Blueberry Cream Cheese Braid

Blueberries and cream cheese wrapped in a sweet yeasted dough. Yes, it really is as good as it sounds, and it is making me hungry again just sitting here thinking about it.

The recipe and a lot more picture below.

This dough is a wonderful one from Beth Hensperger's The Bread Bible. I like it because it is sweet and rich without being too rich. Any sweet dough will do though.

Hensperger suggests making a raspberry filling and sprinkling a streusal on top instead of using egg wash. That, too, sounds excellent, I just happened to have a bunch of extra blueberries in the freezer and some extra cream cheese in the fridge so I modified the recipe to fit my needs. Obviously, you should adapt this to use whatever you enjoy the most, have easy access to, or have an excess of.

I think you could do a wonderful savory version of the recipe if you used a less sweet dough. Think about something along the lines of a mushroom braid with Swiss cheese, or a pesto and parmesan braid, or a sausage and onion braid. Hm? Any of them sound good? Well, they do to me.

Blueberry Cream Cheese Braid

Makes 2 braids

Sponge
1 tablespoon instant yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 cup warm milk
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

Dough
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/3 cup sugar
2 1/2-3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

Blueberry Filling
2 cups blueberries
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Egg Glaze
1 egg
1 tablespoon milk

Cream Cheese Filling
3/4 cup cream cheese
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon egg glaze

For the sponge: mix the sugar, yeast, and flour together in bowl. Pour in the warm milk. Beat until smooth, then cover with plastic wrap and set aside for 1/2 hour.

Add the eggs, salt, sugar, and one cup of the flour to the sponge. Beat until smooth. Then add the butter in small chunks and beat well. Add the remaining flour a handful at a time and mix in until a soft but kneadable dough is achieved and the butter thoroughly incorporated.

Knead the dough by hand or with a mixer until it is smooth and satiny, about 5 minutes.

Place the dough in a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise and room temperature until doubled in size, 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Deflate the dough, recover the bowl, and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, make the fillings before shaping the loaves.

Blueberry Filling: combine all of the ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat while stirring constantly. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes, then remove from heat and let cool.
Egg Glaze: combine the egg and milk in a bowl and beat until combined.
Cream Cheese Filling: combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix until combined

Once your filling has cooled off, take the dough out of the refrigerator and gently deflate it. Divide it into two pieces. Use a rolling pin to shape each piece into a thin (1 cm.) rectangle.

rolling the dough

Spread your fillings in the center of the dough.

rolling the dough

At an angle, slice the sides of the dough into tabs approximately 1 inch wide.

cutting the braid

Alternating from side to side, fold the pieces in over the filling. When possible, gentle press on the tabs to seal the folds.

rolling the dough

After it has been fully folded, glaze the braid with egg wash. Cover loosely with plastic (I place the entire baking pan in a clean kitchen garbage bag). Set aside to rise until doubled in size, approximately 45 minutes. While it is rising, preheat the oven to 350.

rolling the dough

Just before placing the braid in the oven, glaze it again with any remaining egg wash. Bake on the center rack of the oven for approximately 35 to 40 minutes, rotating it once after 20 minutes so that it bakes evenly. Remove it from the oven and allow it to cool for at least half an hour before slicing.

baked blueberry braid

Heaven!

Comments

Oh. I am sooo making this tomorrow. :) That looks great, Floyd! I wonder how it would taste with fresh boysenberries and cream cheese? I think I'll try that and report back.

Ok. I did two of these this evening. :) On one, I followed your recipe exactly (cause' the hubby wanted blueberries). On the second one, I did a mixture of gold-raspberries, orange zest and juice (instead of lemon), and a shot of Bacardi Rum. :) It smells absolutely wonderful.

Yum... that sounds great! If you get any good snaps, post them in the forums.

How do I post them?? Is it the same tags as LJ? I'm going to upload them to photobucket right now...

It looks like you figured out how to post images. In case anyone else is wondering, there is an answer in the FAQ.

I made this formula this past weekend and it turned out very well. Also the intructions were easy to follow. If you have haven't tried it, you have to do so! Variations are now crossing my mind... the dough could be used for cinnamon rolls or maybe sticky buns. Perhaps diced cooked apples in autumn. Or maybe persimmons? There was a fermentation lesson imbedded in the experience: The Twin Cities are having a heat wave and the ac could only do so much... Boy an 85 degree room will really pop the yeast! The doubling took only an hour. I was afraid that the fast rise might harm the flavor, but it was fine.

