These Strawberry Donut Brioche Scrolls are such a fun weekend baking project. Soft, fluffy, buttery brioche dough, twirled into scrolls sandwiching layers of sweet strawberry jam, baked, then tossed in strawberry sugar. Your kids will love them (and so will you!)

I’m going through a brioche dough-making obsession at the moment. I absolutely love it, the feel of the dough once it’s kneaded sufficiently, watching it during that first magical rise, the satisfying deflation after, and then the act of choosing what I want to make with it. I find it's such a versatile dough that can be baked into rolls, scrolls, knots, babka loaves, wreaths and even donuts. (Next on my list of what to make!)
I had a half batch of dough leftover from a previous recipe and didn’t want an extra trip to the shops ... so I shopped my pantry. The best way to get creative I reckon! I had a jar of strawberry jam and some fresh strawberries in the fridge. Perfect- a jam scroll. Then I remember the coating my friend Erin of Cloudy Kitchen used on her Strawberry Brioche Donuts. So simple yet so effective- she mixed freeze-dried strawberries with sugar to make the coasting. And that, my friends, is how this recipe was born!
Brioche Dough
So I wrote a super long and informative HOW TO post all about making Brioche Dough not that long ago. My aim of the post was to de-bunk the perception that brioche dough is hard to make. It isn’t. It just requires following the correct steps and patience. The hardest bit is the waiting for the rises and the chills.
So I urge you to go check out my post. For this recipe, we only need a half batch of dough to make six scrolls, but by all means, use the full batch if you like. Alternatively, freeze the other half to use at a later date.
How do you actually make these Strawberry Donut Brioche Scrolls?
I hear you. How do we turn a blob of dough into these scrolls? It’s super easy...but NOTE: it’s MESSY. Slippery jam on dough makes for lots of slipping and sliding of the layers. But push through. Ultimately you can reshape them on the baking tray just before their second rise to tidy them up. Do not worry. Or be an astute perfectionist! A bit of jam seeping through adds to all the sticky goodness in the end!!
Let's take you step-by-step on how to make these scrolls:
Select your ingredients: chilled dough, strawberry jam, freeze-dried strawberries and sugar.
On a floured work surface, roll out the dough to approximately 20cm x 40cm.
Evenly smear the strawberry jam over the bottom two-thirds of the dough.
Now fold the top third over like a letter fold.
Then bring the bottom third over to close the letter fold. Now turn the dough 90 degrees, so the short edge is at the top and bottom and the long edge on the side.
Using a sharp knife, trim all around the edge of the rectangle to create neat, straight edges. Now cut the dough into six equal-sized vertical strips.
Twirl each strip into a scroll; it gets a bit slippery at the start but use your fingers to hold the centre in place and swirl the dough around it.
Place the swirl on baking paper.
Repeat with the remaining five strips. Brush with egg wash.
Prove for 45 minutes in a warm place.
Bake at 180C (350F) for 25-30 minutes until golden brown.
How to get that Donut taste?!
The sugary coating has to be the number one identifier of donuts. So to bring that flavour onto these scrolls, we coat the whole scroll in sugar and freeze-dried strawberries. Take one bite, and you’ll be met with the light, enriched dough, sticky sweet jam, and crunchy, sugary coating. Just like a donut!!
Serving: These are best coated in the sugar just before serving otherwise, the moisture of the jam seeps into the sugar and turns it into a syrup.
Storage
Store: These are best eaten straight away. They can be stored in an airtight container overnight, but the moisture of the jam can tend to make the dough go a little soggy in my experience. I made the small batch with a quantity of only six with the idea of them being eaten on the same day.
Freezing: I would not recommend freezing these.
Brioche dough is highly versatile. Here are some examples of ways to use it
- Rhubarb Scrolls with Craime Fraîche Glaze
- Fig, Caramel and Pecan Babka Wreath
- Blackberry-Glazed Brioche Donut Rings (from my cookbook 'Simply Sweet Nostalgic Bakes')
- If you need a re-cap on How to Make Brioche Dough
Strawberry Donut Brioche Scrolls
Ingredients
Enriched brioche dought
- 10 g active dry yeast, 1 envelope
- 180 ml whole milk, luke-warm
- 50 g caster sugar (superfine)
- 500 g plain flour (all-purpose)
- 1 teaspoon fine salt
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste, or extract
- 115 g unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into cubes
- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil (or canola oil), for greasing
For the scrolls
- 240 g strawberry jam
- 1 egg, beaten, for egg wash
- 150 g sugar
- 10 g freeze-dried strawberry powder
Instructions
- Prepare a baking tray lined with parchment paper and set aside. Add the yeast, milk, and 1 tablespoon sugar into a small bowl and mix well. Set to one side for 15 minutes until foamy.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, add the flour, remaining sugar and salt. Quickly mix together. Add the foaming yeast mixture, eggs and vanilla bean paste and mix on low for 5 minutes until the dough comes together.
- Then add the butter gradually, whilst the mixer is running on medium and once incorporated, turn the mixer up and knead for ten minutes. The dough should be pulling away from the sides of the bowl but have formed a ‘tornado’ around the dough hook.
- Tip dough onto a greased work top and pull the corners into the centre. Turn over so that the seams are underneath and place dough ball in a greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for 1 ½ hours.
- Once doubled in size, gently punch down the dough and tip out onto a lightly floured bench top. Using your hands, form the dough into a rectangle. Using a sharp knife or pastry scraper, cut the dough evenly into half and wrap individual halves in plastic wrap. Refrigerate the half that we’ll use today for 1 hour and freeze or refrigerate the other half to be used on a separate occasion.
- On a floured work surface, roll out the dough to approximately 20 x 40cm (8 x 16-inches). Dollop the strawberry jam over the bottom two-thirds of the dough and evenly coat with an offset spatula.
- Now fold the top third over like a letter fold. Then bring the bottom third over to close the letter fold. Now turn the dough 90 degrees, so the short edge is at the top and bottom, and the long edge on the side. Using a sharp knife, trim all around the rectangle's side to create neat, straight edges. Cut the dough into 6 equal-sized vertical strips. Twirl each strip into a scroll. It gets a bit slippery at the start but use your fingers to hold the centre in place and swirl the dough around it. Place the swirled dough on the prepared baking tray.
- Repeat with the remaining 5 strips. Leave the scrolls to rise in a warm place for 45 minutes and preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Brush each scroll with egg wash. Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown. Meanwhile, mix the sugar and freeze-dried strawberry powder together in a bowl. Once baked, remove the scrolls from the oven and once cool enough to touch, toss them in the strawberry sugar to coat. Eat immediately.
All recipes are developed and tested in Metric grams. I strongly recommend that you bake using digital scales for a more accurate result. I have provided a conversion to US customary in the recipe but please note that I haven’t tested using this method.
Jonathan Gustafson
Um, what temperature?
Emma
Hi Jonathon- yikes- one of the sentences got deleted when I was updating it the other day. Thanks SO much for the pick up. All corrected now 🙂