Lovely and light, this fresh blueberry yeast bread is wonderful eaten out of hand with butter or toasted. It’s like having the jam in the bread!
If you’ve ever had fresh blueberries around and you’ve wondered if you could use them in yeast bread, I’m here to tell you that you absolutely can. In fact, I’m here to tell you that you absolutely should! I loved this bread. A lot. It was fabulous eaten out of hand with butter. It was great toasted. It’s like having the jam already in the bread :)
Ingredients and Substitutions
Blueberries – you can use fresh blueberries or thawed frozen blueberries here. For frozen blueberries, thaw then pat dry. Toss in a bit of flour before using.
Yeast – you can use active dry yeast or instant yeast for this bread.
Lemon Zest – this is optional, but it does make a subtle, but lovely lemon note in this bread.
Recipe Tips
In order to not completely macerate all the blueberries, you’ll want to keep the kneading to a minimum. That said, you do need to add them at the beginning of the dough making process, as it will be impossible to add them once the dough takes shape. As such, I left this dough quite moist and only minimally kneaded.
Let the dough rise until doubled, each rise. The timing will vary depending on the temperature of your kitchen.
Tips for Baking with Yeast
I think most of the problems people have with baking with yeast, is treating yeast-based recipes like say, a cake recipe, where you just measure the ingredients, mix them all together and bake.
Yeast-based recipes just can never be that precise. Things like temperature, moisture in the flour your are using, the season your are baking in and rising time can differ from one kitchen to the next. All that makes yeast recipes less consistent from one kitchen to the next.
Now that you know this though, that’s more than half the battle :) Baking with yeast isn’t just measuring, mixing and baking, like a cake, for example. You’ll need to add to the mix a little trust in what you see (it looks sticky, so it needs more flour, regardless of how much flour the recipe says should go in), and a feel for the dough (does it feel smooth like a baby’s bottom when you’re done kneading?) and watching much it has grown in size as it rises (rather than watching the clock). Do that, and all will be good!
- Be careful with the temperature of your proofing liquid before adding the yeast, so you don’t compromise the yeast from the start. If the liquid is too cold, the yeast won’t activate. Too hot and it will die. The best temperature range for proofing liquid is 105-110F for Active Dry Yeast. Instant yeast is a bit more forgiving and can take temperatures up to 120F. All yeasts die at about 140°F. An Instant Read thermometer is handy to have on hand to check.
- Always treat the amount of flour specified in yeast-based recipes as “approximate”. Flours will vary from kitchen to kitchen and by season, so the amount needed to make a smooth, soft dough will vary.
- Given tip #2, I always hold back 1/4-1/3 of the flour specified in a recipe and add in only as much as is needed. If you dump all the flour in at the start, you may find that it is too much and it’s difficult to adjust well after that.
- Use a large glass measuring cup to proof your dough. It’s easy to see when the dough has doubled.
- Be patient. Rising times are also “approximate” and will vary as well. Trust what you see and not the clock.
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Get the Recipe: Fresh Blueberry Yeast Bread
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups warm water
- 1 Tablespoon instant or dry active yeast
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest, optional
- 1/4 cup white granulated sugar
- 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries, I usually add a few more than a cup
- 3 1/2 - 4 cups all-purpose flour
Instructions
- For frozen blueberries, thaw completely, pat dry and toss in a bit of flour before using.
- Grease a 9x5-inch loaf pan and set aside.
- In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer with the kneading hook, combine the warm water, yeast, blueberries, sugar, salt and lemon zest. Let stand 5 minutes.
- Add 2 1/2 cups of the flour and mix to combine. Begin adding the flour 1/4 cup at a time, just until the dough comes together in to a smooth and moist dough (but not too sticky). The dough should wrap the kneading hook and clean the bowl. If using a mixer, stop kneading when the berries seem to be crushing.
- Remove to a floured surface and gently knead in a bit of flour until you have a smooth ball. Place in a greased bowl, cover and let rise until doubled (about 1 hour).
- Remove dough to a floured surface and press out in to a 9x18-inch-ish rectangle. Starting with the 9-inch edge, roll up jelly-roll style. Place into prepared 9x5 loaf pan. Cover with greased plastic wrap and let rise until doubled (about 45 minutes).
- Preheat oven to 350 F. (not fan assisted) Bake in preheated oven for 30-35 minutes, or until deep golden and cooked through.
Notes
More Blueberry Bread Recipes to Love!
Hi! I’m Jennifer, a home cook schooled by trial and error and almost 40 years of getting dinner on the table! I love to share my favourite recipes, both old and new, together with lots of tips and tricks to hopefully help make your home cooking enjoyable, stress free, rewarding and of course, delicious!
