Brave New Meal by Bad Manners, Hachette Australia, RRP $45.00, Out Now

1 cup almond or oat milk, warm but not hot

1 envelope dry yeast (2. teaspoons)

2 tablespoons sugar

6 tablespoons nondairy butter, at room temperature, or olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

3 cups all-purpose flour or bread flour

⅓ cup Blueberry-Thyme Preserves

(page 190) or your favorite jam

1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme— optional, but it’s in the title for a *** reason

Method

1 In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle (or a big bowl if you’re doing this ** by hand), mix together the warm milk, yeast, and sugar and let it sit for a couple of minutes to make sure your yeast is still alive. It will start looking less like individual granules and will start to swell up a little, float, and look kinda like pond scum. If your milk was too hot or the yeast is old as hell, this won’t happen and you should just start over with new yeast and milk. There’s no fixing that.

2 Once we know all your s** is alive and well, add 4 tablespoons of the butter, the salt, and 1 cup of the flour. Beat on low speed for 30 seconds to get that flour worked in. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula, then add the remaining 2 cups flour. Beat on medium speed until a smooth dough comes together and pulls away from the sides of the bowl, about 2 minutes. If you’re doing this by hand, use a large spoon or rubber spatula. It’s not hard, just a bit of an arm workout.

3 Once a ball of dough has come together, you need to knead **. Either keep the dough in the mixer and beat with a dough hook on medium-high for an additional 5 minutes or knead by hand on a lightly floured surface for 5 to 8 minutes.

4 Once you’ve got a smooth ball of dough going, lightly grease a large bowl with some oil and put the dough ball in there, rubbing it around so it’s coated in a little oil, too. Cover the bowl with a small kitchen towel or some plastic wrap and stick it in a warmish, non breezy place to rise. It’s gonna get super big, puffy, and double in size, so make sure you picked the right bowl. Depending on how warm your spot is this could take anywhere from 45 minutes to 1. hours.

5 Grease a 9 × 13-inch baking pan or two 9-inch square or round baking pans and line the bottoms with parchment. Punch the dough down to release the air and place it on a well-floured surface. Roll it out until you have a 10 × 15-inch rectangle, a little bigger than a piece of paper. Cut that rectangle in half crosswise and spread a thin layer of jam all over one half. Now cover that shit up with the other half of the dough, leaving you with a 5 × 15-inch rectangle of dough with a preserve filling. Now cut that dough lengthwise into 4 strips and cut each of those strips crosswise into thirds, leaving you with 12 strips of dough 5 inches long and about 1. inches wide. 6 To get the marble shape, grab a preserve-filled strip and hold each end in a different hand. Twist the dough twice and then make a U with the strip. Fold the left strip over the right and then stuff the end of the right strip over the left and through the center of the small circle you just made. Tuck the other end underneath and you should get something looking like a little marbled knot. It’s just like a short, single knot on a shoelace with the ends tucked in and under. Don’t overthink this part.

Place these in the baking pan(s) with at least 1 inch between them because these f** expand. Once you’re done, cover the pan(s), and let rise again until they’re all puffy and looking like rolls, another 30 to 45 minutes.

7 Warm up oven to 350 F or 175 C

8 Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons butter. Brush the rolls with some of the melted butter and sprinkle with the thyme. Bake until golden brown on top, 20 to 25 minutes, rotating the pan(s) front to back halfway through. When they are ready, pull them out and brush them with a little more butter. Let them cool for a few minutes before serving. To store, cover the rolls and store at room temperature for 2 to 3 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.