Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Blueberry Crunch Bread

If there's one food I know my family would be lost without, it's bread. It's a component of at least one meal or snack every day, from the outside of breakfast egg sandwiches to a base for late night cinnamon toast, mid-morning coffee break fare and even in-a-pinch salad toppers. Granted, most of the family are dedicated to the storebought, white and in my opinion spongy loaves out there - why, I'm not quite sure - but my mom and I are longtime converts of homemade, hearty and ever-variable breads that hold their own without needed pomp and circumstance. 

Even the healthiest bread is no good on our table without a good dose of flavour going for it, though. For mom and I, that usually means one (or more) of three things: natural sweetness (from honey or maple syrup), fruit or crunchy bits like grains, seeds and nuts.When my mom was pining for a crusty,  artisan-style loaf with the fruitiness of my Multigrain Spelt and Blueberry Sourdough but a slightly richer crumb, I thought immediately of a recipe I had bookmarked from Flavored Breads: Recipes from Mark Miller's Coyote Cafe. A few slight modifications later (based purely on what I had available) and I had a perfectly workable dough stuffed with fruit and begging for just a little something more. A handful of Gingerbread Love Crunch from Nature's Path added subtle crunch and flavour perfect for offsetting the tenderness of the bread.

Blueberry Crunch Bread

Shared with YeastSpotting


Blueberry Crunch Bread
Makes one large loaf, 20 slices
4 oz full-fat cream cheese, softened
3 oz whole milk ricotta cheese (I used homemade)
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp canola oil
1 egg
¼ cup non-fat Greek yoghurt
1 cup warm water
1 tbsp vanilla
zest of 1 lemon
1 tbsp instant yeast
3 cups whole wheat bread flour
1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
½ tbsp salt
1 ½ cups fresh or frozen blueberries (do not thaw)
1 cup chunky granola cereal (I used the seasonally available Gingerbread Love Crunch from Nature's Path)
  1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the cheeses, sugar, oil, egg, yoghurt, water, vanilla and lemon zest until well combined.
  2. Add the yeast, flours and salt and knead with the dough hook for 10 minutes.
  3. Cover and let rise 1 ½ hours.
  4. Punch down and gently but thoroughly knead in the berries and granola.
  5. Shape into a round loaf and place (seam side down) in a greased 10” springform pan.
  6. Cover and let rise 40-60 minutes, until one and a half times it's size.
  7. Meanwhile, heat the oven to 400F.
  8. Bake the loaf 40 minutes. Cool in the pan for 15 minutes before removing the sides and cooling completely.

Blueberry Crunch BreadAmount Per Serving
Calories: 164.6
Total Fat: 4.7 g
Cholesterol: 17.7 mg
Sodium: 37.2 mg
Total Carbs: 26.3 g
Dietary Fiber: 3.1 g
Protein: 5.5 g





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