Very easy, straightforward directions and tasty. I used a lot less sugar and had a loaf lighter in color.
So glad you enjoyed it, Melanie! Thanks so much :)
Made this bread twice with great success. Super tasty and light. Wondering if it would be possible to substitute raspberries for the blueberries or is there a raspberry yeast bread recipe you are aware of?
Hi Fiona and so glad you are enjoying it. I think you can put pretty much anything in bread :) I have a recipe for a Summer Fruit Bread that uses raspberries, if you want to have a look at it. It’s more of a sweet bread, but a lovely way to bake bread with fruit. You can find it here – https://www.seasonsandsuppers.ca/glazed-summer-fruit-yeast-bread/
Thank you. I’ll certainly give it a go.
i am looking for a recipie for a yeast oatmeal blueberry walnut bread. i had it when i was first married family loved it, i lost it never forgot it i cant fine a recipie anywhere can you help?
Hi Judith, I don’t have a recipe like that, but I found this one that might be close. Doesn’t have walnuts, but you can easily add them. Hope that helps :) https://www.karenskitchenstories.com/2018/01/oatmeal-blueberry-bread.html
I just made this bread for the first time. Was not even sure there was such a thing as yeast, blueberry bread. I did add two extra ingredients: i egg and about 1/4 cup of olive oil. I added those with the ingredients before the 5 min. resting time. Before the flour.
The result was AMAZING!!!!!! The bread was moist and delicious! The lemon zest added that extra punch of flavor. The egg and oil made the texture amazing.
An amazing bread for a brunch. Thank you for the recipe! Would have never put yeast bread and blueberries together! It was exceptional! Susan
Sounds lovely, Susan :) I’ve come to learn you can put just about anything in bread. Born of a need to use up some blueberries in my fridge. Thanks!
I loved it. I especially liked putting a thick slice on a buttered griddle until it was browned. Built in blueberry jam!
I’m making another loaf right now…
So glad you enjoyed it, David and loving the sound of the griddled bread :) Thanks!
Will this make 2 loaves if you split the dough for the second rise? I make a white bread that yields 2 loaves with 41/2 cups of flour…and I use 2 9×5 bread pans for it..thank you for sharing your recipe!
Hi Bridget and yes, you could split it, but I think I’d do two 8×4-inch loaves if you have two of the smaller pans. Enjoy!
I used the 8 1/2×4 1/2 pans, and I got 2 loaves…I let them rise 1/2″, so I didn’t get that 1″ crown, and I only used 3 cups of flour, but I think I’ll go with 3 1/2 cups of flour plus some for the kneading next time, and there WILL be alot of next times!, but ooh my! the bread is sooo delicious! I will double the recipe next time, and use my 9 × 5 pans! EXTREMELY delicious!! Thank you!
Glad it worked out and you enjoyed it :) Thanks!
Could this be used with dried blueberries?
Hi Lori and yes, absolutely it would be fine with dried blueberries :)
Thanks Jennifer,
Will take note of this next try!
Hi, I removed the dough out for shaping after 1st rise, I found that the dough quite sticky, did I do something wrong? Thanks, Siam.
Hi Siam, Did it start out sticky before the rise? Sometimes fruit will make the dough more moist, but generally a good dusting of flour should take care of that.
Could you make this in a bread machine?
I don’t see why not. I don’t use a bread machine, but from what I understand, it should work just fine.
i am making the blueberry yeast bread for a cooking contest i hope i win i will let you know how it turned out
Good luck and do let me know :)
Just a heads up, when looking at the recipe from a Google search, the time required to make the bread says 7 days (and I didn’t notice any rising times in your recipe over an hour). You may want to change that! Can’t wait to try this out!
Oh my. That’s a huge disincentive :) Thanks for letting me know. I’ve fixed it to a much more normal time frame :) Enjoy!
Jennifer,
Tried your suggestion and it worked great. Quick thaw idea. Place blueberries onto dinner plate, holds a cup plus. Place in microwave on defrost for about 4 minutes. (Depends on your micro). Worked great thawed and warmed nicely. Ended up with some juice, but what the heck add it to the bread. Worked out great. Awesome recipe.
Sue
So glad to hear the thawed frozen blueberries worked out so nicely :) I developed this bread to deal with fresh blueberries that were a touch beyond their prime (which I always seemed to have in my fridge), but good to know frozen works too! Thanks!
Jennifer,
Any thoughts on how I could use frozen blueberries?
thanks Sue
Hi Sue and yes! :) You definitely will need to thaw them completely. Cold fruit in a yeast dough won’t rise well. Once thawed, I would toss them really well in flour before adding to the dough. You might get a bit more blueberry bleeding, but other than that, should be fine :)