Overnight Strawberry Jam Rolls

I went completely crazy taking photos for these Overnight Strawberry Jam Rolls. I could photograph these jam buns for days. I mean, look at them. Go on. We make a quick strawberry jam with strawberries, sugar and lemon juice + zest, nothing else. We fashion ourselves a rich dough with egg yolks, buttermilk + dotted with cinnamon and then shove it in the fridge and forget about it.

These are the kind of jam rolls that you can make for an event without slaving and waiting. Because ain’t nobody got time for that. We wake up in the morning: yawn, stretch and pour ourselves some champagne. We roll up our buns with the strawberry quick jam, some brown sugar + cinnamon (in a nod to our cinnamon bun ancestors) and sprinkle with fresh chopped strawberries. She does a quick 30-minute rise (aided by boiling water and your cold oven), then 20 minutes in the heated oven and then they’re ready to glaze. A quick whisk, drizzle and you’re done. Pour yourself another glass of champagne. The party just started.

Yeast for Your Strawberry Jam Rolls

This is a very rich, yeasted dough. For the yeast, you can use either instant or active dry yeast. Either way, give your buttermilk* and yeast about 15 minutes to mingle and get frothy.

*Note that these can be made with buttermilk, milk or water, whichever you have available or prefer. For these updated photos, I made them with water (because I didn’t have any buttermilk on hand) and they turned out beautiful, fluff and fabulous.

Overnight or Same-Day Rises for Your Strawberry Jam Rolls

You can do a traditional rise system with these, where each rise is about 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until the dough doubles in size OR you can follow the instructions below and let time and steam aid in helping your dough get its rise on.

Traditional, Same-Day Method: Mix your dough and let it it rest for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, then add the fillings, roll and do the steam rise (for a quick second rise) or let rise at room temperature for another 1 1/2 hours or until just about double in size. If your house is especially cool or hot, this will affect your rise time. If it’s hot, your dough will rise faster. If it’s cool, the dough could take longer to double in size.

Overnight Method: This is the method outlined in the instructions. Mix the dough and shove in the fridge to chill overnight. The next morning, all you need to do is add the filling, give them a quick steam rise in the turned-off oven and then you’re ready to go!

**No matter which method you use, I highly recommend you don’t let the buns sit around too long once your add the filling and roll them. This is because they are stuffed with strawberry jam, brown sugar, cinnamon and fresh strawberries. That is quite the juicy mixture and if it sits around too long, it will start to seep out of your rolls. If this happens (and it more than likely will), just scoop it up and place it on top of the buns just before baking!

Substitutions

I absolutely love buttermilk for making the dough, but in a pinch you could use milk or even water. I also am having a torrid love affair with crème frâiche that’s going on several decades strong and isn’t letting up. However, if you can’t be bothered (and that’s fair), you could easily use Greek yogurt, kefir or good old fashioned milk to thin and flavor and loosen your glaze. Oh, and if you can’t be bothered to make the quick jam (even though it’s easy) you can easily sub in some store-bought. I won’t tell.

Fresh Strawberry Jam for Your Rolls

I’ve learned rather late in life that making jam freaks people out. I don’t want you to picture yourself sweating over a steaming cauldron and worrying about seals and such nonsense. We’re making a quick jam that needs several hours to chill, calm down and thicken in the fridge.

Make the jam when you make the dough the night before and that will make your morning strawberry jam roll assembly a piece of cake!

Overnight Dough Method for Your Strawberry Jam Rolls

We do things a little different than most overnight bun recipes. Most (all?) that I’ve seen have you stuff the buns the night before. That works when your filling is just cinnamon and spices and butter and such. But when you add in jam + fresh fruit, you get a lot of liquid that seeps out if you let it sit in the fridge overnight.

So remember, stuff your strawberry jam buns in the morning. I promise, it will be a little messy but should be relatively quick!

Lemony Glaze

This glaze comes together in a pinch, so don’t mix it until the strawberry jam buns are in the oven baking. It will thicken quite a bit as it sits. Also, and this is crucial, smear it over the strawberry buns as soon as they come out of the oven. Really try to coat them as this does two things. The heat will make the glaze a bit melty and it will seep into all of the nooks and crannies so that every bit is a flavor explosion. Second, it will seal in moisture. Fabulous.

Strawberry Jam Rolls Baking Vessel

We have several options for baking our rolls:

• You can use a large, 9 x 13-inch (23 x 33 cm) baking pan. I prefer ceramic over metal, but use what you have. Whichever pan you use, make sure you grease it and line it with parchment paper to make it easy to get the buns out once baked.
• You can bake them in a stand muffin tin. This is cute when you’re having brunch as it makes serving them a breeze. Again, grease and line your muffin wells.
• Lastly, you can set the unbaked rolls on a parchment-lined, rimmed baking sheet. If you use this method, tuck the loose end of dough of each roll underneath, so the buns don’t unravel as they bake. I like the look of these buns (they’re so nicely round!) but you do loose more jam filling as there are no neighboring buns to soak it up.

Let’s bake some beautiful overnight strawberry jam buns, shall we?

