Bakewell Rolls!
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Easy, sweet, soft and delicious homemade bakewell rolls with an almond flavoured dough and filling, and cream cheese glaze.
When baking breads at home, including my homemade cinnamon rolls, you realise how much of a treat they are and how easy they are to bake. The process is so much more straight forward then you may think, using simple ingredients that I always have in my cupboard. Yes, you do need yeast, or bread flour, but generally I always have the ingredients I need.
The method is easy to follow, and the results are SO much better than shop bought. I like to bake homemade bakes anyway, but making cinnamon rolls or similar bakes is more forgiving than you know. Once you get your head past how there is a process, and a method to follow, it becomes quickly enjoyable and satisfying to make.
I have made a few sweet based bakes as well as my cinnamon rolls, including my chocolate rolls and my lemon blueberry rolls, and they are delightful. A smaller bake such as my small batch cinnamon rolls are also great. A little time, a warm area, and a good recipe creates the best bake ever.
Bakewell baking
As much as I can explain how much I love baking bread, I also absolutely adore anything that is bakewell themed. I have made so many bakewell flavoured or themed bakes over the years, and they are always incredibly popular. There is a lovely balance between the almond, fruit, and sweetness that always wins for me.
My bakewell tart is the most classic in the bunch, with my bakewell blondies and berry bakewell cake always proving to be some of the most popular bakes on my blog year on year. Whenever I make a bakewell themed recipe, I either decide to add in raspberry or cherry, but you can do what you prefer. Generally, the traditional is raspberry, but I am not judging when it comes to personal preference.
Easy bread dough
So when it comes to this simple bread dough, it’s relatively similar to my other sweet rolls recipes because I adore the bread dough itself. I wondered about adding ground almonds into the dough, but it made it slightly heavier and I really wanted it to be super light and fluffy.
- Flour – whilst you can use plain flour for these, I MUCH prefer to use strong white bread flour as I prefer the structure it gives to the bread
- Yeast – I use a dried active yeast. You can use fast action as well – make sure to read instructions on the packet as some need activating (if they do, add to the warm milk first). You can also use fresh yeast – use double the quantity so 28g.
- Sugar – I use caster sugar, but you can use any sugar really – this is to sweeten the dough, and feed the yeast.
- Butter – it’s always best to use a block butter, and not a baking spread or margarine
- Milk – any milk works for this part, make sure it’s warm, and not cold or piping hot.
- Flavours – to make the flavours of the dough, I used a little vanilla extract and also almond extract
- Egg – this enriches the dough, you can substitute it out for 35ml more milk instead
The filling of choice
I have made a two different filling options for this, so you can pick! I prefer the light brown sugar/ground almonds mix as it’s easier to work with, but the frangipane version also works really well.
- Option one – similar to a cinnamon roll, I used a mix of light brown soft sugar, mixed with ground almonds. Mix these together, until combined. Brush melted butter (mixed with almond extract) onto the rolled out bread dough, and then sprinkle/press the sugar almond mixture on top
- Option two – a sort of frangipane mixture. Mix melted butter, with almond extract, light brown soft sugar, ground almonds and also an egg. It should make a thick paste, that you can spread onto the rolled out dough.
Once you have added the topping, I then dollop on some conserve or jam. I like to dollop it on so that there are pockets, and you can use any flavour you want. I used cherry, but raspberry works really well, and so do any others.
How to make them
Once you have made your basic bread dough, it needs to prove. It can take a little while, as it really depends on how warm your kitchen is. You need the dough to double in size, and towards the end of this time, I make the filling. Roll the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, making sure it’s as straight on the sides as possible, and then add on the filling of choice. Dollop on the jam, and you’re (literally) ready to roll.
Roll the dough up, either long side to long side or short side to short side (it really doesn’t over matter), as tightly as you can. Slice the dough up and add to a medium-large baking dish. It then needs to prove again, and you can do this whilst you preheat the oven. Generally this section of proving is quicker, but it’s essential for the best dough.
