I adapted this melt-in-your-mouth-perfect-for-a-hoiday-brunch bread from Fancy House Road, substituting as necessary to make it vegan. We enjoyed it for our Christmas brunch, along with a French baguette egg, mushroom, spinach casserole, the last of Fern Creek's Brussles sprouts, a fruit platter, and quinoa/hummus patties.
Pull-apart bread dough: In a microwavable bowl melt 2 tablespoons margarine. Separately heat 1/2 c. coconut milk and add to the margarine. Cool to about 100-110 degrees. Stir in 1/4 c. sugar and 1 scant Tbsp. yeast and let sit approx. 10 minutes until foamy.
Stir in 3/4 c. cooked, mashed butternut squash (or 3/4 c. canned pumpkin), 1 tsp. salt, and 1 cup flour (I used half whole wheat and added a Tbsp. of gluten). Mix in approximately another 1 1/2 cups of flour, 1/2 c. at a time. Knead for 6-8 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic and slightly sticky. If the dough is too sticky, add extra flour 1 tablespoon at a time.
Place the dough in a greased bowl and cover it with a damp cloth. Let dough rise in a warm place for about 60-90 minutes until it doubles in size.
The filling: While dough is rising, melt another 2 tablespoons of margarine. Add 3/4 c. white sugar, 1/4 c. brown sugar, 2 tsp. cinnamon, 1/4 tsp. cloves, 1/4 tsp. freshly ground nutmeg. Mix well and set aside.
Grease and flour a 9×5 loaf pan.
Punch down dough and let rest 10 pinutes. Dust a work area with flour and roll the dough out to a 20x12 inch rectangle, adding flour beneath the sheet of dough if it sticks. Sprinkle and then press (or roll) cinnamon sugar mix into dough.
With the long edge of the dough rectangle toward you, cut dough into 6 strips (a pizza cutter works great). Stack strips on top of one another and cut the stack into 6 even portions. Place these portions one at a time into your greased loaf pan, pressing them up against each other to fit them in. Cover the pan with your damp cloth and place it in a warm place for 30-45 minutes to double in size, (or cover with wax paper and wrap loosely in a dish towel and refrigerate if you want to bake them the next day--which is what I did for our Christmas brunch).
While dough rises (or in the morning--remove from fridge and let sit out about 1 hour in a warm place), preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place the loaf in the center of the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes until dark golden brown on top (if you take it out at light golden brown, it’s liable to be raw in the middle, so let it get good and dark--I made this mistake the first time). Cool for 20-30 minutes on a cooling rack in the pan while you make the glaze.
The glaze: This bread is plenty sweet without the glaze, so I serve the glaze on the side (as seen in my photo above), rather than drizzling it over the top, or over each individual piece). In your saucepan, bring 1 Tbsp. margarine, 3 Tbsp. coconut milk, 1/4 c. dark brown sugar to a simmer over medium heat. Remove from heat and add approximately 1/4-1/3 c. powdered sugar and 1 Tbsp. vanilla extract (or rum), and whisk it to a smooth consistency.
Use a knife or spatula to loosen all sides of the bread from the loaf pan and turn it out onto a plate. (Opt: place another plate on top and flip it to turn it right side up). Best served slightly warm.