If you have even glanced at my blog or Instagram feed you’ll know I am currently rather obsessed with making cinnamon buns.  It’s just so satisfying rolling up the dough into those little spirals laced with different fillings. Plus (obviously) they taste pretty good too.  I am also a devoted fan of pizza and so I thought to try and merge these two great loves and make some savoury buns – pizza style!

I would almost recommend you make these for the smell alone. While they are baking the the aroma of herbs and freshly baked bread slowly drift out of your kitchen and into the house and that’s when you know you’re on to a good.. no a GREAT thing. Soft, fluffy, herby dough with a melty, cheese and tomato filling. I ate 3 as soon as they came out of the oven. Pizza buns for the win!

Although the recipe does call for strong bread flour it only requires a few minutes of kneading, tops. I’m impatient enough waiting for things to be made without adding extra time on to proceedings. These buns certainly didn’t turn out any the worse for their brief kneading time.

I topped them with a drizzle of my garlic cashew sauce (it’s a good idea to have some extra for dunking – like you would a pizza crust), but they’re delicious plain too. You could sprinkle some extra cheese over the top before baking if you fancy a cheese crusted finish (and why wouldn’t you?!)

Pizza Bun Swirls

Makes: Approx. 10 buns

Prep time: 20 mins plus 90 mins total rising time

Baking time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:

• 250ml almond milk
• 2-3 tbsp olive oil
• 7g instant yeast
• 1 tsp salt
• 350-400g strong white bread flour
• 1 tbsp dried oregano
• 2 tbsp tomato puree
• 1 tsp hot sauce (optional)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp garlic granules
• 1 tsp onion granules
• 2 tbsp nutritional yeast (or use more grated cheese)
• 2-3 tbsp vegan grated cheese (or use more nutritional yeast)

To Decorate:

• 1 tbsp Garlic herb cashew sauce 
• Basil leaves

Method:

1. Heat the milk until it’s lukewarm, either in a small saucepan or in the microwave for about a minute. Add 1 tbsp of the olive oil and set to one side.
2. Meanwhile measure out 350g of the flour into a bowl, add the yeast, oregano and salt and mix to combine.
3. Add the milk and oil mixture to the bowl with the flour, mixing quickly with a wooden spoon into a dough. If it looks too wet add in a few more tablespoons of flour until it comes together into a loose dough. Turn out on to a floured surface and knead for a few minutes. You don’t need to go overboard – I kneaded mine for 3 minutes.. unless you’re finding it therapeutic, in which case keep going!
4. Give the bowl a quick wipe and place the dough inside, cover with cling film and put in a warm place to rise until it has doubled in size, 45 mins – 1 hour.
5. Meanwhile mix together the filling. Add the tomato puree, hot sauce, 1 tbsp olive oil, salt, garlic and onion granules to a small bowl and stir to combine. It should be thick enough to coat the dough but thin enough to spread, add in another tbsp of oil if you need to.
6. When the dough has risen dust your work surface with flour and tip out the dough. Knead it together, knocking the air out of it. It will be soft and stretchy, add a little more flour if you need to. Roll out the dough into a rough rectangle around 35cm x 50cm and don’t worry too much if it doesn’t have perfect corners.
7. Spread the tomato filling onto the rolled out dough. Sprinkle over the nutritional yeast and vegan cheese.
8. Starting on the long edge nearest you, start to tightly roll the dough up gently into a long sausage. Cut the dough into slices using a sharp knife, or even better – dental floss (pull it underneath the long roll of dough and bring the ends over each other at the top to ‘cut’ off a slice). I make about 10 slices, including the ends (I bake these separately in ramekins). Place the buns into a greased tin, leaving a little space between each bun so they have room to rise. I use a round cake tin to make a bun cake but you can use a square tin or anything else you have.
9. Cover and leave to rise for 25-35 minutes. Preheat oven to 180 °C.
10. Once the buns are risen (they should have puffed up so they’re touching) place the tin in the oven for 25-30 minutes, by which time they should be lightly golden on top and feel slightly soft in texture underneath when prodded.
11. To decorate drip over the garlic cashew sauce and scatter with basil leaves. Of course you can wait for them to cool first, but they taste so good warm from the oven.

They are best eaten fresh but will keep for about 3-4 days in an airtight container. You can reheat them in the oven for a few minutes to recreate that just baked taste.