Bacon Jam Stuffed Bread Rolls - Recipe Swap (2024)

This month's recipe swap is a Jelly Cake - two layers of a spice cake with jelly between the layers. The goal of the swap is to modify the recipe by at least 3 ingredients or modify the method. I wanted to play pretty close to the original ingredients but really deviate from the the idea of a sweet cake.

Two words: Bacon Jam. Or you can call it Bacon Jelly, which is also two words. Either way. My first step was to get away from the sweet, fruit jelly - that's where the bacon jam comes in. Next, my goal was to create a non-cake-like-layered item while using the base cake ingredients.

Add in some yeast, remove the baking soda and cream of tartar, move the spice ingredients to the bacon jelly and WAMO - a rolled homemade bacon jam bun. Successful? Hell yes! It's a Fat and Happy homemade bacon bread recipe that I highly suggest trying today.

Tips and techniques: If you don't have time to make the homemade bread, try rolling the bacon jam in phyllo dough or store bought bread dough. The jam itself is deep, rich, delicious - simply not to be missed.

Bacon Jam Stuffed Bread Rolls

Homemade Bread Rolls

3/4 cup water

1/4 cup cream or milk

1 1/4oz yeast package (not instant)

1 Tbls sugar

1 egg

1 tsp molasses

1 tsp salt

6 Tbls melted butter

3-4 cups of flour

Heat the water, cream and sugar to 115 degrees, sprinkle yeast over the warm liquid and allow to sit and foam for 10 minutes.

With a fork, mix the egg, molasses, salt, melted butter together - add to the foaming yeast. Use a wooden spoon, begin to stir in the flour, 1/2 a cup at a time. Once the dough comes together, pour onto the cupboard and begin to knead in the remaining flour. Depending on the weather, you may or may not need all 4 cups, go by the feel of the dough and just use your best judgement. Knead the dough for about 10 minutes.

Place the dough in an oiled bowl, rub oil on the dough itself, cover with a dry kitchen towel and set in a warm place to rise until doubled in size (this should take about an hour or so.) Punch down the dough, knead a few times and then roll out into a large rectangle about 3/4" thick.

Spread the bacon jam over the dough rectangle (I saved a small bowl to eat.) Roll up the dough from the long side of the rectangle and pinch the seam together to seal. Slice the rolled dough into 2" sections and place in a greased cake pan. Or slice the rectangle into 2 or 3 sections and place into bread pans for a bread roll instead of individual buns.

Savory Bacon Jam

12 ounces bacon

1 cup sliced red onion

1 cup sliced yellow onion

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp allspice

1 tsp cocoa

1/2 cup raisins

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper (pinch)

4-6 cloves garlic

1/2 cup apple juice

1/2 cup red wine

1 Tbls balsamic vinegar

Cook the bacon until done but not too crispy. Remove the bacon from the pan and set aside, drain all but 1 tablespoon of the fat. Add the onions and cook uncovered over medium low heat 10 minutes, stir often.

Add the brown sugar, allspice, cocoa, raisins and cayenne pepper; cook on low for 10 minutes covered. Add in the garlic and cook another 5 minutes covered.


Add in the remaining ingredients, the apple juice, red wine and the balsamic vinegar, cook for 30 minutes covered on medium low. Remove from heat and cool slightly. Place the bacon jam in a cuisinart and pulse on low about 20 seconds. If you want a smoother jam, pulse longer. Cool before rolling in the dough.

Please take a few minutes to look through my fellow Recipe Swappers blogs:

Burwell General Store Recipe Swappers

Chef Dennis joined us on the Lemon Cake swap. A veteran chef in his own right, we are lucky to have his Italian Lemon Pear Cake contribution to the swap. The rest of his fantastic food blog can be seen at morethanamountfull.

Boulder Locavore’s starting point for the recipe swapis always a local-seasonal-organic combination, though her love of international cuisine and co*cktails often work their way into the mix!

Joy, holding down a dairy-intolerant household, doesn't let that restrict her love of flavors and food, in fact, I think it inspires her to do what she does. When you visit her blog, be sure to check out her "ubiquitous about page" and the balcony gardening category.

Monique has been food blogging since 2007, her Fat and Happy blog is about food, recipes, cooking, baking, drinking, eating and friends! As the former owner of the Monkey Bean Cafe and Bistro, she still loves to create recipes from scratch. If you send her an unusual ingredient, she'll create a recipe for you!

Priya is also joining us from Australia. She's a vegan who loves baking, cooking and eating, having chosen the lifestyle after being a vegetarian most of her life. She caters hand-crafted vegan and vegetarian food, and also delivers hand-crafted vegan and vegetarian cookies and cupcakes.

Pola is a new blogger from Italy, transplanted to the cold Midwestern plains. After years of calling mom to check on cooking times and temperatures of family Italian recipes, she started writing them down. In the process, she is hoping to help new friends discover how to cook simple and authentic Italian food.

Mary is a lifelong resident of the San Francisco Peninsula and was diagnosed with Celiac Disease in 2007. Her search for a gluten-free chocolate chip cookie that didn't taste, look or feel gluten-free inspired her blog and she's been happily baking ever since.

Jamie blogs at Random Acts of Food and has a love for food that only an Italian could! She enjoys cooking and baking in all cuisines for her family and friends. Originally from Long Island, Jamie now resides in Boston with her amazing boyfriend.

Crissy and Lauren are two So Cal natives and recent college graduates who are embracing their passion for all things culinary in their Little Yellow Kitchen. They blog at From The Little Yellow Kitchen about maintaining a balanced diet of equal parts healthy, savory, and sweet. From a zesty Chocolate Mojito Key Lime Pie to a nutritional Rosemary Parmesan Kale Chip snack, this kitchen has it all.

Nicolle writes the joyful Rhythm of the Seasons from Boulder, Colorado and is looking forward to offering more recipes and menus as the spring, summer and harvest seasons heat up.

Jacqueline aka The Dusty Baker, believes food restrictions are no reason to avoid fun in the kitchen! She updates classic pastries into gluten, dairy, sugar and vegan optional recipes, blogging both her successes and messy failures. A performer and writer with quite a gypsy-like lifestyle, she can often be found trolling the NYC subways with her standing mixer in a rolling suitcase or driving between jobs with a trunk-load of frosted cookies. writes the fun into allergy-friendly recipes and spunky stories from New York City, and can be found at The Dusty Baker.

Linda is an award-winning journalist, food writer and nutritionist and Founder/Editor/Publisher of EENews, for sustainable food and sustainable life. She has written 20 cookbooks that have garnered prizes including the James Beard for one she wrote with her daughter, Katherine West DeFoyd, entitled Entertaining 101, Doubleday. Their follow-up book, Stylish One Dish Dinners, Doubleday, was also nominated for a James Beard prize. Her ground-breaking book, Bread in Half The Time, Broadway Books, was named the Best Cookbook in America by the prestigious IACP, The Julia Child Award.

Tricia is the founder of Pietopia, an annual pie contest that asks "What does your life taste like, in a pie?" and her beautiful work as an eating designer and blogger can be found at Eating Is Art.

Alli has a master's degree in Nutrition and blogs at An Open Cookbook from Seattle, Washington. We met recently at BlogHer Food in Atlanta, and immediately hit it off. A warm welcome to her!