Posted on 35 Comments

Blueberry Sourdough

BlueberryLoaf

If you want to bake a blueberry sourdough bread and not a blueberry pie, I recommend you only use blueberry skins as opposed to whole berries. This way you get the flavor and preserved bread structure by removing the excess moisture.

Add some goat cheese on top and a drizzle of honey.

Gosh… that’s heaven in your mouth!

Ingredients

Sourdough starter 

Dough

  • 270g bread flour (90%)
  • 30g stone ground whole wheat flour (10%)
  • 207g water (69%)
  • 15g (5%) cold water added along with salt
  • 300g blueberries mashed up, and only skins used for the dough.
  • 60g levain (20%)
  • 6g salt (2%)

Directions 

Starter:  

  • 7 am add starter to the water and whisk together, add flour, mix well, cover loosely, let it sit at a room temp 74-78F for about 8-10 hours until starter reaches its peak (at least triples in volume).
  • Learn how to make starter from scratch here.

Dough: 

  • 5 pm mix water with flour and cover, let it rest 1 hour for autolyse.
  • During the autolyse process flour absorbs water, becoming fully hydrated. This activates gluten development.
  • 6 pm add sourdough starter. 
  • Mix on low speed of your mixing machine for 2-3 min, or KitchenAid on speed 3 for 3-4 min until well incorporated.
  • Cover, let it rest for 30 min.
  • 6:30 pm add salt and extra water. 
  • The process of adding extra water is called bassinage, it helps to tighten up gluten. Mix on low speed of your mixing machine for 2-3 min, or with KitchenAid on speed 3 for 5-6 min until well incorporated. The dough should come up together, but still be sticky on the bottom.
  • Continue gluten development and structure building by performing stretches and folds during the warm fermentation period.
  • Leave to rest 30 min. At 74-78F /23-26C.
  • Meanwhile mash up the blueberries, separate the skins and dry them with paper towel to make them less moist.
  • 7 pm spray your work surface with water, wet your hands to perform lamination.
  • Lamination is the process of stretching the dough as thin as you can without ripping it.
  • Spread the blueberry skins all over the dough, fold and it let rest for 45 minutes.
  • 7:45 pm 1st stretch and fold.
  • 8:30 pm 2nd stretch and fold.
  • 9.15 pm 3rd stretch and fold

Performing stretches and folds will help with gluten development. Keep monitoring the dough, if it rises too fast, you can shorten the time between stretches to 40 minutes or less.

After the final stretch let the dough proof for 30 minutes at 76-80F/ 23-26C. You should see some bubbles on the surface, the dough has to become lighter. We are looking for 40%-50% rise. 

Preshaping sourdough 

  • 9:45 pm transfer the dough on to a work surface and dust its top with flour. Flip the dough over so the floured side faces down.
  • Fold the dough onto itself so the flour on the surface remains entirely on the outside of the loaf. This will become the crust.
  • Place the dough round on a work surface and let it rest for 30 minutes uncovered.

Shaping sourdough 

  • 10.15 pm dust the dough with flour. Use a dough scraper to flip it over on to a work surface so the floured sides face down.
  • Starting with the side closest to you, pull the right 2 corners of the dough to the left, then fold them up into half of the dough. Repeat this action with the other side too.
  • Finally, roll the dough. Shape it into a smooth, taut roll.
  • Transfer the roll, seam side up, to a prepared proofing basket (loaf pan with kitchen towel).
  • Cover it with plastic and return the dough to the 80F (27C) environment for 15 minutes.
  • Then transfer the dough to rise for 14-24 hours in the refrigerator.

Baking
Next morning:

  • Preheat your oven to 500 F, place a cast iron pan with the lid inside for 45 minutes -1 hour.
  • Remove the dough from the fridge. 
  • Flip it over on a parchment paper, score it with a sharp knife or a scoring lame. 
  • Transfer on to the hot cast iron pan, cover with the lid (to create steam for a beautiful and crusty crumb).
  • Bake at 500F for 15 minutes with lid on.
  • Remove the lid, lower temperature to 450F. 
  • Bake for 20 more minutes until golden brown.

