Can I Use Oat Milk In The Maritozzi Recipe?

Our answer

Nigella's Maritozzi are slightly smaller versions of the Italian cream-filled buns that are particularly popular at Easter. The glossy buns are cooled and then split and filled with sweetened whipped cream before eating.

The recipe begins by making a "sponge" for the dough. This pre-ferment helps to give the buns a lighter, springier texture and also shows that the yeast is active, which is not usually a problem with fast-acting yeasts but would have been a useful step before the advent of modern yeast production methods. The sponge uses full-fat or whole milk, which has a fat content of 3.5-3.7%. There is no particular reason why you could not use a plant-based milk as an alternative, but try to use one that is unsweetened and is not low fat. For oat milk, you don't necessarily need to use the "barista" type but look at the nutritional information on the packaging and aim for a fat content of around 3%, which is the highest fat content that we have seen for oat milks. You should not need to make any other adjustments to the dough recipe, though if the buns are meant to be dairy free then you will need to find an alternative to the double (whipping or heavy) cream for the filling.