Just another variant on the stuffing. I made this last weekend and WOW, was it good. Instead of blueberries, try: 2 cups of freshly cubed Granny Smith apples 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice 1/4 cup BROWN sugar 1 cup walnuts 1/3 cup corn starch 1 tsp. cinnamon 1 tsp. nutmeg 1 tbsp. butter In a small pot, combine; butter, brown sugar, and chopped walnuts. Stir until combined. Add apples, cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon juice, and corn starch. Combine and heat until you get a gooey concoction. :) The goal is to get the nuts a touch roasted...the apples will finish baking in the oven. Use in place of blueberries in Floyd's recipe. Sprinkle the top of the braids with a little cinnamon/sugar on top of the final egg wash. :) YUUUUUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!

That sounds excellent.

Just finished filling/braiding my blueberry cream cheese braid. This has been on my list of must-do breads for some time now. I used a mascarpone cheese filling with powdered sugar, vanilla and cinnamon, along with the blueberry filling. Added a little extra lemon because my Meyer lemon is so sweet. Also, a dash of the vanilla/citrus extract called fioria de sicilia was added to the blueberries.

I'll post pictures when it comes out of the oven. Looks like I did my braids a little thinner than Floyd's and I'm afraid I may have put in too much filling.

Blueberry cheese braid

This was my first attempt at a filled bread and boy did I learn many things! I made one braid recently but didn't realize that a slack dough would not work here until it was too late. My braid was disfigured as I transferred it from my work surface to the baking sheet for its final rise. I also forgot to let the cream cheese to come to room temperature so it remained as chunks even though I tried to melt it in the microwave. My mother described my finished loaf as Chinese BBQ pork because the egg wash created a very dark brown crust and my loaf looked like a monster. But I'll definitely try again; it tastes wonderful! I'll quarter the recipe next time since no one else wants to touch it (it's their loss) and bake for half the time. Thanks for the recipe!

Costco sells 4 lb frozen bags of a mixture of blueberries, rasberries, and marionberries that is very cheap and came out great when I made this braid. I also use them with cereal after defrosting a handful in the microwave.

You mention paste. Please don't forget to knead. If you do it by hand, working in flour will give you a more elastic and cooperative dough. Sponge is the part of the recipe that prepares the flour and the dough ingredients are then added to it. You might want to read through the "lessons" part of the site for general information. Hope to hear from you again and good luck! :) Mini Oven

hi abbas, There are a number of good recipes on this site that u can try but it would be better if u begin with the lessons. At the top of this site there is a menu, select the lesson option n u will open to the place where Floydm has elaborated step by step lessons on bread baking. You can start with his bread recipe in the first lesson all quantities are given in detail. Sponge in an initial mixture of flour(maida)yeast and water which is allowed to ferement for say an hour to 1 whole day(depends on your taste)and then more flour, water, oil, salt etc. are added to make it into a dough(something like kneaded dough used for making chapatis I mean atta). But this dough is more soft and elastic than atta. Then it is allowed to fermet(Khamirna) which is also called rising. After the first rise this dough is again punched down n the loaf shape is formed(or any other shape that one fancies)n allowed to rise again, when it is doubled it is baked. N WOW u have great bread.:) Hope this was useful. shi

I can't find cream cheese can some one suggest a substitute. I have full cream(clotted) at home can it be used to make cream cheese. shi

If you can find yogurt, you can make your own. All you have to do is thicken it and that is done by pouring it into a filter of cloth or paper and hanging it up with a string and letting the wey or water drain off. Don't use drink yogurt, it will never get thick and does funny things to recipes too. After hanging 2 days, it is thick and tastes just like cream cheese and pretty much salt free! Less fat too! :) Mini Oven

Hi mini, I saw on the Gourmetsleuth that I can substitute cream cheese by equal parts of Youghart and ricotta cheese. Since I make youghart everyday I dicided to use this substitute. Yesterday i made some ricotta cheese and youghart and right now both are draining in my fridge. So tonight I'll make the dough and in the morning will try the braid. :) Thanx for the advise. shi

If you "google" you will see that cream cheese is made from milk. You could always make butter or ice cream from your cream. Yummy. qahtan

Hi qahtan, I do make butter and clarified butter which we call ghee but have not attempted ice-cream. i think the my son would love that, can u share a recipe. Shi

And this doesn't even call for an ice cream machine. qahtan. Brown bread ice cream 6 ozs brown bread crumbs 6 ozs brown sugar, 1 pint (20 ozs)whipping cream 2 tablespoon brandy or rum optional, I didn't. Mix crumbs and sugar together, spread on foil lined cookie sheet, grill 5/10 mins, turn frequently until mix is brown and crispy. Whip cream to hold it's shape with rum or brandy if used, fold in crispy crumbs, pour into rigid container freeze until firm. Best eaten in about 3 day' or crumbs will go soft.

Shi, Since I don't know where you are located or what may be available in your markets, take a look at this link: http://www.foodsubs.com/Chefresh.html It gives several possible substitutions for cream cheese. Maybe one or two would be available to you.

