Jam roly poly: boiled or baked?

After coming across a list of tips for making boiled puddings in a 1912 edition of Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management I decided to give this method a go with her jam roly poly recipe.

At first it looked promising: the pudding was all neatly wrapped in it’s floured cloth and even the potential disaster of having forgotten to buy string was averted with some quick thinking and two extra strips of fabric.



However, the finished pudding was gelatinous, rubbery and almost completely inedible (I managed only one slice before it went in the bin; a very bad sign). The problems with it were just too numerous to be able to tell whether it was down to the method itself, my execution of it, or whether tastes have just changed since 1912!

Luckily I had already decided to make a baked roly poly at the same time to compare the two versions, and this turned out much better. Baking gives it an extra crispiness that contrasts well with the squodgy jam-filled middle.

Left: baked roly poly, Right: boiled roly poly

Although I normally like to make things as difficult as possible for myself, for me the appeal of this pudding is its utter simplicity: with only a few store-cupboard ingredients and 40 minutes from start to finish this is going to be added to the ever growing list of ‘quick recipes for when I fancy something sweet and don’t have anything in the house’ – which could be a very bad thing indeed!



Things I have learnt from making jam roly poly:

The Pudding Club recipe suggests using an huge amount of jam (450g!) which I feel is excessive. Mrs Beeton uses only 3-4 tabelspoons, but I think a compromise of around 250g of jam works best.

To avoid too much cracking of the pastry, make sure you don’t roll it out too thin – I may have been a bit enthusiastic with my rolling as I was making a half sized roly poly and – 1cm thick would be just about right.

Roll up the dough more loosely than you would for a swiss roll. This prevents the jam from squishing out and allows it to expand as it cooks.

Complicated does not necessarily equal better!

 

Jam roly poly: serves 4-6
(adapted from Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management and The Pudding Club’s recipe in their book, Great British Puddings)

180g self raising flour
pinch of salt
90g beef or vegetable suet
Milk, to mix
250g jam
2 tablespoons caster sugar
Custard, to serve

• Preheat oven to 190°C
• Mix flour, salt and suet in a large mixing bowl
• Add the milk a little at a time to form a dough
• Roll out on a floured surface to about 1cm thick
• Spread the jam on the dough to with 1.5cm of the edges
• Dampen the edge with water and roll up like a swiss roll
• Place seam-side down on a greased baking tray and bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes, until lightly browned and cooked through
• Sprinkle with caster sugar and serve with custard