Hello Readers..!
I have been obsessed with home baked breads for a while now. This was one dish I wanted to try and to my delight it turned out so yumm ! Golden Buns with a crunchy exterior and creamy middle. I filled the center with Mushrooms mixed with homemade vegan cheese. Everything worked out well and the dish was a huge favorite with my family 🙂 Just out of oven, as soon as it cooled most of it was wiped out.
This cheese sauce for me is the fastest way to get a vegan cheesy flavor in dishes. Which then can be used in various ways , as a dip, a pasta sauce, on Pizzas , Nachos anything literally. Its a simple and quick recipe which ill detail below.
The filling could really be anything inside a bun. So you could use the bun recipe below and experiment thereon! I must say not all my experiments work out well. Many a times there are glitches , sometimes disasters which obviously lead to a lot of learning 🙂 But when it does work out well, its a happy heart, happy tummy and happy spirit ! 😀
Homemade Vegan Cheese Sauce
1/3 Cup Cashews Soaked in Warm water for 1 hour
1 clove of Garlic (minced)
Half tsp Nutritional Yeast
Salt to taste
Pinch Paprika Powder (optional)
Steps
- Keep the cashews soaked in warm water for 30 minutes to an hour. Drain out the cashews.
- Add all ingredients to a small blender jar with a tsp of water and blend into a fine paste. Add minimum water a little at a time to get a smooth sauce.
That’s it ! Even if you skip nutritional yeast you cold use this sauce to add creaminess to anything.
Mushroom filling
200g Button Mushrooms
1 tsp Olive Oil
1/2 tsp mixed dried herbs (oregano, basil etc)
Vegan cheese sauce prepared above
Steps
- Finely chop the mushrooms.
- Add oil to a non stick pan, and saute mushrooms on a medium low heat for a minute or two till they sweat out some water.
- Add all of the vegan cheese and dried herbs and coat the mushrooms well with the sauce. If your sauce is thick it may not require further heating. But if it is thin, bring it to a gentle boil this dries it out a bit and resembles a thin paste.
- Adjust salt at this stage if needed. Keep aside to cool.
Recipe for Buns
1/2 Cup Warm Water
2 tsp Active Dry Yeast
1.5 Cup White Flour / Maida
1.5 Cup Whole wheat Flour (little more for dusting)
1/4 Cup Cane Sugar
1 tsp fine pink Salt
1/4 Cup Warm Water
1/4 Cup Vegetable Oil / Olive Oil
Steps
- Add yeast to 1/2 Cup warm water. Add sugar and stir well to combine. Keep aside for 10-15 minutes till the yeast gets activated. Yeast is activated when a thick layer of frothy bubbles appears on the top.
- Meanwhile in a large bowl mix flour, 1 tsp sugar , salt and whisk it together.
- Mix together the oil and left over warm water.
- Once the yeast is activated add the foamy yeast mixture into the bowl with flour. Add the oil and water mixture next in 2-3 batches gently folding ingredients each time. (You could use a spatula for this or a stand mixer with dough attachment) Once the flour starts to stick together and all of the dry flour has been incorporated you can start kneading with hands. You could knead inside the mixing bowl itself or on a surface dusted with little flour. After kneading the dough should not be too sticky nor too dry. Its should remain a bit tacky. If it feels dry you could add 1 tsp water at a time and fold again using maximum upto 2 tsp. If it feels too wet, sprinkle bit of dry flour and fold again don’t add more than two times. In a stand mixer with dough attachment, it should take 5-10 minutes to get the flour incorporated. Once done, knead the dough for another 5-8 minutes with hand. Oiling the hands slightly will help the process.
- Once the dough comes together as a smooth elastic ball, add a tsp oil in a large bowl and roll the ball of dough coating it with the oil all over. Cover the bowl with a wet towel and leave it to rise in a warm and draft free spot for an hour. (Climate, wind and humidity play a role in the rising of your dough!) In an hour the dough should ideally double in size. If not keep a little while longer.
- Once the dough has risen transfer it to a clean surface dusted with little flour. Shape it into a uniform shape and cut into 16 equal sized pieces. After dividing the dough, gently shape it into balls.
- Flatten each ball by pressing it on your palm shape it like a small bowl, add a tsp full/more of the mushroom filling inside. Pinch together the edges nicely and seal the filling inside. The top of your ball should remain smooth. The more filling you can stuff inside without bursting the ball, the tastier the buns !
Stuffing the Buns - Once you’ve filled all the buns. Keep them on a baking sheet lined with baking paper with the sealed side down. Maintain atleast a finger width distance between the balls and leave them to rise for another hour in a warm place. Keep the dough covered with a wet towel to avoid it from drying.
- After an hour your rolls should have plumped up and are ready for baking. Preheat your oven to 200-220 C using both top and bottom heating element(OTG). Brush the tops of the buns with a little bit of water and sprinkle sesame seeds on them.
- Place the baking sheet in the middle rack of your oven and bake the rolls for upto 15 minutes. After 15 minutes the tops of the buns should have started turning a light brown. (Note – heating varies from oven to oven, and in my case even after 15 minutes the tops had not browned at all which indicates I could have started with a higher temperature in the first place. I ended up baking for 5 more minutes at a higher temperature. I had a mild crispy exterior which I loved!) After 10 minutes, keep watching the buns for light browning. If they don’t brown even in 15 minutes adjust temp accordingly and bake a bit longer. As soon as they turn slight brown turn off the oven . After a minute or two, keep the baking sheet out on a cooling rack. If you wish to store the buns bit longer, slightly brush the tops with a little bit of oil to keep them soft.
Delish buns are ready 🙂 !
THE VEGAN BIRDIE 