Hi Cool, I live in India and find it difficult to get ingeredients for baking, so this link u have posted will be of great help. Thanx shi

Made it yet again to-day for my cafe, but this time I drizzled it with an icing flavoured with vanilla and cinnamon bark oil. Yummy and aromatic. Thanks again Floydm for your innovation. Anything else in your bag of tricks?

I made this braid using cream cheese but my braid did not retain its shape and was flat(it was soft and nice never the less). I made one braid using only half of the dough & the rest half is sitting in the freezer. So for my next attempt I want to correct my mistake. Could it be because of too much of filling or could the filling be runny(ha whats that)I mean it had more liquid than needed. Since I had made cream cheese by mixing drained home made youghart and cottage/ricotta cheese it is possible that I might have not drained them sufficiently? Any idea what I did wrong? Shi

i have been making this bread several times now for the cafe so feel qualified to reply to you. Incidently I have reduced the amount of cornflour for the berry filling (using frozen blueberries) as it was seemed a bit too thick once the braid was baked. I wondered whether a well drained ricotta would give a thicker product, if you can get it. I have been using a thick ricotta to-day (in NZ) for a cannelloni filling and thought I would experiment to see whether it can be used instead of cream cheese, as it seemed to have a similar consistency. Was your drained yoghurt/cottage chhese/ ricotta mixture thick enough to support the braid before it was baked?

Hi magie64 The braid had started distroting while it was proofing and while baking it became quite flat. So I think that u can say that the mixure was not think enough. Some of it also oozed out during baking. shi

Hi Shi, Sorry but I don't understeand 'distroting'

hi maggie, Actually i spelled the word wrong its "distorting". it means to be mis-shaped or lost its original shape. While the braid was proofing it had stated expanding breadth wise insted of rising up thats why I got a flat braid. Yesterday I used the leftover half dought to make a chocolate braid with semi sweet dark chocolate . This time is rose beautifully and retained its shape and was soooooooooo chocolatey. So I think the first one was mis-shaped due to excessive filling or the filling being watery. Shi.

Hi Shi, Sounds that "all's well that ends well'. Great! I will try out a chocolate centre next time that I will make the braid. I have a chocolate fudge recipe which I use as a centre for muffins ( a mixture of dark chocolate and cream) - can't remember the exact proportions - so thank you for the idea.

Hi Melana, you were probably asking the above of Floyddm - but in the meantime I will add that the "thick sticky mess" of a filling is the best consistency to match that of the cream cheese and strong enough to support the weight of the braid top. I have found that by reducing the cornflour a little - a strong but slightly moister paste results.

Floyddm, Thank you once again for this recipe which is more than ever popular in my cafe. I ran out of frozen blueberries so made the fruit filling by thickening Ocean Spray Whole Cranberry Sauce, and it was just as popular (and cheaper to make) as we export most of out blueberries to Japan now and the price of such is high on the domestic market.

Oh my GOSH!!!

I'm going to HAVE to give this one a try. I don't care for blueberries by themselves but I absolutely LOVE them with cream cheese!!!!!
Thank you so much for posting this recipe and an extra thanks for the pics. I think it would have really hard to figure it out without the pics. [I love technology :o)]

May your bread always rise!!
mangaholik :o)

My co-workers are getting used to freshed baked bread every Monday morning. They're very good at scarfing up my experiments - this is what they will be getting next Monday. I'm drooling on my keyboard now - the instructions look very simple and are printing right now. As always, thanks for this site and another great recipe Floyd! Trish

If you are making 2 smaller braids I would increase the filling recipe by half again. If you find that you have some leftover, just refrigerate it and add it to the next filling you will make (because the braid is so nice). The filling keeps for at leat 3 weeks in the fridge. Because I make it now and then for my cafe, I always make a large quantity of filling (about 1 L) and have it on tap. I do add a little more lemon juice as the original recipe can be a bit gluggy. I haven't frozen any braids but can't see how the filling would be affected - just the brioche type dough would age a little.

Just noticed some ambiguity in my above posting. I meant that the baked brioche type dough would age a bit with freezing, but a better idea would be to freeze the braid before the second proofing and later thaw and then let rise until it doubles in volume, then bake.

I've made these now three different times in five weeks with terrific results. Many people are astonished at how wonderful the presenation is on these, and are amazed that I made them.

One of the things I've been doing is experimenting with the filling. My fiver-year-old son loves blueberries, but my 11-year-old son hates them. The first batch was true to the receipe and wonderful. The second was made with a lemon pudding instead of blueberries. It was wonderful.

The third was by far the best. I took one of the first ones to my parents and my dad loved it, though he doesn't care for blueberries either. He went into his cupboard and handed me a can of raspberry pie filling with strict instructions to make it the next time I saw him.

