Sourdough Blueberry Bread Easy Step By Step Recipe
This sourdough blueberry bread is a bakery style loaf with a crisp crust, soft open crumb, and juicy pockets of blueberry in every slice. An easy overnight method and simple stretch and fold technique make it perfect for confident beginners who want a show stopping breakfast or brunch bread.
Equipment
- Kitchen scale
- Large mixing bowl
- Danish dough whisk or wooden spoon
- Flexible bowl scraper
- Bench scraper
- Banneton proofing basket or medium bowl with clean towel
- Parchment paper
- Sharp bread knife or lame for scoring
- Cast iron Dutch oven or heavy oven safe pot with lid
- Wire cooling rack
- Measuring spoons
Ingredients
Sourdough Blueberry Bread
- 50 g active sourdough starter, 100 percent hydration
- 350 g room temperature water
- 500 g bread flour
- 10 g fine sea salt, about 2 teaspoons
- 20 g granulated sugar, optional, for a slightly sweeter loaf
- 150 g blueberries, fresh or frozen
- Zest of 1 medium lemon, finely grated
- 15 g melted butter or neutral oil, optional, for a softer crumb
Whipped Blueberry Honey Butter Optional
- 113 g unsalted butter, softened
- 75 g blueberries, mashed
- 45 g honey
- Pinch of fine sea salt
Instructions
Make The Dough And Bulk Ferment
- Feed your sourdough starter 4 to 10 hours before mixing so it is bubbly, doubled in size, and smells pleasantly tangy when you start the dough.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk the active sourdough starter into the room temperature water until it looks milky and mostly dissolved.
- Add the bread flour, salt, and optional sugar. Mix with your hand or a spoon until no dry flour remains and the dough looks shaggy and rough.
- Cover the bowl and let the dough rest for about 30 minutes to allow the flour to fully hydrate.
- With slightly wet hands, perform a set of stretch and folds. Lift one side of the dough, stretch it up gently, and fold it toward the center. Rotate the bowl and repeat until you have folded from all sides.
- Cover and rest the dough for 30 to 40 minutes, then repeat the same set of stretch and folds. Do this 2 to 3 more times, with rests in between, until the dough feels smoother and more elastic.
- After the final round of folds, cover the bowl and let the dough bulk ferment at room temperature until it has risen by about 50 to 75 percent, shows bubbles along the sides, and jiggles softly when you move the bowl. This usually takes 4 to 6 hours at around 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
Shape With Blueberries And Cold Proof
- Lightly flour your work surface. Gently turn the risen dough out of the bowl, trying not to deflate it completely.
- Use your hands or a bench scraper to fold the edges of the dough toward the center and form a loose ball. Flip it smooth side up and tighten it slightly by dragging it toward you on the counter. Cover and let it rest for 20 to 30 minutes.
- While the dough rests, rinse the fresh blueberries if needed and dry them very well, or keep frozen blueberries in the freezer until needed. Finely grate the zest from 1 lemon and toss it with the berries.
- After the rest, dust the top of the dough lightly with flour and flip it over so the smooth side is on the work surface. Gently stretch it into a wide rectangle without tearing it.
- Scatter about half of the blueberry and lemon zest mixture evenly over the dough, leaving a small border at the edges.
- Fold one long side of the rectangle toward the center, then sprinkle most of the remaining berries over this folded section. Fold the other long side over the top, like folding a letter, and scatter any remaining berries on top.
- Starting from the short end closest to you, roll the dough up into a snug log, trapping the berries in thin layers throughout.
- Turn the log seam side down and gently tighten it into a round or oval loaf by cupping your hands around it and dragging it toward you on the counter a few times.
- Dust a banneton or a medium bowl lined with a clean towel generously with flour. Place the shaped dough in the basket seam side up, cover lightly, and refrigerate for at least 8 hours and up to 24 hours for a slow cold proof.
Bake The Sourdough Blueberry Bread
- Place a cast iron Dutch oven or other heavy lidded pot in your oven and preheat to 450 degrees Fahrenheit for at least 30 minutes so the pot is thoroughly hot.
- When you are ready to bake, cut a piece of parchment paper and lay it over the chilled dough in the banneton. Invert the basket so the dough releases onto the parchment, smooth side up.
- Use a very sharp knife or lame to score a long slash across the top of the loaf, about 1/4 inch deep, to give the bread a controlled place to expand in the oven.
- Carefully remove the hot Dutch oven from the oven, lift the dough by the parchment, and lower it into the pot. Cover with the lid and return the pot to the oven.
- Bake the loaf covered for 25 to 30 minutes, then remove the lid and continue baking for another 10 to 15 minutes, until the crust is deep golden brown and the berry spots look slightly caramelized.
- Lift the sourdough blueberry bread out of the pot using the parchment and transfer it to a wire rack. Let it cool completely for at least 1 hour, preferably 2 hours, before slicing so the crumb can set.
- If you are making the optional whipped blueberry honey butter, beat the softened butter with the mashed blueberries, honey, and a pinch of salt until light and fluffy, then serve it with warm slices of bread.
Notes
or the best sourdough blueberry bread, use a very active starter that has recently doubled in size and looks bubbly and airy. Bulk fermentation times are a guide only, so always watch the dough. It should look risen, light, and jiggly before you preshape.
Fresh blueberries give neat pockets of fruit, while frozen blueberries create more dramatic blue and purple streaks in the crumb. If using frozen berries, add them straight from the freezer during lamination and expect the dough to feel slightly cooler and proof a little more slowly.
Baker schedule idea for an overnight loaf
Feed your starter in the afternoon, mix and fold the dough in the evening, then bulk ferment until it has risen by about half. Shape with blueberries, place in the banneton, and refrigerate overnight. Bake directly from the fridge in the morning.
Baker schedule idea for a same day loaf
Feed the starter early in the morning, mix and fold the dough late morning, bulk ferment through midday, then shape and cold proof in the fridge for at least 4 to 6 hours. Bake in the evening.
Leftover sourdough blueberry bread makes excellent French toast and also freezes very well. Slice the cooled loaf, freeze the slices in a bag, and toast directly from frozen for an easy breakfast.