Usually whenever I bake I substitute milled flaxseeds + water for eggs, soy milk for milk, and margarine for butter. This isn't a problem when the sweet gets most of its flavor from other ingredients such as carrot cake, nut-based cakes, and pies. However whenever I try to make something which contains a large bread-like element, such as kolaches, the dish comes out tasting mediocre.
Is there any way I can make the dough taste richer using only vegan ingredients?
Olive oil! Or really, any oil you prefer. Vegan butters would probably work too, but I prefer a good quality olive oil. You can get ones that are pressed with other vegetables/herbs/fruit etc. for example olives pressed with lemon rinds makes for a stunning lemon olive oil. Just sub out some oil for water/liquid. Or try adding spices, seeds, something to give it more elements of flavour, perhaps a dash of nutritional yeast would trick the taste buds. Vegan baking is so chemically different from baking with dairy products that it really isn't always possible to create the same product.
I've been practicing vegan scones recently and for them I have discovered I prefer canned coconut milk over soy (or anything in a carton). It's a little like using heavy cream instead of milk so it adds a lot of richness (i.e. fat) to the dough. I also get a lot of control over how much coconut cream vs water goes into the recipe since it's usually separated in the can. I haven't noticed a strong coconut flavor in the final product but your mileage may vary.
More on my vegan scone experiments here: http://www.bradleycbuchanan.com/b/scone-practice/ http://www.bradleycbuchanan.com/b/scones-part-2/