How to decorate
Bake the bread in the preheat oven until lovely and golden, and then when out the oven you can make the drizzle. I went for a cream cheese style glaze for these rolls because it’s basically the best of the best, and super simple to make.
A mixture of cream cheese, milk, almond extract and icing sugar makes a thin glaze that you can drizzle over the rolls. You could make a cream cheese frosting instead if you wanted something thicker, or even just use an icing sugar drizzle. A sprinkle of toasted almonds (add dry plain almonds to a large pan, and heat to a medium heat – move them around and stir them until they turn golden). Sprinkle over the baked and drizzled buns and enjoy.
Tips & Tricks
- These are best on the day of baking as they stay soft and fluffy, but can be kept for a couple of days (and refreshed in the microwave)
- These can be prepped up until baking the night before and place into the fridge overnight. Bring back to room temp for 45-60 minutes, and then bake in the morning
- These can be frozen for 3+ months
- You can halve the recipe really easily for a smaller batch.
Bakewell Rolls!
Ingredients
The Dough
- 600 g strong white bread flour (plus extra for dusting)
- 14 g dried active yeast
- 75 g caster sugar (or light brown)
- 90 g unsalted butter (cold and cubed)
- 275 ml full fat milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tsp almond extract
- 1 medium/large egg
The Filling - (see notes below for a second option)
- 50 g unsalted butter (melted)
- 2 tsp almond extract
- 100 g light brown soft sugar (or light brown)
- 100 g ground almonds
- 100-200 g cherry conserve/jam (or other flavour)
The Drizzle
- 100 g full-fat soft cream cheese
- 2 tbsp whole milk
- 1 tsp almond extract
- 175 g icing sugar
- 35 g toasted almond flakes
Instructions
- Add the flour into a large bowl, and add the sugar and yeast. Mix these together so its all evenly distributed.
- Add the cold and cubed butter, and rub the butter into the mixture so it resembles bread crumbs.
- Gently heat the milk until warm - but not piping hot.
- Add the milk, vanilla, almond extract and egg to the dry ingredients.
- Knead the dough together for 7-10 minutes. It will be sticky at first, but it will soon come together.
- Transfer into a lightly oiled bowl, and cover the top of the bowl with cling film. Let it rise for 1-2 hours, or until doubled in size.
- Whilst the bread is proving, whisk together the dark brown sugar, and ground almonds for the filling. Leave to the side for now.
- Once the dough has risen, transfer to a lightly floured work surface, and roll out to a large rectangle. Mine ends up being about 50cmx30cm.
- You want it to be as even a rectangle as possible so its easier to roll up, and the dough can be thin here.
- Gently brush the surface with the melted butter that has been mixed with the almond extract, and then sprinkle over the sugar/almond mix.
- Dollop on the cherry conserve/jam
- Roll the dough up tightly. Cut this evenly into 12 pieces. I cut the middle, and then the two halves into two more, and then each into three pieces to get my 12.
- Using a large rectangular baking dish, mine was 30cmx24cm roughly, put them in.
- Cover the dish with clingfilm, and let them rise for another hour or so. By the end, they should all touch.
- Towards the end of the dough rising, preheat the oven to 180ºc/160ºc fan so that when it's finished rising, you can put it straight in the oven.
- Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown and cooked through.
- Towards the end of baking, mix the soft cheese in a bowl until smooth. Add the milk, almond extract and icing sugar and mix
- Drizzle over the baked rolls, and then sprinkle on toasted almonds for decoration.
Notes
- Second filling option - Mix 100g melted butter, 100g light brown soft sugar, 200g ground almonds, 1 egg and 2 tsp almond extract together to a paste and spread on. Then top with the jam
- These are best on the day of baking as they stay soft and fluffy, but can be kept for a couple of days (and refreshed in the microwave)
- These can be prepped up until baking the night before and place into the fridge overnight. Bring back to room temp for 45-60 minutes, and then bake in the morning
- These can be frozen for 3+ months