Vegan Gluten free Cinnamon Roll Bread – Yeast-free (No added yeast) Gluten-free Grain-free Cinnamon bread Recipe. Soft, fluffy and amazing. Batter of Besan (chickpea flour) swirled with Cinnamon Sugar. Can be nut-free.
When you cannot roll the batter, you make it into a swirled bread! This Soft and delicious bread is gluten-free, yeast-free, grain-free, but not taste-free. Never taste-free! A fluffy besan (brown chickpea flour) batter, and cinnamon sugar swirled in and baked for perfect Cinnamony, fluffy bites to start the morning. Serve warm with a drizzle of icing or vegan butter.
The batter for this Cinnamon Roll bread uses besan (brown chickpea flour) and uses citric acid to add air to the batter before baking. The principle of using citric acid in gluten-free baking is similar to aquafaba, To add air to the batter before baking. This method is used in Indian snacks and baking since decades. You can possible used whipped up aquafaba instead in this recipe. Whipping up aquafaba is not my cup of tea (too much noise and too long a process). Nor is the canned liquid. Hello changing metabolism. This recipe is far quicker, takes 15 seconds and easier! No elbow grease required, no 15 minutes of whipping, just mix in 5 strokes and done! Whats there to not like?
This recipe does not use any added yeast, but baking powder and citric acid for leavening. If you are sensitive to yeast, please check the other ingredients and use the versions that are safe for you. Vinegar uses yeast in the production process, and citric acid might as well. Use lemon juice and non yeast citric acid or all lemon juice like my gluten-free lemon donuts, For regular flour cinnamon Swirl bread/cake, try this as a loaf or in a shallow pan. Lets get to this amazing sticky gf bread.
I posted a different version of gf cinnamon rolls using similar ingredients in my Instagram stories a while back The rolling always makes a mess, so I changed up the plan and make a bread. This bread is amazing for the cinnamony, bready cinnamon roll craving. If you make these, do let me know how they turned out in the comments! Let me know if you changed things, if other flours worked out, how was the texture etc.
More gluten-free baked recipes from the blog
- Sweet Potato Crumb Cake. GF
- Gluten-free Brownies
- Sweet Potato Blondies. GF
- Gluten-free Lemon Donuts
- And many more here
For regular with gluten Cinnamon Rolls, see these.
You can make this without the citric acid like my lemon donuts, but I would suggest getting some to use, so you can use it in other gluten-free baking as well. You can make these without almond flour, just omit the almond flour. The starch can be subbed with 2 tbsp more besan. The bread will tend to dry out quicker without the starch, so use icing generously.
Besan is flour of Chana dal or skinned brown chickpeas while chickpea flour is flour of white chickpeas. Slightly different chickpeas and the flours behave slightly differently. I prefer besan for this bread as it is a finer flour and makes for a lighter bread. You can get besan from an Indian store or amazon. It can be used in most all recipes that use chickpea flour.
The method for making this cinnamon bread comes from gluten-free steamed savory cakes called Dhokla.
Video:
Vegan Gluten free Cinnamon Roll Bread Yeast-Free
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup besan (gram flour), will also work with chickpea flour, but will need more icing for added moisture
- 2 tbsp cornstarch or potato starch
- 1.5 tbsp almond flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp citric acid powder
- 1/4 cup fine or powdered sugar ,1 tbsp more for sweeter
Wet:
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp vinegar (white or apple cider)
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup water
- 3 tbsp oil
Filling:
- 1/4 cup sugar (I use a combination of coconut sugar and cane or powdered)
- 1.5 tsp cinnamon , + a good pinch of nutmeg and cardamom if you wish
- 2 tsp oil
Instructions
- Grease a deep casserole dish (I use 1.5 qt, 9.5 by 7.5 inch),and keep ready. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. In a bowl, whisk in all the dry ingredients to combine well.
- In another bowl, mix the lemon, vinegar, vanilla and water and mix well. Add the mixture and oil to the dry bowl and whisk to combine really well. The batter will start to increase in volume with air and will become thick and fluffy. Set aside for 2 mins
- In another bowl, mix the sugar and cinnamon for the filling and a good pinch of salt and set aside.
- Drop the fluffy batter into the prepared dish. Sprinkle some of the sugar cinnamon mixture and swirl it around. Drop more of the batter and more of the sugar cinnamon mixture. Drizzle oil on top in the end.
- Cover the casserole with a parchment and a baking sheet to seal. Bake for 14 to 15 minutes. Take the casserole out and let it sit covered with parchment for another 2 minutes.
- Add a drizzle of melted vegan butter or icing and serve while hot. To store, cover and store on the counter for a few hours, those these are best fresh and warm.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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Hi ! Amazing and looks very easy to make recipe, can citric acid be replaced with fruit salt (like eno as we use in Dhokla) ?
Yes use fruit salt
So good and easy
Didn’t have citric acid powder but still it was good
Awesome
Very nice and easy to make but where do I get the citric acid powder. I haven’t seen here . Thanks Richa
Use eno
This bread was gone before i turned around to add an icing! lol
Hey Richa, this recipe looks amazing! I’m just wondering—how is the taste affected when omitting the almond flour? I’m thinking of sharing this with a friend who is a HCLF vegan.
omit it
Can I use regular flour (not gluten free) with this recipe? Any recommendations on non gluten free flour would be best?
Try this recipe instead https://www.veganricha.com/2018/05/vegan-cinnamon-swirl-cake.html
What is the difference between besan and chickpea flour? I was under the impression that’s the same thing in a different language.
