What’s better than a delicious vegan soft pretzel!?!? Well, maybe a delicious soft vegan pretzel bun!
I mean come on! Who doesn’t want a tasty plant based burger on a homemade pretzel bun? Our family eats a lot of Beyond brand burgers, fried tofu “chicken” sandwiches, and bbq jackfruit. These buns work great for any burger or sandwich you wanna make. You can also make them smaller and use them as a dinner roll to serve with soups or salad! Or if you are like me just cram them in your mouth all by themselves because bread is my love language!
We use our original Challah Y’all, Vegan Challahdough to make these super tasty buns and they are just about perfect. Soft and chewy on the inside, crisp and salty on the outside! Everything a pretzel bun should be, plus they vegan!!
Don’t be discouraged by unfamiliar ingredients or techniques. If you have never made vegan challah dough, its pretty simple and easy to make.
We use aquafaba in place of eggs in the recipe. Aquafaba in the simplest term is bean liquid from canned beans. It will whip up to resemble fluffy egg whites and makes an excellent egg substitute in baked goods. Just make sure you measure out the aquafaba after you have whipped it. There will be leftovers to use for another recipe, and you can ever freeze it for later use!
So go forth and make challah dough, then turn it into pretzel buns!! Because as far as buns go, pretzels buns are kinda the best!
INGREDIENTS:
4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 cup aquafaba (measure the whipped product, not the liquid itself)
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil (I use grapeseed but you can use any neutral oil you like)
4 1/2 teaspoons dry active yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon salt
1 cup hot water. I just use hot water from the tap, you don't want it too hot or the yeast will die and it will not activate.
course salt ( for bun tops)
1 cup extra aquafaba plus 1 tablespoon maple syrup, for brushing bun tops
2 teaspoons baking soda, for boiling water
COOKING INSTRUCTIONS:
In a large glass bowl mix hot water, yeast, and 1 tablespoon sugar
Let the that sit for 10 minutes to activate, or until the mixture is super foamy at the top.
In a stand mixer add the yeast mixture, aquafaba, sugar, oil, salt, and 2 cups of flour. (you can mix by hand, just mix the above, and add remaining flour slowly. You will need to knead it for the same amount of time. It's a good workout though!
Mix until all of the ingredients are incorporated then add in the remaining flour. I typically will hand mix the first 2 cups of flour in, or use my paddle attachment and replace with the dough hook when I add the remaining flour.
The dough should come together and not be sticky, if it seems sticky you can add 1/4 more flour a little at at time until the dough comes together. Your goal is smooth, and elastic-y dough, not sticky.
Let the dough kneed in the mixer on low/medium speed for 10 minutes. The dough should be smooth at this point and have a sort of bounce back if you poke it.
Form dough into a nice ball, and place in a lightly greased glass bowl. Cover the bowl with a damp kitchen towel, and place inside your oven turned off, OR on the bread proof setting if your oven has one.
Bring a small pot of water to a boil and place in the bottom of the oven. The heat and steam from the water will help the dough to rise.
Let dough rise about an hour, or until the dough has doubled in size.
Remove dough from oven, and on a clean lightly floured work surface, divide the dough into 10 equal pieces and form them into round bun shapes. Place them on a parchment lined baking sheet to rest.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. I use my dutch oven. Once it is boiling add 2 teaspoons baking soda.
Gently put 1 to 2 buns into the boiling water at a time. After 30 seconds carefully flip the buns over suing a slotted spoon and let them boil for another 30 seconds. Remove from the water and place back on parchment lined baking sheet. Repeat with remaining buns.
Mix reserved cup of aquafaba with 1 tablespoon of maple syrup, and brush bun tops with the mixture. Sprinkle buns with course salt.
Place buns in the oven on the middle rack and bake for 20-25 minutes. You can brush them a few times with the aquafaba mixture during the baking process to help make them shiny and to darken up.
Allow buns to cool before slicing and serving.
