These are my plant based fruit buns with date and lemon zest covered in lemon icing. They go perfectly with afternoon tea or a mid morning coffee.
Mix the flour, yeast, caster sugar and 1/2 tsp sea salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the centre and pour in the warm oat milk and melted plant based butter.
Bring the mixture together with a wooden spoon until a soft dough forms. If it feels dry, add a bit of warm water, if it feels too sticky and wet, add 1 tbsp flour.
Flour the work surface and tip the dough onto it. Knead until it feels smooth. Shape into a ball and put in a large, floured bowl. Cover and leave to rise in a warm place for 1 hr.
If you do not have raisins like me, use pitted dates and while the dough is proving finely chop the dates into raisin size pieces and put to one side.
Flour the work surface and roll out the dough to a rectangle, about 30 x 45cm. (12in x 16in).
Using a zester (or a fine grater) and the lemons, evenly cover the dough with lemon zest, then sprinkle with the chopped up dates (or use raisins). Roll the dough up lengthways from the shortest side to form a log. Wet the loose end of the pastry and pressing the seam down along the log, so it doesn’t unroll.
Line a baking tray with non-stick baking paper.
Cut the log into equal sized buns about 2 cm/ 1 inch thick as many as you can. Place with spaces between them on the lined baking tray or two and cover and leave in a warm place to prove for another 40 mins.
Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan.
Just before placing into the oven, brush the tops of the buns with a little oat milk and bake on the middle shelf for 20 mins. Check after 15min that they are getting brown on top, I have to turn my trays 180 degrees as the front seems hotter than the back. If they are getting very brown reduce the heat a little. Once ready remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool.
Make the lemon icing. Put the icing sugar into a bowl and mix with the juice of a lemon until a thick, white icing forms. if it is runny, keep adding more icing sugar and mixing until its very thick consistency.
Once the buns have completely cooled, spread the icing on top of the buns. Allow the icing to set (10 mins) andthen serve. or place them in an air tight container for 1-2 days.
Ingredients 
mix the flour, yeast, caster sugar 
melt and warm the oat milk and plant butter 
make a well and add the melted milk and butter 
stir into a sticky mix 
if its too sticky adda little more flour 
turn out on a floured surface and knead 
prove to 1 hour to rise 
finely chop the dates 
dough now risen 
turn out and roll 
into a rectangle 
cover with lemon zest and chopped dates 
roll into a log 
cut into slices and place on line tray 
cover and prove for 45 ins in a warm place 
cook in the oven for 20 mins – allow to cool 
Lemon and icing sugar 
squeeze the lemon over the sugar 
stir until smooth 
pour over the cooled buns 
ready to eat
Plant based fruit buns with lemon icing
Equipment
- metal baking tray
- Rolling Pin
- zester
Ingredients
- 420 g strong bread flour
- 7 g dried yeast
- 160 ml oat milk
- 75 g caster sugar
- 50 g plant based butter
- 150 g Pitted dates – or any dried fruit like raisins
- 1 lemon
- 250 g icing sugar
Method
- Mix the flour, yeast, caster sugar and 1/2 tsp sea salt in a large bowl.
- Make a well in the centre and pour in the warm oat milk and melted plant based butter. Bring the mixture together with a wooden spoon until a soft dough forms. If it feels dry, add a bit of warm water, if it feels too sticky and wet, add 1 tbsp flour.
- Flour the work surface and tip the dough onto it. Knead until it feels smooth. Shape into a ball and put in a large, floured bowl. Cover and leave to rise in a warm place for 1 hr.
- While the dough is proving if you have pitted dates then finely chop them into raisin size pieces and put to one side
- Flour the work surface and roll out the dough to a rectangle, about 30 x 45cm. (12in x 16in). Using a zester (or a fine grater) and the lemons, evenly cover the dough with lemon zest, then sprinkle the dough with the chopped up dates.
- Roll the dough up lengthways from the shortest side to form a log. Wet the loose end of the pastry and pressing the seam down along the log, so it doesn’t unroll.
- Line a baking tray with non-stick baking paper.
- Cut into equal sized slices about 2 cm/1 inch thick as many as you can. Place with spaces between them on the lined baking tray. Cover, and leave to prove for 40 mins.
- While they are proving preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan.
- Just before putting them into the oven brush the tops of the buns with a little oat milk and bake on the middle shelf for 20 mins. Check after 15min that they are not getting too dark brown, lower the temperature. If they are cooking unevenly turn them around.
- Once cooked, remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to completely cool.
- While they are cooling, make the lemon icing. Put the icing sugar into a bowl and mix with the juice of 1 lemon until a thick, white icing forms. if it is runny, keep adding more icing sugar and mixing until its very thick consistency.
- Once the buns have completely cooled, spread the icing on top of the buns. Allow to set for 10 mins and then eat.
Nutrition
(All nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary with brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes and more).