How to Make Soft Jam Filled Buns
Some recipes bring back memories of home, and others bring back memories of childhood – these soft, jam-filled buns do both.
updated from 2012
WHY I LOVE THIS RECIPE
Childhood memories – I know you know what I mean
I first remember eating these buns in my school cafeteria. I thought they never had enough filling. But still, it was a treat, and I always hoped it was on the menu: pillowy, lightly sweet, and filled with a bright plum jam.
Seasonal fillings
While I remember these buns filled with plum jam, you can fill them with seasonal fruit fillings. I prefer a slightly tangy filling, but I wouldn’t say no to ganache or a nut filling, too.
Make it festive
You can even dress them up for the holidays by piping a delicate snowflake on top using a glaze. This tiny festive touch makes them super special.
They freeze well
These buns freeze exceptionally well; you can stash a batch away and enjoy that school-day nostalgia at any time.
They stay soft
I love that these buns stay soft even the next day. So good!
THINGS YOU NEED
- Baking Pan 9x13x2 inch
- Kitchen Scale (my favorite)
- Pastry Brush
- Mixing Bowls
- Stand/hand-held mixer
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SOFT JAM-FILLED BUNS
- All-purpose Flour, or use a blend of AP flour and bread flour
- Butter
- Oil – use natural-tasting oil. I often use mild-tasting olive oil
- Milk – warm, not hot
- Egg and egg yolks, and egg to make egg wash
- Dry yeast
- Sugar
- Thick jam- preferably use a thicker jam. Plum is the classic, but you can use fig, apricot, or even Nutella or sweetened farmer’s cheese if jam is not your thing.
- Salt
- Powdered sugar – optional to dust buns before serving
- Glaze – you can use it to personalize buns, or just use glaze to pipe a festive snowflake or a simple drizzle over the top.
MAKE THE SOFT YEAST DOUGH
- Prepare yeast dough. And let it prove for an hour to an hour and a half.
- Make sure to use warm milk. Using hot milk with yeast will kill the yeast.
FILL AND SHAPE BUNS
- Roll the risen dough into a rectangle or square about ½ inch (1 cm) thick.
- Cut the dough into approximately 2 x 2-inch (5 x 5 cm) squares.
- Place a generous spoonful of plum jam in the center of each square (step 1).
- Gently stretch the four corners of the dough outward, then bring two opposite corners together and pinch to seal (step 2).
- Repeat this process with the remaining two corners, pinching them well to fully enclose the jam.
- Continue pinching and smoothing the seams until each bun is tightly sealed (steps 4-5).
SECOND PROOF
- Brush each shaped bun with melted butter and layer the buns into a baking pan.
- Cover and let the buns rise again, for 30-40 minutes.
BAKE
- Brush buns with egg wash.
- Bake them in a preheated oven to 365C/185C for about 25-30 minutes, until golden on the top.
- If buns start to get too dark, too quickly, cover them loosely with foil.
- Once baked, remove them from the oven. Cover with a kitchen towel and allow to cool for 20-30 minutes.
SERVE
- Before serving and after the buns have cooled to room temperature, dust them generously with powdered sugar.
DECORATE WITH GLAZE
- To make a festive version, use my glaze recipe and pipe a snowflake on the top.
SUCCESS TIPS
Milk
Use warm milk. This is very important. You can heat milk on the stove or in the microwave. If it’s too hot to the touch, add some cold milk until it’s warm to lukewarm (104F/40C)
Proofing
Place yeasted buns in a warm, draft-free spot and allow to rise for 30-40 minutes before baking.
Vanilla Sugar
For extra flavor, use Vanilla powdered sugar instead of powdered sugar to dust cooled buns.
