Vegan Ensaymadas

Step 1

In a small saucepan, whisk together the flour and soy milk for the tangzhong until no more dry flour remains. The mixture will be lumpy, but that's fine. Turn on heat to medium, and whisk constantly while cooking. Turn off the heat as soon as the mixture becomes a thick paste. This should only take a couple minutes. This is the tangzhong.

Step 2

Into a stand mixer bowl, add the soy milk, sugar, Just Egg, and yeast. Use a spatula or whisk to mix until well-combined. Add the butter, flour, tangzhong, and kosher salt. Mix until a shaggy dough forms.

Step 3

Place the bowl on the stand mixer and attach the dough hook. Mix on medium until the dough is soft and supple, about 5 minutes.

Step 4

Lightly oil a large bowl with about 1 tsp of vegetable oil. Turn off the stand mixer. Form the dough into a ball, and transfer it to the oiled bowl. Use your hands to spread some oil across the entire surface of the dough.

Step 5

Cover the bowl and let rise until doubled in size (about 1 hour).

Step 6

Line a baking sheet tray with a silicone mat or parchment paper.

Step 7

Punch down the dough. Turn the dough out onto a clean work surface (the dough should be oily enough to not need to flour the surface). Stretch or roll out the dough into a rectangle measuring about 12" x 18".

Step 8

Sprinkle about half of the sugar onto the center third of the dough, followed by about half of the grated cheddar cheese.

Step 9

Fold over one side of the dough to cover the sugar and cheese.

Step 10

Sprinkle the remaining sugar and grated cheedar cheese on top of the folded over dough.

Step 11

Fold over the last third of the dough to cover the sugar and cheese.

Step 12

Cut the dough into 6 equal pieces.

Step 13

With each piece, make 2 long cuts along the length of the dough to divide the piece into 3 equal strands, leaving the strands connected at one end.

Step 14

Braid the strands using the typical braiding method.

Step 15

Starting at the connected end of the strands, roll along the length of the strands to form a ball. If any cheese has fallen out, you can just place the pieces on the surface of the dough ball.

Step 16

Place the dough balls on the lined baking sheet tray. Loosely cover the sheet tray and let the dough rise until about puffy (about 1 hour).

Step 17

Use a spoon to mix together the softened butter, sugar, and vailla extract for the topping. Place in the fridge until ready to use.

Step 18

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

Step 19

Once the ensaymada have risen, uncover the sheet tray and bake in the center of the oven until the tops of the rolls are golden brown, about 20-25 minutes.

Step 20

Once the rolls are completely cooled, spread the vanilla sugar butter topping on the top of each roll.