Sweet Buns Topped with Homemade Blackberry Jam
These soft sweet buns are topped with a sweet homemade blackberry jam. They can be made with regular or spelt flour and are great for brunch.
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It’s no secret that I love bread. Love the stuff. Doesn’t matter if it is chocolate, healthy and seeded, swirled with cinnamon, stuffed with cheddar cheese and garlic, or naan to dunk into your favourite curry. There is nothing not to like about it.
Why blackberries are the perfect natural food colouring
I was looking for a way to use up some fresh blackberries I’d picked with my son, and decided on a scrumptious Saturday morning brunch. Blackberries are not only delicious, but they are so pretty. When you cook them up to make blackberry curd, or use it to make a frosting for iced finger buns, it creates a stunning dark pink hue. There’s no need for artificial colours when blackberries are in town. That’s for sure.
I am particularly fond of a bread and berry combo. Soft, sweet, luscious bread coupled up with tart berries is my kind of heaven. Just like this recipe for sweet buns topped with homemade blackberry jam. The dough was made in my bread machine, but don’t panic if you don’t have one. I’ve included directions for making the dough in a stand mixer, too. Don’t want anyone missing out on these beauties, do we?
These buns were amazingly soft and fluffy with a delicate sweetness. The homemade blackberry jam was to die for, adding a tart element to contrast with the sweet softness of the bread. To finish off, I drizzled over a little icing for good measure. Because, well, why not?
The recipe made six lovely-sized buns but you could easily double the recipe to make more (they disappear fast).
Sweet Buns filled with Homemade Blackberry Jam
Ingredients
Jam:
- 100g (3½ oz) blackberries (fresh or frozen)
- 2 tbsp honey
- 1 tbsp water
Dough:
- 250ml (1 cup) milk
- 50g (3½ tbs) butter
- 1 egg (medium)
- 2 tbsp honey
- 360g-480g (3-4 cups) flour (see note 1)
- 1 tsp salt
- 7g (2 tsp) yeast (see note 2)
Drizzle:
- 1 tsp milk
- icing/confectioners'/powdered sugar (as much as needed to make a thick drizzle)
- extra blackberries for garnishing (optional)
Instructions
Jam:
- Heat the jam ingredients together in a pan for around 10 minutes, just until the berries break down a little and the liquid thickens. Leave to cool.
Dough (see note 3):
Bread machine method:
- Add the milk, egg, butter and honey to your bread machine pan.
- Then add 450g (3¾ cups) of flour, and the remaining dough ingredients. Set your machine to make dough.
- On a well-floured surface (the dough may still be a little sticky) work in just as much flour as you need to make a soft, pliable, but still slightly tacky, dough.
Stand Mixer:
- Gently heat the milk in the microwave until just lukewarm (around 37–40°C / 100–105°F).
- Stir in the butter (it will soften nicely).
- Beat the egg and add it into the butter/milk mixture.
- Add 360g (3 cups) of flour, and the remaining ingredients. Mix until combined.
- Gradually add extra flour as needed one tablespoon at a time, allowing it to incorporate fully before adding more. You may not need the full amount stated, or you could need more. Be careful not to add too much, as this will make the bread dense.
- After a few minutes, the dough will start to pull away from the sides of the bowl. You may notice your machine working a little harder (mine starts to make a clumping sound). The dough will still be sticky and will slip easily from the paddle.
- Using a spatula, scrape the dough from the paddle. Add a little more flour and continue kneading until the dough pulls completely away from the sides of the bowl and most of the bottom. It will no longer drip from the paddle but should come away easily when pulled. The dough should feel tacky, but not stick to your fingers.
- Cover the dough and leave it to proof in a warm place until it has doubled in size, usually 60–90 minutes.
- When the dough is ready, knock it back and pour out onto a floured surface. Press it down gently with your fingers to release any large air bubbles.
Both methods:
- Divide into six or eight roughly equal balls (see note 4).
- Flatten and then using your thumb or the back of a small spoon, make fairly large indentations in each bun.
- Gently spoon in some of the jam. Don't overfill (although some of the juice will spill out when baking, but that just adds to the charm).
- Cover and let the buns rise for around 30 minutes. Pre-heat the oven to 200ºC (400ºF).
- Bake for around 17 minutes until nice and golden.
- Leave to cool a little while you prepare the drizzle.
Drizzle:
- Add your milk to a bowl and gradually add as much icing sugar as needed. You want to end up with a fairly thick paste, but you can make it as thick as you like.
- Pour over, pop a blackberry on top, and eat while still warm. Enjoy!
Notes
- This recipe was originally made with bread flour. However, I've since made identical bread using spelt flour. Although I see no reason why you can't use spelt or regular flour, with the same results, for the sake of transparency, I have not made this exact recipe with anything other than bread flour.
- In Sweden we have something called dried yeast. It is used both in warm liquid and allowed to proof, and it is also added directly to flour. I am aware that the US has two options for dried yeast, and I believe instant yeast is the most similar to our dried yeast.
- I have made the dough using both a stand mixer and bread machine with identical results. I have not made the dough by hand, but I see no reason why you couldn't do so.
- You can either make six large, or eight smaller buns. If you make them a little smaller, the baking time will need to be reduced slightly.
2 thoughts on “Sweet Buns Topped with Homemade Blackberry Jam”
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Your ingredient list says, “300g (2½ cups) flour (see note 1)” but your directions say, “Add 450g (3¾cups) of flour”.
This does not make sense.
Can you please correct this?
Thank you.
Oops! That’s a typo! Thank you for letting me know (recipe has now been amended).