Its mentioned in the second section of the post. Besan is flour of Chana dal or skinned brown chickpeas while Chickpea flour is flour of white chickpeas. Slightly different chickpeas and the flours behave slightly differently. Besan is also a finer flour. They generally can be used interchangeably. but in some recipes you would need adjustment to the moisture. Besan needs less than chickpea flour
How many cups would be needed with regular AP flour? And would cornstarch still be necessary?
This recipe is specifically developed for this particular flour. Use my regular cinnamon rolls recipe https://www.veganricha.com/2016/04/1-hour-cinnamon-rolls.html . i have a regular cinnamon bread coming up as well. You can use my yellow cake recipe with ap flour and swirl in the cinnamon mixture for a cinnamon bread.
Why is the baking powder divided? I don’t see where it is added later.
hmm dont know how that got there. its not divided. i’ll update
I think this recipe could be used with a donut pan and then glazed to make delicious donuts. This was a delicious recipe. However, the only thing I didn’t like was that the parts of the bread that were a little less cooked had the bitter flavor of the besan flour. Just need to make sure it’s cooked thoroughly.
This is a PERFECT recipe. I am gluten intolerant but hubby joined me in devouring this beautiful creation of yours. Love your recipes…using your book frequently. Thanks for the hard work and sharing.
Awesome! I am so glad both you loved it!!
Amazing! I made this as written and since then make it into individual ramekins with different spices. Sometimes add a crumb on top. So good.
Awesome!
Hello! I’ve made this a few times and my favourite way to have it is with some baked apples. I slice a few tart apples, toss those with some cornstarch, cinnamon, lemon juice and water. Place the apple mix on the bottom of the baking dish and bake them covered for the time it takes for me to put together your recipe. I pour the fluffy batter over the apples and continue as you’ve written. It smells heavenly and tastes amazing! Very comforting on these dark, rainy nights in Vancouver. Thank you.
Thats awesome! just like and upside down apple cake!
Hi, this isn’t entirely yeast free as it has vinegar which is made with yeast. Citric acid is sometimes made with yeast too depending on the way it is produced commercially.
Thanks for the information. I’ll change it to no added yeast, and yeast free if you can find the yeast-free vinegar and citric acid depending on your sensitivity.
Can I substitute lemon juice or apple cider vinegar for the Citric acid??
you can, see the lemon donuts for the amounts. You will need larger amounts for similar light texture and it will be lemony cinnamon roll bread. http://www.veganricha.com/2017/07/vegan-gluten-free-lemon-donuts-grain-free.html
Interesting, I did not know there was a big difference between Besan and Chickpea Flour, I’ve used either or, depending on what what I had.
Very interesting regarding the Citric Acid and Gluten Free baking. Subbing Bill Mills 1-to-1 GF Baking flour (with xantham gun) for GF baking, my baked goods are always a bit on the heavy side. Are you saying that adding citric acid would help give the baked good ‘lift’?
Thank you
Yes, they generally work in most recipes. Besan will need less liquid than chickpea flour for same consistency.
Citric acid will activate when you add liquid and the bubbling adds air to the batter. You cannot let this batter sit for too long (more than 5 mins), as it continues to deflate. If the batter consistency is good then it bakes in the aerated state. I havent tried citric acid with bob’s gf coz i dont like the taste of the flour mix :). i’ll try a mug of bob’s 1:1 with lot sof cinnamon to hide the flavor this afternoon and report back.
ok i made a microwave version wit the bob’s 1:1. it did aerate well and stayed that way. though it was gummy when i took some to try, but it always comes out gummy for me. If you adjust the flour with some almond flour and bake it, it might work.
Hello. I just made a baked “pizza base” with besan and I found it much stronger flavored than the regular chickpea flour. It was the coarse kind, I don’t know if that made the difference.., with regular chickpea flour I noticed that the bitter taste goes away with cooking….
Anyhow, thanks for the recipe! A couple of questions: can I use only lemon juice instead of vinegar? And can I use only coconut sugar instead of a mix? How about maple syrup? Would that make it too wet?
Thank you so much for sharing your fantastic recipes!
Coarse besan probably does have a stronger flavor. For pizza base, i prefer regular chickpea flour. If you do use besan, use the fine kind and add some oregano and garlic.
Yes you can use all lemon juice. You can use coconut sugar, but pulse it a couple of times in a blender to make it fine and use. Also the color of the rolls will change to light brown with the coconut sugar. Maple will add too much liquid to this already liquid batter.
Looks great! Do you know if ascorbic acid could be used in place of citric acid?
I dont know it might. Take a tbsp of flour and add ascorbic acid to it, then add water and see if it aerates in a minute
Just in time for Xmas, thank you Richa
I can’t stand chickpea flour in baked goods. it always tastes uncooked to me and has such a pronounced unpalatable flavor. any other gf flour options?
Chickpea flour used in the regular way in baking has a peculiar taste which I find hard to like as well depending on the baked good. 1.Try besan instead, you can get it from an Indian store or amazon 2. Try it this way. The bread is getting steamed and lightly baked rather than just baked and it changes the overall flavor completely. You can make it with a few tbsp of besan and make the microwave version to try. I havent tried this recipe with other gf flours. I do have other recipes (see linked in the post) that use almond, rice, oat flours etc.
YUM! I made whole wheat cinnamon rolls the other day, and they turned out amazingly! I cannot believe this bread is yeast free, because it looks so fluffy and doughey! Definitely will try this bread though, because I’m generally pretty lazy when it comes to rolling the dough!
This sounds absolutely delicious. Any idea if I can use oat, coconut or tapioca flour?
Thank you.
nope, they all dry out considerably on baking and need a different treatment in the recipe