Blueberry Bread

Before you make this: I want you to picture banana bread. It’s packed with banana flavor and so moist. This is the blueberry version of that, moist and bursting with berry. 

Funny story, this blueberry bread recipe actually pre-dates this blog by at least a year. Shortly after my first daughter was born I had picked up a book on baby food and learned the technique of roasting berries to produce a strong, yummy blueberry puree. I have a photo of her eating it – covered in dark purple sauce and looking very happy. I’d use some to top my own oatmeal and loved it. And my baker’s mind wandered to what could I do with this delicious stuff??

One thing that came to mind was making something like a banana bread but with blueberries. I jotted down a preliminary recipe in a notebook and made it. We loved it. I later made a strawberry version, we loved that one too. Time went on, and I lost that notebook. 

I was able to recreate the strawberry bread recipe for the blog in 2019 and had mentioned the blueberry version then but everytime I’d have a go at turning it back to blueberry, I’d find it to be dry or lacking in flavor or something else. So this one has been a long, long time coming to say the least. 

Recipe Origins 

Like I mention above, this is a variation of my strawberry bread recipe with some changes: there’s more blueberries in here, and a little more flour to absorb that extra liquid. I doubled the sour cream because I really wanted this one to be as moist as a banana bread. I melt the butter like I do in my everyday butter cake (hmm, now I want an everyday blueberry cake…). I also did away with the baking soda which was turning my batter gray. Lastly, to better blend the blueberries into the batter I process them with the sour cream. You’re going to love the colors of the batter and the cake 😉

Recipe Ingredients 

Blueberries: fresh, especially the ones that are going a bit soft and aren’t as pleasant to eat anymore. 

Sour cream: full fat. Labneh works too! 

Butter: unsalted preferably. 

Sugar: fine granulated. 

Salt: fine sea salt. If using table salt, halve the amount. 

Lemon: I LOVED this bread with lemon zest. Without it I felt it was a great bread but I do like a punch of flavor and adding lemon zest brought it home for me. 

Eggs: large, at room temperature. 

Flour: all purpose of a medium protein content (low protein works too). 

How to make Blueberry Bread

Roast the berries: set the fresh berries in a cake pan and turn the oven to 350 F. 

Cook them until the berries are soft and the liquid at the bottom of the pan looks thick, about 20-25 minutes. 

Set aside to cool briefly, then add them to a food processor to puree. 

Add the sour cream and puree the mixture until smooth. Let this cool completely. 

Grease then line a standard size loaf pan, 9×5 inches, with parchment paper. 

In a large bowl, melt the butter. 

Add the sugar, salt, lemon zest and vanilla and whisk well. 

Crack in the eggs and whisk until the mix is smooth. 

Add the sour cream blueberry mixture and whisk to combine.

Stir in the flour and baking powder until blended. 

Pour into the prepared pan, sprinkle the top with granulated sugar (the bigger the granules the better for the topping). 

Bake until a cake tester comes out clean, about an hour. 

Let cool briefly in the pan then invert and place upright onto a cooling rack. 

The bread can be served warm or let cool to room temperature and serve later. 

Store leftovers in an airtight container, at room temperature. 

Blueberry Bread Recipe

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