Thanksgiving Vegan Dinner Rolls Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Can you substitute almond milk for milk in rolls? ›

Dinner Roll Recipe Ingredients

If it's not fresh, the rolls won't rise, and they'll be dense and flat instead of soft and fluffy. Almond milk – We use almond milk because it's what we keep on hand, but feel free to substitute any plain, unsweetened milk you like!

Too much flour, or not the right kind, could be to blame. Dough made only from flour with a high or even average amount of protein (like bread flour or all-purpose flour) can become tough from overmixing. Protein gives bread structure in the form of gluten—the more you mix and move the dough, the more gluten you get.

Potato Flakes or Potato Water

Starch helps the dough by trapping the gas from the yeast in the dough and makes the bubbles stronger. This helps the bread to rise and be lighter and fluffier. If you are boiling potatoes, you can use the unsalted water in place of the water in your bread recipe to help out the yeast.

Add Milk

To make your bread soft and fluffy, another trick used by commercial bakers is replacing water with milk. Milk has fats which make bread softer.

Among other milk alternatives like almond milk, soy milk and oat milk, soy milk is by far the best for baking. I learned this over the course of several years and many cookies, cakes, muffins and pies. Moreover, some people will tell you that you must swap full-fat coconut milk in for heavy cream or half-and-half.

Soy milk has the most protein of all the alternate milks, so for baking projects that need a lot of structure (think cakes and breads), this is the best dairy-free option.

The best milk for cooking really depends on the flavor you're looking for. For example, if you're cooking a savory dish, you can try soy milk or hemp milk. If you're cooking a sweeter dish, try alternatives such as oat milk. This option lends a sweet flavor to everything from soups to curries and beyond.

Avoid adding too much extra flour to the dough.

Your instinct might be to add extra flour; however, any extra flour will create a denser, tougher roll instead of the light, fluffy, soft dinner roll we want.

(Though bread flour can still give you a fluffier, almost cotton-candy-like texture in most buns and rolls.) You could even technically substitute all-purpose flour for bread flour if you add less water, mix the dough more gently and for a shorter period of time, and don't expect the same results.

What sets Kaiser rolls apart from other dinner rolls is their unique shape. Thick logs of the dough are crossed and folded into a knot that resembles a loaf of braided challah, but on a smaller scale. Make a batch of these yeasted rolls over the weekend and you'll have delicious rolls for sandwiches all week long.

What type of pan is best for baking rolls? ›

This trick helps create better-looking rolls. We have three reasons for baking rolls such as our Oatmeal Dinner Rolls or our Fluffy Dinner Rolls in the confined space of a cake pan versus individually on a baking sheet.

Cast iron conducts heat more evenly and bakes breads to a perfectly golden color. If it is well seasoned, it also enhances the flavor of whatever you are cooking or baking in. Cast iron can be used on the stove top or directly in the oven.

Salt adds flavor to bread. If none or too little is used in a recipe, the bread will lack the right flavor and taste "bland." If you reduce the amount of salt, try adding some dried herbs to increase the flavor. Too much yeast in bread will give bread an off-taste.

For baking light and fluffy bread, it is necessary to choose flour that has high levels of protein. If you choose to use flour with lower protein levels, you'll be left with the bread being dense.

Does Rising Bread Affect Its Texture? For a fluffy bread texture, the key is to let the bread rise long enough.