35 thoughts on “Blueberry Sourdough

  1. Thanks for the recipe Natalya. That loaf looks delicious. I’ve got more blackcurrants at my allotment than I know what to do with, so I might use those instead with some halloumi…

    1. Добрый вечер) я тоже подумала о чёрной смородине)

      1. Будет шикарно.
        Как бы я хотела, чтобы тут было побольше чёрной смородины. Это из разряда «роскошь 😊»

    2. You are so lucky!
      I love black currants. They remind me of home.
      Of course you can use them. Flavor will be incredible 🙌

  2. OMG what a beautiful creative sourdough. My husband loves blueberries and so do I . I’m going to make this delicious looking sourdough tomorrow will post. Thank you again for your kindness in sharing 👍🏽

    1. Thank you so much for all your support 🙌

  3. The bread looks so beautiful and I can’t wait to try it. When I preheat the oven, I need to remove the dough from the fridge and wait an hour to bake, is it right? Thanks sharing ^^

    1. Sharon, hi!
      Thank you!
      You have to score it right away from the fridge and bake. It should be cold 😊

  4. I have been making this bread all day, following every step, and I have what I would describe as a sticky batter not a dough at the end of the first turn. I decided to stick it back in the kitchenaid for a few minutes with about 1/4 cup of flour and that really didn’t do much probably because the mixer released more of the blueberry juice. I don’t know, I’m at a loss. I will say that this recipe from the start seemed to have too little flour. What a waste of blueberries!

    1. I am on my final stretch and my dough looks perfect. Did you use whole berries or skins only? Also did you perform proper bulk fermentation?

      1. Thank you, Ville! For your feedback 🙏

    2. Sam, sorry to hear that.
      Let’s start from beginning: how strong is your starter. Maybe it’s isn’t strong enough, and your dough needed more time to ferment.
      Or maybe it’s to hot and fermentation went to fast, that’s why dough became sticky. 🤔

  5. 300g blackberry? Is that correct?

    1. 300g blackberry? Is that correct?
      Sorry, blueberry

      1. Yes, then it was mashed and only blueberry skins were used in the recipe 😊

      2. I did it! Such a great recipe. Thank you so much!

  6. Hi Natasha! Great recipe! Will try this weekend, can I substitute the whole wheat for Spelt Flour? Im not sure I have enough whole wheat :/

  7. Hi
    Pls can i use all with white flour l mean 300g white flour ?
    Regards

    1. Hi! Yes!
      Absolutely 🙏

  8. Hello. What a beautiful recipe index. Thank you! Im just wondering how long to knead for without mixer? Thank you 🙂

    1. Hi! It will take about 5 min for starter incorporation, and about 10 min for salt and extra water.

  9. Hello! I’m looking forward to trying this. Just curious.. what happens if you use the whole blueberry instead of just the skins?

    1. Hi! If you’ll use whole berries, it will turn into a blueberry pie.

  10. Hello Natalya: Please don’t be offended by my question but may I add lemon zest (rind) or lemon oil? If yes, how much? Regardless, I will make your recipe first before making any modifications. Thank you so much for your talent and kindness. Jeanette T

    1. Hello dear!
      Sure you can add lemon zest ( from 1/2 lemon) or 3% oil from total amount of flour.

  11. […] atta flourWhile making blueberry compote, I reserved some blueberry skins (I read about this from: Natasha’s Baking) to test with atta flour in a sourdough loaf. This is a same-day loaf that I find rose faster than […]

  12. […] atta flourWhile making blueberry compote, I reserved some blueberry skins (I read about this from: Natasha’s Baking) to test with atta flour in a sourdough loaf. This is a same-day loaf that I find rose faster than […]

  13. […] atta flourWhile making blueberry compote, I reserved some blueberry skins (I read about this from: Natasha’s Baking) to test with atta flour in a sourdough loaf. This is a same-day loaf that I find rose faster than […]

  14. I just made it and was super worried the whole time cause the dough just looked like a sloppy mess to me. I followed all the directions and added my “blueberry pancake” to the hot oven. To my surprise it puffed right up and looked just like the loaf in the pictures. My husband said it tasted amazin. Lovely blueberry flavor without being sweet. Next to try is the apple cider donuts.

    1. Thank you so much for your feedback!
      Glad you liked it 🙏

    2. I made the “starter” :
      5g sourdough starter
      35g water
      30g flour
      5g rye
      BUT my question is you have in the dough section:
      60g levain…but never saw in directions where/when to add this?? ( what is it ?)
      Thank you Lisa

      1. Lisa, hi!
        Levain is a starter that was prepared for the dough.

  15. […] from blueberries will affect the proofing of the dough. After some digging on the internet, I found Natasha’s method of using blueberry skins. So basically, her method is to mash up the fresh blueberries in a fine […]

  16. Hello, Natasha. Thanks for sharing the recipe. I’m just wondering, ¿how the procedure would go if not using a mixer? Thank you!

  17. I used 100 g of dried blueberries instead, the dough is wet enough without the extra moisture of the blueberry skins. We will see how it bakes tomorrow morning.

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