✨Guest Post!✨ Blueberry Bread (BBT challenge) by AS101

Blueberry Bread (BBT challenge)

Blogger’s Note: This delicious looking post was written by Anime Science 101 as a continuation of the BBT Challenge! AS101 has tagged Moya from The Moyatorium as the next participant, and that post will be on her blog!

Animescience101 here, let start by saying thanks to Shoujo for this idea, and letting me post on her blog. As some of you may or may or may not know I used to have a blog about well anime science or how science was portrayed in anime. It came down a while back for a number of reasons that I will not get into but this challenge has sparked my interest in writing again. Thank you for that Shoujo and with that out of the way lets get into the challenge.

1- Post these instructions at the top of your blog post. ❤ #BBTChallenge

2- Consider the baked good recipe you were given by the person who tagged you, and then change it to make it your own! This is Baking Telephone!

3- Write step-by-step instructions for the whole recipe (including your changes!) in your post, and make sure they’re as easy to follow as possible. Please understand that everyone has access to different baking equipment and resources, so substitutes are allowed as needed! (i.e. No bread maker? Oven is fine! Can you sub out cornstarch for potato starch? Sure, if you think it works!)

4- Please tag the person whose recipe you’re modifying so they can see it! Please also tag me (Shoujothoughts!) because I wanna see ALL the transformations!! I’m so excited to see everyone’s takes!

5- Have fun, please! Don’t stress if you think it turned out wrong! None of us are professionals (that I know of, but heeeyyy, if you are, nice) and that’s totally fine. ❤ Just mention what you’d do differently next time and watch it transform!

6- Please complete the challenge within two weeks of being tagged. If you cannot do so, that’s okay! Just let the person who tagged you know within that same time fame so that they can tag someone else. 🙂

FYI- while not a professional I have managed to sell some baked goods, so consider me an enthusiast or prosumer… I dunno… I’m just an ex-science teacher with a hobby. While Shoujo has a bread maker sadly I do not so conventional instructions only and if you need bread maker instructions refer back to her instructions as my recipe just made a few tweaks around the edges.

Take one Bacon Bread

My area of expertise is scones and cookies, but I have made a few breads in my time. Brioche is nice but do not make it by hand there was so much butter to knead I thought my fingers would fall off but I digress. After trying Shoujo’s recipe, which is fantastic and comes across like a chocolate chip cake loaf sort of thing.

My first thought was to make something savory and I had some left-over bacon. Now maple bacon scones are fabulous and I figured it could work for bread so made her recipe sans the chocolate chips. After the rise I rolled out the dough a little and added a crumble of bacon bits and brown sugar rolling it up like a cinnamon roll. After placing it in a loaf pan I brushed it with maple walnut syrup before putting it in the oven to bake. Now it smelled fantastic but as it was cooking, I realized that the left-over thick cut maple bacon (cooked) had been sitting in the fridge for more than 4-5 days and was quite possibly bad.

So, I did not taste my creation on account of my food PTSD (thank you Mongolia) kicking in and sent it right to the trash can.

Take Two Blueberry Bread

With no more bacon I decided that I would go the fruit angle instead using my all-time favorite blueberries.

Step 1- add the following to a bowl

2 cups of all-purpose white flour

1 ½ tablespoons of granulated sugar

2 tablespoons of nonfat dry milk powder

¾ teaspoon of active dry yeast

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

Step 2- Whisk the dry ingredients and then knead in 1 ½ tablespoons of butter. The dry mix should start to appear somewhat crumbly. This will give the dough a more pastry like texture as long as the dough is not over kneaded in later stages.

Step 3- Now add ¾ cups of water and ½ to 2/3 cups of blueberries. Any will do but I prefer frozen organic blueberries on account of their smaller size which means you get more blueberries. Plus, when cooked the frozen blueberries burst adding flavor and improving texture. If the blueberries make the dough to wet add some flour to compensate.

Step 4- The frozen nature of the dough will mean you might need to let the dough rise for a longer period of time and it might be wetter than expected. As long as the dough holds it’s shape and does not immediately rebound (fill in) when poked with a finger you should be fine. This should take 1 ½ to 2 hours or more depending on the temperature of the room. You can add the blueberries after the rise but it means kneading the dough a second time and it is harder to work the blueberries in this way.

Step 5- Grease and flour a loaf pan (I recommend pam baking spray) before placing the loaf in it. At this point you have some options to enhance the flavor, you can brush the loaf with blueberry syrup and or sprinkle on a cinnamon sugar mix.

Cinamon sugar mix- (Shoujo you should try this on your chocolate bread)

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

3 tablespoons of sugar

Step 6- Bake for 30-35 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Yes, I know saying Fahrenheit may be a bit redundant but you weren’t the one who tried making cookies in Mongolia and forgot they were on the Celsius scale. (Wait wasn’t I a science teacher)

Step 7- While the bread is baking it is time for the Blueberry compote. Add the following to a small saucepan and simmer on medium heat for ten minutes. So it should steam and bubble not a full boil. FYI- compote is a French dish that is basically a fruit reduction that can be its own dish or a topping.

¼ cup granulated sugar

3 tablespoons of water

2 teaspoons of orange juice

1 cup of blueberries (I used frozen organic blueberries)

Step 8– After ten minutes add another cup of blueberries and simmer for an additional ten minutes. Towards the end you may need to add some flour (a tablespoon or 2) to thicken up the compote. It shouldn’t be watery but not as thick as a jelly or jam.

Step 9- Remove the bread from the oven and enjoy.

This was my first time make a dessert sort of bread which I think would be great for an afternoon snack, or better yet brunch. Which I might try this weekend with my neighbors or my brothers who saw the pictures and are clamoring to try it. Either way I am nominating Moya next and I look forward to seeing what you create.