TRY THESE YEASTED RECIPES
- Hot Dog Buns
- Best Sour Cream Sheet Bread
- Caramelized Onion Pizza
- Pumpkin Yeasted Bread via Lavender and Macarons
- Express Garlic Breadsticks
Jam Filled Yeast Buns
This recipe makes about 20-22 medium to large buns.Serving size: 1 bun
Servings 20 servings
Equipment
- 2 mixer, stand mixer or hand held
- 2 mixing bowls
- 1 Pastry Brush
- 1 knife/pastry wheel
- 1 kitchen scale, measuring cups and spoons
- 1 baking pan 9x13x2 inches 23cm x 33 cm x 5 cm
Ingredients
Yeast Dough
- 6 to 6 ½ cups all-purpose flour 840 grams to 910 grams
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar 65 grams
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 ¾ cups warm milk about 115F, 435 grams/ml
- 4½ tsp dry yeast/2 packets one packet is 1/4 ounce /7grams each active dry yeast packet
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted, cooled 1 stick, 113 grams
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 large egg
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tsp Vanilla extract
- 1½ tsp lemon zest (from of 1/2 lemon)
Filling
- 2 cup fruit jam or preserves jam, or fruit marmalade
Egg Wash & Butter
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp water
- 3 tbsp butter, melted and cooled (to butter the pan and buns before baking) 40 grams
Glaze – optional
- 2-3 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 ½ cup powdered sugar + more if needed
Instructions
- Butter a 9 x13 x 2 pan, set aside.
Yeast Dough
- Sift together flour (6 cups, 840 grams), sugar (65 grams), and salt (1/4 tsp) into a bowl of your mixer.
- Into a medium-size bowl, pour warm milk (1⅓ cups, 435 grams/ml) add dry yeast (4½ tsp,2 packages), add a pinch of sugar, and 1tsp of flour. Whisk to combine and let stand for 5 minutes until bubbles form on the surface.
- Add yeast mixture into the butter mixture.
- In a bowl, from the yeast mixture, whisk together melted and cooled butter (1/2 cup, 1stick, 113grams), oil (4tbsp), egg yolks (2), large egg (1), Vanilla extract (2tsp) and lemon zest ( 1½ tsp).
- Add the egg-butter mixture to a bowl with flour and yeast sponge. Stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture is roughly combined. Knead, using a hook attachment, until a smooth and soft dough forms (5-10 minutes)
- Invert dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead with a hand for a minute or so until no longer sticky.
Prove the dough
- Grease a large bowl and place the dough inside. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and a large kitchen towel. Let the dough rise in a warm place for about 1 hour and 15 minutes.
- This dough is really nice to work with it is soft and shapes very easily.
Shape and Fill Buns & Brush with Butter
- Once the dough has risen, gently roll it out on a lightly floured surface into a rectangle about a 1/2inch thick.
- Using a knife or a pastry wheel, a pizza wheel works too, cut the rolled-out dough into approximately 2" by 2" squares ( 5cm by 5cm).
- Put a heaping tablespoon of jam/preserve or other fruit filling on each square.
- Start by gathering opposite corners of the square. Lightly pull the corners away to stretch the dough a little, and then press them together just above the jam.
- Continue with the remaining 2 corners until you have formed a small bun.
- Using a pastry brush, coat the bun well with melted butter, and place it in the prepared baking pan.
- Continue with remaining dough.
Brush with Butter
- Once you have made all the rolls, make sure you butter them well.
Second Rise
- Cover the pan and set aside to rise in a warm place for 30 minutes.
Egg Wash
- Prepare egg wash – in a small bowl, whisk 1 large egg with 1/2 teaspoon of water. Brush the rolls lightly with an egg wash. Make sure the egg wash is not dripping all over.TIP: You can skip the egg wash if you prefer.
Bake
- Preheat oven to 365℉ (185℃)
- Bake for 25-30 minutes, until golden on the top.
- Remove from the oven put the pan onto a cooling rack and cover with clean kitchen towel for 20 minutes.
- Once the buns have cooled slightly, they are ready to be served.
Glaze
- In a small saucepan, combine butter (1tbsp), lemon juice (2-3 tbsp), and lemon zest (1tsp), bring to a simmer for 30 seconds.Add powdered sugar and stir vigorously until smooth. If the glaze appears too runny, add more powdered sugar.Let the glaze cool slightly, then spoon it into a small sandwich bag and drizzle it over the buns.For a festive look, pipe a snowflake on the top.
Notes
- Can I freeze these buns? Yes, absolutely. Freeze buns without the glaze. Let them defrost on the counter.
- Can I half the recipe? This recipe can be comfortably halved
This recipe was published on December 15, 2012. On November 14, I updated this recipe with new written text that includes tips and tricks on how to achieve the best possible results, along with a recipe card.
