„Vegan Hefezopf (German brioche braid)“

I’m a huge fan of yeast pastries

and somehow had a tremendous respect for yeast dough until I started testing recipes for the Vegan-Cookbooks.Reviews project. But since I’ve now been equipped with a Kitchenaid food processor, which does the kneading for me (you don’t need it, but it makes the job a lot easier), my self-confidence in relation to yeast has grown significantly. In order to take the fear out of the equally dreaded “letting the dough rise”, I now usually prepare the yeast dough the night before and let it rise in the fridge overnight. It goes without saying that the yeast should always be fresh – even when using dry yeast, which I actually always do.

Hefezopf:

275g all purpose flour

10g fresh yeast or 4g dry yeast

85ml plant based milk

3 tbsp sugar

45g margarine or vegan butter at room temperature

1 tbsp egg-replacer (powdered) + 3 tbsp soda water

Optional: lemon zest or vanilla (grated or essence)

For brushing:

1 tbsp plant based milk

1 tbsp agave syrup

Additionally:

Baking paper

Preparation:

1. Warm the plant-based milk to around body temperature or a maximum of 40°C and then stir in the yeast. Also mix the egg replacer powder with the soda water. If the mixture gets too thick, add a little more soda water. This can vary slightly depending on the egg substitute used. Set both aside.
2. Mix the dry ingredients (flour and sugar, and lemon zest or ground vanilla if used).
3. Now mix the dry ingredients with the plant drink-yeast mixture, the egg substitute, and the room-temperature margarine or vegan butter. Knead everything into a smooth dough. I always knead for at least 5 minutes; the yeast dough needs that (…ok ok, I let my Kitchenaid knead, but hey, you can do that too!).
4. Cover and let the finished dough rise for 30-60 minutes (or, like I usually do, overnight in the fridge).
5. After letting it rise, divide the dough into 3 equal parts and form strands of dough that you loosely braid into a braid. Fix the ends by gently squeezing them together.
6. Let the finished braid rise again for 1-2 hours.
7. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 180°C top/bottom heat and mix 1 tbsp plant drink with 1 tbsp agave syrup. Brush the braid with the mixture and bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes.
8. Let the finished braid cool down a bit and enjoy it while it is still slightly warm with vegan butter, or how you prefer to enjoy Hefezopf ;-).