Hefeschnecken mit Pudding {Yeasted Pudding Buns}

I cannot spell. Yesterday I posted a recipe for „J“ when I should have posted one for „H“. Ah, well. I hope you can forgive me.

You can find many different yeasted and stuffed roll or bun recipes in Germany. Cinnamon buns are not so popular, but there are poppy seed rolls, apple rolls, nut rolls, or pudding rolls. While my favourite filled rolls are definitely poppy seed rolls, I decided to give one of the others a try for the Vegan Month of Food. Hefeschnecken mit Pudding oder Puddingschnecken (custard snails) are made from enriched yeast dough which is filled with pudding and raisins. You can also find them with a sugar glaze on top.
Now for those of you who think that baking with yeast is very time consuming. It really isn’t. For example if you make a cake you often have to bake it for very long. And then make the frosting and decorate the cake. That takes forever!  These yeasted rolls only have to bake for about 15 minutes. Most of the time it takes to prepare these is inactive. That means you can do something else like read, clean, answer emails, check blogs, etc while the dough is rising. You don’t have to babysit it. And then you pop the rolls into the oven and have a warm and sweet pastry to eat while you relax and are proud of all the things you just accomplished almost simultaneously.

Hefeschnecken mit Pudding

For the dough:
120 ml (1/2 cup) warm soy milk
3 tablespoons oil
240 g (2 cups) flour
1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
2 tablespoons sugar

For the filling:
300 ml (1 1/4 cup) soy milk
36 g (1/4 cup plus 2 teaspoons) tapioca- or cornstarch
40 g (3 1/2) tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
50 g ( 1/3 cup unpacked) raisins

To make the dough:
Combine soy milk and oil. Add remaining ingredients and knead the dough until smooth, about five minutes. Cover and let rise until doubled, for about 60-90 minutes.

To make the filling:
Combine soy milk, starch, sugar and vanilla in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and cook for 1-2 minutes or until your pudding gets really thick, sticky and stringily like glue. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F) and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Roll the dough into a rectangle, about 30 x 20 cm. Spread the pudding mixture on top. (This might be a bit difficult since the pudding is so stringily.) Sprinkle with raisins. Roll into a log, starting with the long side. Cut into 2 cm thick pieces and place on a baking sheet. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rise for another 30 minutes. Bake for about 15 minutes or until golden brown. Remove and let cool before serving.