Blueberry Babka
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Blueberry Babka is a sweet bread filled with a delightful homemade blueberry jam swirl that is topped off with a vanilla glaze.
Do you ever see a photo of a recipe that grabs your attention so much you know you have to make it? This Blueberry bread is one of those recipes. As soon as I saw the photo I knew I wanted to make it.
The funny thing is, I didn’t really know what Babka was until I watched the Seinfeld episode about it. Jerry and Elaine are in a bakery to buy a chocolate Babka for a party. Another couple from the party gets the chocolate Babka and Jerry and Elaine have to go with a cinnamon Babka.
After watching that episode I dug around to find out about the bread. I’ve been wanting to make it for years but until I saw the blueberry swirl in this Blueberry Babka I haven’t actually made one.
Ingredients:
- milk
- dry active yeast
- sugar
- eggs
- vanilla extract
- flour
- salt
- butter
- blueberries
- brown sugar
- cinnamon
- lemon juice
- powdered sugar
To Make the Dough: In a bowl combine the milk, yeast, and 1 tablespoon of the sugar. Stir and let sit for 5 minutes. Beat in the sugar, egg, and vanilla. Add the flour and salt and mix for 2-3 minutes or until a dough forms. Add in the butter and mix until incorporated into the dough. Knead for 5 minutes then place in a bowl and let rise for 1 hour.
To Make the Jam: In a small saucepan, heat the blueberries, brown sugar, cinnamon, lemon juice, butter, and salt over medium high for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and cool completely.
Making bread is a process so I usually do it on the weekend. That way I have time for the bread to rise twice in the proper amount of time.
The basic dough is easy enough to make. It’s a sweet yeast dough so it has sugar, eggs, and butter in it which regular yeast breads do not. Making the dough and putting it in a bowl for its first rise was easy to do.
While the dough was rising I decided to make my blueberry jam. Now the original recipe had the jam cooking over medium low heat to keep a lot of the blueberries whole but I went for the medium high heat in order to help thicken up my jam.
Once the jam is made it can go into the refrigerator to chill and hopefully thicken a little more. While mine did thicken up, it was not nearly as thick as a store bought jam.
What is Babka?
Babka is a sweet bread with Jewish roots. It is made with a yeast leavened dough that is rolled out and spread with a sweet filling. Popular fillings include chocolate, cinnamon, fruit, or jam. The dough is then rolled up and baked until golden brown.
Do I have to make my own jam?
You don’t have to make your own jam but it’s really easy to do. It’s also something you can do several days before making the bread. While I’ve added cinnamon to my jam you can add whatever spices you prefer or leave out the spices all together.
How long does this bread stay fresh?
Blueberry Babka is best eaten in the first two days. However, if you keep it covered you can eat it up to four days after baking it.
Can I freeze this bread?
You can freeze this bread. Once it comes out of the oven and cools do not put the glaze on top. Wrap it in plastic wrap then put it in a freezer bag. The bread can be frozen for up to 6 months. When ready to defrost simply take it out of the freezer and let defrost on the counter.
The next part gets a little messy. I didn’t have too much of a problem rolling out the dough, filling it with jam, and rolling it up. A little spilled out the sides but no big deal.
My issue came with the cutting and shaping the dough. I’ll be honest here, I’m not sure I shaped the dough correctly but I sure did try. It’s extremely messy with jam going all over my counters, my hands, and the dough.
Just do your best when shaping it. It might not be exactly right, it might be a little bit messy, but as long as it’s close it’s going to work out just fine.
More Bread Recipes:
- Rum Raisin Bread
- Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread
- Rustic Sourdough Bread
- English Muffin Bread
- Louisiana Pecan Bacon Bread
My bread didn’t turn out to be the prettiest bread but it was amazing! The soft, sweet dough combined with the blueberry swirl in the middle was so delicious.
I ate this bread every morning for 4 days and a few times after dinner as a snack. It’s good sliced and eaten as is or toasted with just a hint of butter on it.
If you’ve tried my Blueberry Babka or any other recipe on Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks please take a minute to rate the recipe and leave a comment letting me know how you liked it. I love hearing from you! You can FOLLOW ME on:
Blueberry Babka
Ingredients
For the Dough:
- 1/2 c. warm milk about 110 degrees
- 1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 1/4 c. sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 1/4 c. all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
For the Jam:
- 3/4 c. blueberries
- 1/3 c. brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 Tablespoon butter
For the Glaze:
- 1/2 c. powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 Tablespoon milk
Instructions
- In a large bowl combine the warm milk, yeast, and 1 tablespoon of the sugar. Stir and let get foamy for 5 minutes.
- Beat in the rest of the sugar, egg, and vanilla.
- Add the flour and salt and mix for 2-3 minutes or until a dough forms.
- Add in the butter by the tablespoon and mix until incorporated into the dough.
- Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead for 5 minutes.
- Spray a bowl with cooking spray, place the dough inside, cover and let rise for 1-2 hours or until doubled in size.
- To make the jam heat the blueberries, brown
sugar, cinnamon, lemon juice, butter, and salt in a medium sauce pan over medium high for 10 minutes. Stir frequently. - Remove from heat and cool completely.
- Once the dough has doubled spray a loaf pan with cooking spray and set aside.
- Deflate the dough and roll into a 9 x 18 inch rectangle.
- Carefully spread the dough with the blueberry jam.
- Roll the dough up lengthwise and seal the seam as best as you can. This will get messy.
- Use a serrated knife and cut the dough in half lengthwise.
- Cross the two pieces of dough, cut side up, over top of each other in the middle and then twist the
dough 2 or 3 times in a spiral. - Next, bend the spiral in half widthwise and wrap the spiral once again over itself. It will be very messy. Tuck the ends underneath and place the dough into the prepared pan. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 60 to 90 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Bake for 40-50 minutes or until cooked through. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes.
- Run a butter knife around the edges of the pan and turn the bread out onto the wire rack and cool completely.
- Once the bread has cooled whisk the powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk together in a small bowl. Drizzle over top of the bread.
Notes
