This Vegan Pumpkin Bread Rolls recipe makes the cutest pumpkin-flavored and shaped dinner rolls, perfect for the festive season.
The perfect sweet autumn bread buns, that can double as a beautiful centerpiece. These Vegan Pumpkin Bread Rolls are made with pumpkin puree and tasty spices, and are not only delicious but also make your home smell amazing. And they are super simple to make!
Why make this recipe?
We LOVE these pumpkin bread rolls! They are fun to make, look really beautiful on the dinner table, plus are absolutely delicious! There are two ways that you can shape the rolls into a pumpkin – using a string (more complicated, but gives a nicer shape), or by simply cutting the rolls with scissors (easy and fast). And if you can’t be bothered to shape them, just roll them into buns and bake!
This is a fun way to spend a rainy morning, and you can even ask your children to help and keep them busy.
Vegan Pumpkin Bread Rolls Ingredients
To make these cute pumpkin bread rolls, you will need the following ingredients:
- instant yeast, or active yeast, or even regular fresh yeast, all will work
- soy milk – or other plant milk alternative; we find soy milk works best in baked goods, but almond or rice milk is also fine to use
- brown sugar – for sweetness, you can also use regular granulated sugar or even coconut sugar
- pumpkin puree – this will add moisture, color, and flavor to the rolls, but you will not taste it once baked. We have a step-by-step guide on how to make homemade pumpkin puree, but canned pumpkin puree is also fine to use
- ground flax seeds – these will act as a binder and replace eggs. If you only have whole flax seeds, just run them in a food processor to break them up.
- flour
- salt
- spices: cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg – these will add a festive flavor to the rolls and make them delicious! You can also use pumpkin spice if you have it instead.
- vegan butter or margarine
- pecan nuts – these are used just as a decoration to represent the pumpkin stalk. You can totally skip this
Don’t have pumpkin puree? You can easily make it yourself – check the recipe for homemade pumpkin puree here!
How to make these Vegan Pumpkin Bread Rolls
Before you start making this recipe, make sure that all ingredients are at room temperature, so remove refrigerated items from the fridge 2 hours before you start.
I recommend using a kitchen robot to mix the dough.
Start by activating the yeast – to a kitchen robot bowl, add instant yeast, a third of the milk (slightly warm), and a teaspoon of sugar. Stir, then cover the bowl and let sit for 5-10 minutes for the yeast to activate.
At the same time, mix ground flax seeds and water and let sit for 10 minutes. During this time the flax seeds will soak up the water and create a “flax egg”.
Once the yeast is bubbly, stir in the rest of the milk, the sugar, pumpkin puree, and soaked flax seeds, as pictured below:
I did this step by hand, as it was easy to just whisk together.
To the mixture now add flour, salt, and spices, and mix to combine roughly.
With the mixer knead for a minute or two for the ingredients to combine, then slowly add in the butter, tablespoon by tablespoon, each time kneading until the butter is fully incorporated.
Continue kneading until the dough is smooth and elastic. If you are doing this by hand (as I did) you may be in for a little workout, but just knead with a steady pace.
The dough should be soft and a little sticky, but not wet (add some flour if the dough is wet).
Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl, cover with a cling foil, and let rise for 1-2 hours, until the dough is doubled in volume.
Dump the risen dough on a lightly floured surface, then divide it into 12 equally sized pieces. Shape each piece into a ball (see picture below). You can use a scale if you want your rolls to be equally divided, or just eyeball it.
Once your dough is divided into balls, you can just place them on a baking tray to bake, or you can shape them into pumpkins with scissors by making 8 cuts around the ball of dough, leaving the center uncut (picture on the right), or with a kitchen string that you tie around the ball multiple times to create the pattern (left picture).
Don’t pull the string too tight, as the dough will rise more.
Place the buns on two large baking trays lined with parchment paper, cover them, and let rise for another 45 minutes. Make sure the rolls have enough space to rise and are not touching.
Meanwhile, heat the oven to 180°C / 350°F, then place the baking trays into the oven and bake for about 20 minutes, until golden brown in color.
Once baked, remove the buns from the oven, brush them with some melted butter, then carefully remove the kitchen string.
Push a pecan nut slice into the top of the buns to make the stalk – I sliced each pecan into 3 long pieces.
Serving Suggestions
These pumpkin bread rolls are good to eat on their own, or with some butter spread on top. They are best served slightly warmed, so you may warm them up in a microwave or toaster oven.
These buns would also work as a side to a creamy pumpkin soup, or a pumpkin curry.
Storage Tips
Store the buns on the counter in an air-tight container for up to 5 days.
You can also freeze the rolls once baked, they will keep in the freezer for up to 3 months.
More similar recipes:
Vegan Pumpkin Bread Rolls
This Vegan Pumpkin Bread Rolls recipe makes the cutest pumpkin-flavored and shaped dinner rolls, perfect for the festive season.
Ingredients
- 7 grams instant yeast
- 2/3 cups soy milk (160 mililiters)
- 50 grams brown sugar
- 240 grams pumpkin puree (1 cup)
- 1 tbsp ground flax seeds
- 510 grams flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1⁄4 tsp ground cloves
- a pinch of nutmeg
- 80 grams butter (1/3 cup)
- 6 pecan nuts
Instructions
- To a kitchen mixer bowl, add instant yeast, a third of the milk (slightly warm or room temperature), and a teaspoon of sugar. Stir, then cover the bowl and let sit for 5-10 minutes for the yeast to activate.
- In a bowl, mix 1 tbsp of ground flax seeds and 2 tbsp of water and let sit for 10 minutes for the flax seeds to soak up the water.
- Once the yeast is bubbly, stir in the rest of the milk, the sugar, pumpkin puree, and soaked flax seeds.
- Add flour, salt, and spices, and mix to combine roughly. With the mixer knead for a minute or two for the ingredients to combine, then slowly add in the butter, tablespoon by tablespoon, each time kneading until the butter is fully incorporated.
- Continue kneading until the dough is smooth and elastic. The dough should be soft and a little sticky, but not wet (add some flour if the dough is wet).
- Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl, cover with a cling foil, and let rise for 1-2 hours, until the dough is doubled in volume.
- Dump the risen dough on a lightly floured surface, then divide it into 12 equally sized pieces. Shape each piece into a ball. You can then shape the buns with scissors by making 8 cuts around the ball of dough, leaving the center uncut, or with a kitchen string that you tie around the ball multiple times to create the pattern. Don't pull the string too tight, as the dough will rise more.
- Place the buns on two large baking trays lined with parchment paper, cover them, and let rise for another 45 minutes.
- Meanwhile, heat the oven to 180°C / 350°F, then place the baking trays into the oven and bake for about 20 minutes, until golden brown in color.
- Once baked, remove the buns from the oven, brush them with melted butter, then carefully remove the kitchen string. Push a slice of pecan into the top of the buns to make the stalk.
Notes
Make sure all ingredients are at room temperature.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 242Total Fat: 7gSaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 14mgSodium: 247mgCarbohydrates: 39gFiber: 2gSugar: 5gProtein: 6g
Nutrition data is automatically calculated using Nutritionix and may not be accurate.