting with a round disk of dough.
Turn the dough out onto the counter and flatten gently into a circle. Then slice as if you were dividing a pie.
First, cut the pie shape in half and then in equal quarters. Finally, divide the quadrants each into three sections. Now you have a dozen even pieces of dough to roll into balls.
Fit the balls of dough loosely into a glass baking pan. They will rise beautifully so their sides touch and yet keep their shape for when it's time to separate them at the dinner table.
Honey Yeast Rolls smell heavenly coming from the oven. Give them a squeeze, and they spring back. They have just the right amount of sweetness and are the ideal texture for spreading with your favorite topping or dunking in gravy.
Left-over rolls
Pop them in the toaster, and the outside turns delicately crisp while the inside stays tender and moist. They're divine with a dollop of jam.
These golden-topped gems will disappear fast, but any unlikely leftover rolls also freeze and re-thaw well for future meals.
Isn't it nice to know you can have a more nutritious holiday dinner but don't have to miss out on these gorgeous babies?
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📖 Recipe
Pull Apart Honey Yeast Rolls
Ingredients
- 3 TB raw honey or maple syrup
- 3 TB raw cashews
- ½ cup water
- 1 ¼ tsp. active dry bread yeast
- 3 TB cold-pressed avocado oil
- ½ cup unseasoned mashed potatoes
- 1 tsp. salt
- 2 ⅛ cups all-purpose flour
Instructions
Make the dough
- Place water, honey or maple syrup, and cashews in a high-powered blender. Blend on high for 2 minutes or until lukewarm and the cashews are liquefied.
- Pour mixture into bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle with the yeast. Allow yeast 10 minutes to bloom.
- Add oil, mashed potatoes, and salt to the yeast and honey mixture. Fix whisk attachment to a stand mixer and mix briefly on low speed. Remove whisk.
- Add all the flour and stir with a large spoon to moisten. Attach a dough hook to mixer. Knead on medium speed for 5 minutes. I use the number 4 setting on my KitchenAid mixer.
- Dough will be very soft. If an excess sticks to sides of mixing bowl, you can sprinkle in a tablespoon or two of flour while mixing to bring dough together.
- Coat inside of a large bowl or dough rising bucket with one teaspoon of oil. Grease an 8 or 9 inch square glass baking dish while dough is kneading. Dough will be very sticky. Scrape dough off mixer hook and use a spatula to transfer dough to oiled bowl.
First rise
- Cover the rising container and let the dough rise until more than doubled. A finger poke should leave a clear indent. Rise time can vary a lot depending on the temperature of the room. It can take anywhere from 75 minutes to an hour and 45 minutes.
Shape the rolls
- Dust your hands with a small amount of flour. Gently deflate the dough and turn it out onto a floured countertop. Working lightly, shape dough into a disc. Cut dough into 12 equal pie-shaped pieces.
- Shape each piece of dough into a round ball by tucking the top part of the dough to the underside and pinching. The idea is to tighten the top of the dough and have a smooth round ball.
- Arrange shaped rolls in oiled baking dish. Cover dish with a dome lid that fits to seal out air or use a shower cap. Rolls will rise a lot. Leave them for 75 - 90 minutes until they are very puffy. They should more than double in size. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees before the rolls finish rising.
Bake the rolls
- Bake rolls on lower rack of oven for 10 minutes. Then move to the middle rack for another 15-20 minutes. Finished rolls will be deep golden brown. They will remain moist and soft inside at this color. If desired, brush warm rolls with a little vegan butter.
Serve
- Cool dish of rolls on a rack and remove from pan when cool enough to handle.
Store and use leftovers
- Rolls stay fresh for 2 days covered at room temperature. Leftovers are great toasted whole and split in half.
- Rolls also freeze, thaw, and re-heat well for future meals. Keep rolls in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Notes
- Use unseasoned mashed potatoes for best results. If using seasoned mashed potatoes reduce salt in the recipe slightly.
- Have your potatoes at room temperature before adding to other ingredients.
- Use a glass baking dish that's eight to nine inches square or similar-sized round glass dish with 2 inch high sides.
- A large shower cap is helpful for covering rolls while they rise.
- Start rolls on the lower rack of the oven and finish on middle rack for even browning.
- Bake rolls to a deep golden brown color.
- For glossy tops, brush hot rolls with vegan butter.
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