Homemade Vegan Dinner Rolls

I’m guessing a lot of people have started to think about what the menu’s going to be for the holidays or what the heck they’re even going to do. Although celebrations will be very different this year, whether you’re alone or able to see a few people, I think good food always remains a staple. So to (hopefully, maybe) help you out a bit, here’s a recipe for some homemade vegan dinner rolls.

The dough is perfect for beginners or if making bread seems intimidating to you. It’s pliable and doesn’t stick at all while kneading. You can add herbs or spices if you want or have them plain with soup, stew, dip or make small sandwiches with them.

How to make these homemade vegan dinner rolls

I know this post is quite long, but it’s just because of the step-by-step instructions. I wanted to pack as much info in as I could. So you’ll find all the pictures along with all the how-to explanations you might need to make these.

The dough

You’ll want to start by activating your yeast in the lukewarm water (around 37C/98F) and sugar. I like to do this whether I’m using active dry or instant just to make sure it’s still alive. The yeast will foam if it is. Depending on how warm or cold it is in your kitchen, this may take a few minutes. Don’t use water above 48C/120F to avoid killing your yeast.

While you wait for your yeast to foam, whisk together the flour, nutritional yeast and salt. Once you’re ready, add the oils (make sure the coconut oil isn’t hot) to the yeast mixture and add that to the flour. Stir together and when a shaggy dough starts to form (as shown above), tip it all out onto your countertop.

Kneading The dough

Start kneading the dough, pushing it forward with your palms, bringing it back towards you and repeating, turning it 90 degrees every time. This might take 5, 10, or even 15 minutes depending on how fast you knead. As you knead, the dough will get smoother and more elastic (and your arms stronger yet weaker).

To check if you’ve kneaded enough, take a piece of dough and do the windowpane test. Stretch it as evenly and thinly as you can until you can see light come through it when held in front of a window or light. If it rips before you get there, keep kneading. If it doesn’t, you’re golden!

Alternatively, to make the dough in a stand mixer, start with a paddle or whisk attachment to mix the dry ingredients then pour in all the wet and switch to a dough hook to knead. It will take about 5-8 minutes on medium speed and you can do the windowpane test as well to make sure it’s done.

Lightly oil the bowl you made the dough in or your stand mixer bowl, form a taught ball with your dough by tucking it into itself and place it in, making sure it’s all coated in oil to avoid a crust forming on top. Cover it with a damp tea towel and place in a warm place to double in size. About 1h to 1h30.

Shaping The rolls

Generously grease a 9 inch cake pan. Once the dough has doubled, punch it down to deflate it and divide it into pieces weighing about 72g.

Keep them covered with the damp tea towel while you shape each one by flattening it out, pinching all the edges together and rolling it lightly seam side down on your work surface to tuck the seam into the ball.

As you shape them, place them back under the tea towel. When they’re all shaped, place them in the pan, cover them back up and let them rest for 20-30 minutes in a warm place.

While they rest, preheat your oven and make the garlic-oregano oil by roughly chopping your garlic and placing it, the oils and the oregano in a small pan over medium heat. You don’t want to brown the garlic, just infuse it. When the oil bubbles lightly around it, take the pan off the heat and set aside.

Baking your vegan dinner rolls

Brush the rolls with some refined coconut oil and bake them for 25-30 minutes. If the tops brown before they’re done baking, cover loosely with aluminium foil and continue baking.

When you pull the rolls out of the oven, brush them right away with the infused oil, sprinkle them with flaky salt (optional) and enjoy!

To make the dinner rolls in advance

These are best enjoyed warm, but with the time it takes to make them it can be hard to do that if you’re preparing other things. So to make them in advance and get freshly baked rolls, skip the second proof and put them in the fridge instead.

After shaping them and placing them in the pan, put the pan in a sealed bag then place it in the fridge. The next day when you’re ready to bake, preheat your oven with the pan in it. That way they warm up before baking and that will be their second proof! You just might need to bake them a few minutes longer.

If you make this recipe please let me know in the comments! All feedback is very much appreciated and I would love to hear from you! You can also tag me on instagram @the.quaint.kitchen or use the hashtag #thequaintkitchen to share your creations!