At somepoint during the week before I made it, my wife was condensing packages of flour into a container and didn't notice the bag was WW as she started to dump them together. The third batch ended up around 25% WW to 75% AP. It turned out so very tasty that I might start doing that intentionally now. :)

I've been making two braids, and freezing one after I add the filling and do the braid. During the week, I take it out in the evening and let it thaw and raise to double and bake it. So far I've had no problems with that.

Thanks again for this wonderful, simple yet fancy treat.

Is it a must to refrigerate dough overnight, or can it just be left out to rise and bake the same day? It looks so good, I can hardly wait to bake it!

mrsmambo, You should try the apple filled braid with cinnamon bark oil and vanilla flavoured icing. It would match perfectly! M

I made this over the weekend and I changed the Blue Berry to a Raspberry and cream cheese filling and the bread was wonderful. The kids really like a slice toasted up in the morning for breakfast. My loaf did not turn out as dark but I only did one egwash prior to cooking because I did not want it as dark but wonderful results and flavors. Thanks for the recipe and suggestion

Glorious Cooking and Baking to All

Scooter G Fast

i think this would work very well, but i'm certain it must be drained.

I get artisan ricotta from the farmer's market and it is much much different than the kind at the store; it has a very clean, fresh and vibrant taste and a texture similar to what you get w/ the cream cheese/egg mix.

I"m going to try it next time but I only had a little bit of ricotta left this week. YUm.

with a marzipan layer between dough and raspberries. That might make an interesting combination if the marzipan or almond paste is rolled out very thin. Would tend to soak up any excess juice too. I just happen to have everything and need a birthday treat for the weekend.

I stumbled across "The Bread Bible" last week. It was lying on my kitchen table with a note, "Can you use this?" At first, I blinked, I hadn't had my coffee yet. I glanzed up to see if there was a hole in the roof. Could this be the BB some loafers makes reference (reverence) to?

I soon discovered there are two books with the same title, different authors. I opened the book... all cups and no metric, so I'm not thrilled, but ever so often I pick it up to read. (I tend to start at the back of a book first...) There are hidden gems in the book, a few typos. It's a good book to start out on if you have a good imagination. Written discriptions are very good and just like most bibles there are no illustrations or pictures. Last night I found the Blueberry Braid, actually a Maple-Blueberry Whole Wheat Braid (page 298, paperback 1999, author Beth Hensperger) where half the flour is whole wheat.

Floyd, I like the changes you made in the recipe & the very helpfull photos too.

Thank you,

Mini O

to the chorus praising this bread!. I made it for a family and friends brunch this Saturday and it got rave reviews. When boys in elementary school stop on their way out the door to say "Thanks for the awesome bread!', it's about as good a compliment as a baker can get.

Despite my less-than-stellar braiding, they are darned pretty to look at, too. Here's a picture:

Blueberry Cream Cheese Braid

Thanks again for posting the recipe, Floyd.

Paul

Hi Paul, They are pretty stunning. Congrats. I make the same often but add a little drizzled over lemon juice glaze or sometimes glaze flavoured with vanilla and a drop of cinnamon bark oil. Each is very compatible with the cream cheese and blue berries or raspberries. M

I just made this last night with fresh peaches and cinnamon.

4 cups fresh, chopped, peeled peaches

2 tsp cinnamon

2 tbsp butter

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cornstarch

I heated all this together until just warmed and combined. I also put a light glaze on this to pull all the sweetness together, just little sugar and cream drizzled on top.

hmm did i mess up?

My dough is taking a very long time to double. This is the first time I used my KA to mix everything. I was under five minutes mixing time on setting 2, but could I have overmixed it? Should I just wait it out or start over?

I'm a big fan of lemon curd and modified the filling to add one tablespoon of lemon zest,three tablespoons of lemon juice, a couple tablespoons of mashed cottage cheese, and about a quarter cup of lemon curd to the cream cheese base. I topped this with fresh raspberries (prepared as in the original blueberry recipe)and added a ribbon of lemon curd on the top of the filling before folding the braid. I don't have photos, so you will just have to take my word for it....if you love lemon, as I do this is a must try variation.

"Place the dough in a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise and room temperature until doubled in size, 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Deflate the dough, recover the bowl, and refrigerate overnight"

Is there a reason to refrigerate this dough overnight?

It's a danish. A big, beautiful, yummy-looking danish. Oh, god, I must make it...

This braided bread also tastes great filled with cream cheese, sugar and pecans. You can also add some chopped prunes (softened) or dates. It really tastes great.

The first time i baked this bread, I replaced yeast with about 120 grs of 100% hydratation sourdough and worked well...the second also chanced the filling: instead of bluberries I used canned peach...not bad, the result...Paolo