Vegan Tomato and Pesto Croissants - Recipe!

 January is typically the time of year for diets, fitness and healthy eating and every year, Veganuary becomes more popular, when people try to give up meat and animal products for the whole month. We're halfway through January now with veganuary in full swing I have decided to share a recipe which was sent to me.

The Tomato and Pesto Croissants - A classic marriage of flavours from the pesto and fresh tomato all wrapped up in crisp, flaky pastry, made from strong white bread flour for a healthy dose of fibre.

Vegan Tomato and Pesto Croissants.
Makes 6 croissants.

Tip: This can be personalised with any topping you like or swap the strong bread flour for wholemeal flour for extra fibre.

Ingredients
110ml warm water
1 packet (7g) dried yeast
200g strong bread flour
Half a tablespoon of sugar
A quarter teaspoon of salt
150g vegan spread (soft enough to spread)
6 tsp vegan pesto
1 tomato (sliced)

Equipment.
Measuring jug
Mixing bowl
Rolling pin
Baking tray lined with baking paper
Measuring spoons

Method.

Preheat the oven to 200°C.

In the measuring jug, combine the warm water and yeast.

In the mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar and salt then add the yeast and water mix. Bring together with your hands to form a dough, then on a lightly floured surface, knead for a few minutes before returning to the mixing bowl. Cover with a damp tea towel and leave to prove for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, lightly flour your surface again. Once the dough has proved, turn it out and roll it out into a 40cm x 30cm rectangle, then spread 100g of the vegan spread on top in an even layer before rolling it up like a swiss roll.

Dust your surface with a little more flour. Cut the dough roll in half to make two smaller swiss roll shapes, spread a little more vegan spread on the top of one and place the other on top. 

Flatten both halves together with the palm of your hand and dust with a little more flour on each side before using the rolling pin to roll into a 40cm x 30cm rectangle.

Slice the dough into 3 even rectangles, then each rectangle into 2 triangles. Place a tsp of pesto at the wide end of each triangle and roll toward the thin end to create the croissant shape.

Place the croissants onto a baking tray, melt the remaining vegan spread and use your finger to spread a little across each croissant, before placing a slice of tomato on top of each one. Bake for 15 minutes until golden. Allow them to cool on the tray before serving.

These recipes are from the Easy Peasy Baking campaign, launched by nabim. You can find more Easy Peasy Baking recipes and information on the campaign over on the Fab Flour website.