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Vegan ensaymada on a plate.

Vegan Ensaymadas

Little Lighthouse Baking Co.
Filipino sweet rolls filled with cheddar cheese and topped with vanilla sugar butter
5 from 1 vote
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Prep 45 minutes
Cook 25 minutes
Rest 2 hours
Total 3 hours 10 minutes
Course Breakfast, Dessert, Snack
Cuisine Filipino
Servings 6 rolls

Equipment

  • stand mixer
  • sheet tray

Ingredients  

Tangzhong

  • 16 g all-purpose flour
  • 75 g unsweetened soy milk

Dough

  • 1 tsp active dry yeast
  • 50 g unsweetened soy milk
  • 30 g Just Egg
  • 30 g sugar
  • 18 g vegan butter
  • 200 g all-purpose flour
  • ½ tsp kosher salt

Filling

  • 25 g sugar
  • 75 g vegan cheddar cheese grated

Topping

  • 90 g vegan butter softened
  • 45 g sugar
  • ½ tsp vanilla extract

Instructions 

Dough

  • 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.
    Flour and milk paste in a saucepan.
  • 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.
  • 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.
    Vegan ensaymada dough in a bowl.
  • 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.
    A ball of vegan ensaymada dough in a glass bowl.
  • Cover the bowl and let rise until doubled in size (about 1 hour).
    A ball of vegan ensaymada dough in a glass bowl.

Shaping

  • Line a baking sheet tray with a silicone mat or parchment paper.
  • 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".
    Vegan ensaymada dough rolled out into a large rectangle.
  • Sprinkle about half of the sugar onto the center third of the dough, followed by about half of the grated cheddar cheese.
    Rolled out vegan ensaymada dough with the middle third covered in sugar and grated cheddar cheese.
  • Fold over one side of the dough to cover the sugar and cheese.
    Vegan ensaymada dough folded.
  • Sprinkle the remaining sugar and grated cheedar cheese on top of the folded over dough.
    Foled vegan ensaymada dough with sugar and grated cheddar cheese.
  • Fold over the last third of the dough to cover the sugar and cheese.
    Vegan ensayamada dough filled with sugar and grated cheddar cheese.
  • Cut the dough into 6 equal pieces.
    Vegan ensaymada dough cut into 6 pieces.
  • 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.
    A piece of ensaymada dough cut into three strands attached at one end.
  • Braid the strands using the typical braiding method.
    A braided piece of ensaymada dough.
  • 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.
    A braided piece of ensaymada dough rolled into a ball.
  • 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).
    Six balls of ensaymada dough on a lined baking sheet.

Bake and Topping

  • Use a spoon to mix together the softened butter, sugar, and vailla extract for the topping. Place in the fridge until ready to use.
    A mixture of butter, sugar, and vanilla extract in a small bowl with a spoon.
  • Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
  • 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.
    Baked vegan ensaymada on a wire cooling rack.
  • Once the rolls are completely cooled, spread the vanilla sugar butter topping on the top of each roll.
    Vegan ensaymada on a plate.