Tag: no dairy

Vegan Baking – Basic Recipes

written 4/22/24, updated 5/22/24

What

Vegan Pie Dough

Vegan Sweet Milk Bread Dough

Vegan Pie Dough

Uses

Any pie: dessert, fruit, meat, ice cream, large, small, open faced, etc

Ingredients

Dough

2 cups All-Purpose Flour (+ dusting)
2 Tbsp Granulated Sugar
¼ tsp Baking Powder
1 stick (8 Tbsp) Vegan Butter (cold, small pieces)
2 Tbsp Vegetable Shortening (cold)
4-6 Tbsp Ice Water

Optional: ½ tsp Salt

Time and Serving

Time: 20 minutes prep, 2 hours set

Serving: 1 standard pie or 8 standard hand pies

20 minutes (dough prep) + 2 hours (refrigeration) = 2 hours, 20 minutes Total

Directions

  • Whisk Flour (2 cups), Sugar (2 Tbsp), Salt (optional ½ tsp), and Baking Powder (¼ tsp)
  • Add half of Butter (4 Tbsp) and all of Shortening (2 Tbsp)
  • Rub until Shortening not detectable
  • Add rest of Butter (4 Tbsp) and work until pea-sized pieces remain
  • Mix in Ice Water (4 Tbsp) with fork or hands (optionally can do all of this with a few pulses of a food processor)
  • Gradually add more of Ice Water (1 Tbsp at a time) only until dough sticks when squeezed (should look shaggy, not super smooth)
  • Turn onto plastic wrap
  • Shape into a disk
  • Refrigerate until firm (~2 hours)
  • OPTIONAL: For a more flaky crust READ THIS. Fold the dough in halves, thirds, or quarters, push down, then do it again. Refrigerate and let rest for about 30 minutes, then do it again. Don’t overdo it to the point where the dough is gummy and forms gluten, but it will make the crust flakier.

Pictures

Whisk ingredients together
Ice water
First round of butter and shortening
Rub until shortening is gone
Pieces mostly incorporated
Add remaining butter
Even without water, it’s already sticking together
Add water a Tbsp at a time!
Mix it together
Almost there, but still too crumbly
Looking shaggy, but still not quite
Very close
THERE IT IS
Sticking together well, but not too well combined
Lay out a cross pattern of plastic wrap
Turn it out. Note how rough it is still.
Optional folding for flakiness
Folded in thirds
Wrap it up and refrigerate it
When ready to use, lightly flour, and have fun!

Notes

  • Sometimes the dough comes together with more or less water
  • Can use food processor, but I prefer by hand to really feel when it comes together
  • Practice makes perfect!
  • Cold butter is really important to flakiness, as is resting time
  • Overworking can lead to gummy, dense dough, so be careful
  • Can make it drier or wetter to your preference for whatever you’re making

Vegan Sweet Milk Bread

Uses

Pull Apart Breads, Doughnuts, Plain Milk Sweet Bread, Fruit Bread, Bean Paste Loaves, Garlic Bread, etc.

Ingredients

4 Cups All-Purpose or Bread Flour (give or take)

1 Cup Plant-based Milk (e.g. Oat milk)

1 packet or 2¼ tsp Dry Active Yeast

2 tsp + ½ Cup Sugar

1 Tbsp Salt

4 Tbsp Vegan Butter

Optional: 2 Large Egg Equivalent (e.g. egg replacer), 2 Tbsp Cornstarch/Potato Starch/Tapioca Starch, some Honey

Time

Time: 30 minutes prep; 1-2 hours, or overnight in the fridge set

Servings: 2 large bread loaves or 36 cupcake sizes or 24 cupcake sizes + 1 medium round

Directions

Yeast

  • Heat Milk (1 Cup) to about 100-115F (too hot and yeast will die)
  • Pour into stand mixer bowl
  • Dissolve Sugar (2 tsp) and optionally, Honey
  • Add Active Dry Yeast (2¼ tsp or 1 envelope)
  • Lightly stir
  • Cover and let bloom for about 5-10 minutes (until it foams and smells like yeast)

Dough

  • By now the yeast should have bloomed quite well
  • Melt then add Vegan Butter (4 Tbsp)
  • Add Sugar (½ Cup for sweet bread, less for less sweet)
  • Add Salt (1Tbsp)
  • Add Egg Replacer (2 Large Eggs), if using
  • Add Starch (2 Tbsp), if using
  • Incrementally add Flour (~4 Cups) and mix until it starts turning into dough
  • Using the dough hook attachment at level 4 on a stand mixer, finish adding the flour in small increments until the dough comes nicely off the sides of the bowl, about 15 minutes
  • Otherwise, hand knead 20-30 minutes
  • When it is smooth and tacky, cover with plastic wrap and/or a dish cloth, and set it in a warm location to proof for about 1-2 hours
  • Optionally: cover and let rise overnight in the refrigerator
  • Poke Test: It’s ready when you poke it with your finger and it doesn’t spring back

Pictures

Notes

  • Letting rise too fast can take away from the flavor. Yeast apparently likes 70F – 100F temperatures. It is recommended to stay on the lower end if you want to get the most flavor
  • Good added ingredients: dried fruits, nuts, sweet bean paste, garlic butter, etc