Overnight Strawberry Jam Rolls

The most delicious overnight cinnamon rolls made with fresh strawberry jam and a lemony glaze!

5 from 2 reviews

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Prep Time: 45 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Course: Breakfast, Brunch

Cuisine: Breakfast yeasted rolls

Keyword: Strawberries, Strawberry Jam, Cinnamon Rolls, Breakfast Buns

Servings: 10

Author: Rebecca Firth

Ingredients

For the Dough

• 1 cup (240 g) buttermilk, milk or water, warmed to the touch but not burn-your-finger hot
• 2 1/4 teaspoons (5 g) instant or active dry yeast
• 1/4 cup (50 g) granulated sugar
• 4 cups (540 g) all-purpose flour, plus additional flour for dusting your surfaces (use as little extra flour as possible)
• 8 tablespoons (113 g or 4 oz) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 3 large egg yolks, room temperature
• 1 1/2 teaspoons (9 g) sea salt
• 1 teaspoon (2 g) ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon (5 g) neutral oil such as sunflower seed oil

For the Quick Jam

• 1 pint (12 ounces or 340 g) fresh strawberries, cleaned and halved
• 1/4 cup (50 g) granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon each zest + juice about 1 lemon

For the Filling

• quick strawberry jam recipe above
• 1/2 pint (6 ounces or 170 g) fresh strawberries, cleaned + small dice
• 1 cup (220 g) light or dark brown sugar packed
• 2 teaspoons (4 g) ground cinnamon

For the Icing

• 3 cups (360 g) confectioners' sugar
• 1/4 cup (60 g) crème fraîche
• 2 or more tablespoons of fresh lemon juice to thin
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest

Instructions

For the Dough

• In an electric stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, mix the buttermilk (or milk or water) and yeast and let sit for 15 minutes. Then add in the flour, melted butter, egg yolks, sugar, sea salt and cinnamon and knead on medium-high for about 15 minutes or until the dough ball becomes smooth. Swirl 1 tablespoon of oil around a large bowl. Set the dough inside, turning to coat completely with the oil. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and set in the fridge for at least 12 hours.

For the Quick Jam

• To make the strawberry jam, add the strawberries, 1/4 cup (50 g) granulated sugar and 1 tablespoon each lemon juice and zest to a medium-size saucepan. Bring to a boil, mashing the berries with the tip of a wooden spoon. Continue to boil for 10-15 minutes minutes or until when you drag a spoon across the bottom of the pan it leaves a track. Let the jam cool a bit and then transfer to a lidded container and stash in the fridge until ready to assemble and bake your jam buns.

To Assemble

• When ready to assemble take the dough out of the fridge and let it sit at room temperature for about 45 minutes. Then turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and shape it into a 18X12-inch rectangle (46X30-cm). You may or may not need a rolling pin to nudge it into shape. Make sure the corners are as close to 90-degree angles as possible (this will make it easy to roll the buns up). Smear the strawberry jam over the top, leaving about 1/2 half-inch clean along the longer edges. Sprinkle with 1 cup (220 g) brown sugar, 2 teaspoons of cinnamon and then finish with the remaining 1/2 pint fresh cut strawberries. Starting with the long edge farthest from you, start rolling the dough into a log towards you. When you get to the end, pinch the dough together to form a seam and roll the seam side underneath. Using a very sharp knife (I like a serrated for this) cut 10 buns about 1 1/2-inch wide each.
• Bring a pot of water to a boil. Butter or spray non-stick on your baking dish and line with parchment paper; I like to use several large baking dishes so they have lots of room to grow and rise (see note above about baking vessel options). Place the jam buns cut-side up in the baking dishes, allowing several inches in between buns for rising. Place a skillet on the bottom rack of the oven, put the dishes with the jam buns on the top rack of the turned-off oven and pour the boiling water in the skillet on the bottom rack. Quickly shut the door and let the dough rise for about 30 minutes or until double in size. Take the jam buns and the skillet out of the oven.

  Preheat your oven to 350 F (177 C) and bake the buns in the middle of the oven for 20-25 minutes or until lightly bronzed and an internal temperature reaches 190 degrees F.

For the Glaze

• While the jam buns cool, whisk together the powdered sugar, crème fraîche and lemon juice + zest. You want the glaze to be thick enough to stay on top of the buns, but thin enough to drip down the sides. Spoon the glaze over the tops of the buns and serve! Jam buns are best the day they are made but I’ve never turned one down that was stored in an airtight container overnight.

Video

Notes

Activating Yeast…

Have your liquid (buttermilk, milk or water) at around 100-110F (38-43C) to activate your yeast.

If You Have Time…

If I have the time, I mix the dough and add everything *but* the salt and let the mixed dough sit for 10-30 minutes; depending on how much time I have. Then, I add the salt and knead the dough and follow the remaining instructions.

This small step gives the yeast some time to build strength without the salt hanging around to inhibit it…if you don’t have the time, don’t sweat it. If you do, give it a go! xo

Thanks for baking with me! Please rate + comment this recipe and tag me on social @displacedhousewife #displacedhousewife so I can see your beautiful treats! xo