These vegan, fluffy, homemade milk buns will make your kitchen smell heavenly. They are called Poğaça (pronounced ‘po-atcha) in Turkish, and they are one of the many traditional savory pastries. You can bake them plain (called ‘sade poğaça’) or use different fillings such as cheese, potatoes, or olives.
When you go to Turkey or search the internet for a recipe, you will find endless variations. These milk buns are so easy to make at home, and many home cooks have their unique way of baking them. They are one of the main items sold in bakeries and street stalls all over the country. People purchase them fresh on their way to work or school in the rush hours as their breakfast. You can also eat them at lunchtime or the afternoon breaks with a glass of Turkish tea (çay) aside. They are delicious, affordable, and favorite treats for children and adults.
In traditional cooking, the cooks use eggs and a fair amount of butter for making pogaca, so they are not naturally vegan. And they are quite an oily treat. The recipe below is a veganized version. As a low-fat person myself, I use as little oil as possible, and you will want to make this recipe for your Sunday brunches or anytime you want a snack, and it will not feel like an oily treat.
DOUGH
In a small bowl, dissolve the instant dry yeast and sugar (to feed the yeast and active it faster) in the lukewarm water. Leave the bowl aside and give it for 15 min for activation.

As soon as you dissolve the yeast in the water and sugar mix, the activation will start.

After 15 min, the mix looks like this.
In a large bowl, mix flour and salt, then add the activated yeast, milk, and olive oil together.
Mix everything until the dough becomes non-sticky, and then start kneading. Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic.
Give it a big ball shape and transfer it to a clean bowl.
Cover with a damp dishtowel and leave the dough to rise in a warm place for 1 hour. The dough will double in size.
After 1 hour, give the dough a quick knead until it is smooth and elastic once again.
Roll it and make a long shape to able to cut into equal sizes. First, cut into half in the middle. Then keep cutting each part into halves. With my way of cutting, I have got seven equal size buns plus the smaller end parts. (I cut each half into eight pieces). I combined the smaller size ends and made another piece. I have got 15 almost equal buns with these measures.
FILLINGS
Take one of the dough pieces into your palm, press it down and flatten it.
Put a small amount of your chosen filling in the center. I used black olives in some and potatoes in the rest since I love them both.
Fold the edges up and give it a shape of a bag. Bring the edges together, pinch them to close the top part. You can roll it in your palm and turn it down, so the seam side stays at the bottom.
Repeat these with the rest of the dough pieces and place them all on a cooking paper.
COATING AND COOKING
In a small cup, thin out the grape molasses with water. The ratio is 1:1. If you use the molasses directly, without thinning with water, then they will burn quickly.
Coat the top parts of each bun with diluted molasses and decorate it with sesame seeds. I used both black and white sesame seeds, but you can use black sesame for black olives and white sesame seeds for potato fillings to separate them easily.
Preheat the oven to 350 Fahrenheit (180 Celsius).
Bake the buns until they puff up and the tops turn golden. It takes about 25 – 30min.
Serve them after they cooled down.
Here is a beautiful poem from the book, Salt by Nayyirah Waheed.
stay soft. it looks beautiful on you.
I hope you stay soft in life, like these fluffy milk buns. 🙂
If you make these milk buns, rate it on the recipe card and leave a comment below. Also, do not hesitate to share your photos on Instagram, tag @plant.awesome, and use the hashtag #plantawesomelife.

Vegan Milk Buns (Pogaca)
These vegan, fluffy, homemade milk buns will make your kitchen smell heavenly. Bake them plain or fill them with vegan cheese, potatoes, or olives.
Ingredients
Yeast Activation
- 8 g (1 package) instant dry yeast
- ½ cup (125ml) lukewarm water
- 1tsp sugar (I used organic coconut sugar)
Dough
- Activated yeast (see above)
- 500 g (3 + 1/3 cups) all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ cup (125ml) lukewarm unsweetened plant-based milk (I used unsweetened cashew milk)
- ¼ cup (60ml) extra virgin olive oil
- Black and white sesame seeds or poppy seeds (to decorate)
Black Olive Filling (optional)
- 1/2 can black olives (chopped in a food processor or cut into rings)
Potato Filling (optional)
- 2 potatoes (boiled and mashed)
- ½ bunch dill weed (to mix with mashed potato, optional)
- Pinch of salt
- Pinch of ground black pepper
Egg replacement for top coating
- 1 tbsp grape molasses
- 1 tbsp water
Instructions
- In a small bowl, dissolve the instant dry yeast and sugar in the lukewarm water. Leave the mix to stand for 15 min.
- In a large bowl, mix flour and salt, then add the activated yeast, milk, and olive oil.
- Mix everything until the dough becomes non-sticky, and then start kneading. Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic.
- Give it a big ball shape and transfer it to a clean bowl.
- Cover with a damp dishtowel and leave the dough to rise in a warm place for 1 hour. The dough will double in size. Use this resting time to prepare your fillings to save some time.
- Boil potatoes (I boiled them in 7 min with pressure cooker) and/or cut some black olives. I added some fresh dill weed to my mashed potatoes. Tastes awesome.
- Once the dough has risen, give it a quick knead until it is smooth and elastic once again.
- Cut them into equal size pieces.
- Take one of the dough pieces into your palm, press it down and flatten it.
- Put a small amount of your chosen filling in the center.
- Fold the edges up and give it a shape of a bag. Bring the edges together, pinch them to close the top part. You can roll it in your palm and turn it down, so the seam side stays at the bottom.
- Repeat these with the rest of the dough pieces and place them all on a cooking paper.
- In a small cup, thin out the grape molasses with water.
- Coat the top parts of each bun with diluted molasses and decorate it with sesame seeds.
- Preheat the oven to 350 Fahrenheit (180 Celsius).
- Bake the buns until they puff up and the tops turn golden for about 30 min.
- Serve them after they cooled down.
