Bread Machine Jam Rolls

After a very long hot day of white water rafting in Riggins, Idaho this summer we stopped by the Fiddle Creek Fruit Stand. This part fruit stand, part grocery store is packed full of nostalgia. A family run place, it looks like it's been passed down forever.

Out of school for the summer, three small girls helped their grandfather at the cash register while he tended to customers, answered questions and introduced us to local items, proudly offering tastes of recently arrived crops.

It made me a bit teary eyed to think that this piece of our past is nearly extinct. With super markets and big food, everything feels a bit on the impersonal side. I couldn’t help but wonder, “What kind of progress have we really made?” as I walked past several hues of lilacs and thornless raspberry plants for sale.

I purchased some plums, but wanting something to remember the place by I grabbed a couple jars of Fiddle Creek’s homemade Blackcap Jam. Blackcaps, if you haven’t had them yet, are luscious little black raspberries.

Since then, I’d been miserly enjoying it and finally decided to splurge and make these old-fashioned breakfast rolls. I felt it fit the store. Homemade and special. Well, with a little help from my bread machine they were homemade!

Bread Machine Jam Rolls Printer Version
I used Blackcap jam, but any good quality jam or marmalade will work in these rolls.

Dough
1 cup warm milk (110 degrees F)
1/3 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 teaspoon salt
4 1/2 cups bread flour
2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Filling
1/4 cup butter, softened
Slightly heaping ½ cup good quality jam, stirred

Topping

1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
Granulated sugar for sprinkling, optional

Directions
1. Warm the milk in the microwave for 30 to 45 seconds until very warm to the touch. Place the milk, melted butter and sugar in the bread machine and stir to combine. Let sit for 15 to 20 minutes or until liquid reaches room temperature.

2. Stir in the eggs and salt. Add the flour and place the yeast on top of the flour. Select the dough cycle and press start.

3. Butter a 9x13 inch pan; set aside. Roll dough into a 16x21 inch rectangle. Spread dough with 1/4 cup butter then spread jam over the butter. Roll up dough to make a long log and slice it in half, then slice each piece in half again. Cut each of those quarters into 3 slices.

4. Place rolls in the pan seam side toward the other rolls. Gently brush rolls with melted butter on the tops and sides. Sprinkle with sugar if desired. Cover with plastic wrap or a tea towel and let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes.

5. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Bake rolls for 16 to 18 minutes until golden brown.

Pictures and recipe by Laura Flowers