Blueberry Cream Cheese Braid
This dough is a wonderful one from Beth Henspergers 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.
This dough is a wonderful one from Beth Henspergers 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.
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon milk
- dough:
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1/3 cup sugar
- sponge:
- 1 tablespoon instant yeast
- 1 1/2 cup warm milk
- 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 2 1/2-3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- blueberry filling:
- 2 cups blueberries
- egg glaze:
- cream cheese filling:
- 3/4 cup cream cheese
- 1 tablespoon egg glaze
- Carbohydrate 133.746428671827 g
- Cholesterol 1063.46681865455 mg
- Fat 192.49206409473 g
- Fiber 27.300152281522 g
- Protein 65.2243169806273 g
- Saturated Fat 110.294403333092 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Recipe (1621g)
- Sodium 44736.0247403061 mg
- Sugar 106.446276390305 g
- Trans Fat 21.6853690387072 g
- Calories 2437 calories
Step-by-step
- 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.
- Spread your fillings in the center of the dough.
- At an angle, slice the sides of the dough into tabs approximately 1 inch wide.
- Alternating from side to side, fold the pieces in over the filling. When possible, gentle press on the tabs to seal the folds.
- 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.
- 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.
Yeast does the heavy lifting in this enriched dough, building a structural network capable of holding heavy butter, fruit, and cheese without collapsing. When flour proteins hydrate and connect during the initial sponge stage and subsequent kneading, they form gluten strands that provide the necessary elasticity. Without this strong framework, the weight of the fillings would leak through the pastry during baking, turning a neat braid into a flat puddle.
Managing Texture Through Temperature Control
Achieving the right texture relies heavily on temperature management throughout the process. Chilling the dough overnight in the refrigerator slows yeast activity while firming the butter within the layers, making the chilled dough much easier to roll out to a uniform one-centimeter thickness without tearing. Conversely, letting the shaped pastry proof at room temperature for roughly 45 minutes restores lightness to the crumb before it hits the 350-degree oven heat. If the room is drafty and the dough refuses to rise, place the baking sheet inside a cold oven alongside a pan of freshly boiled water to create a stable, humid microclimate.
Balancing Moisture in the Fillings
Juicy fruit fillings present a distinct textural hazard due to their high water content. Boiling the blueberries with cornstarch gelatinizes the starches before the pastry ever sees the oven, trapping excess liquid so the interior dough stays soft instead of soggy. When cutting the side tabs for the braid, keep them approximately one inch wide to ensure even overlapping. Brushing the exterior with an egg glaze twice—once before the final rise and once right before baking—promotes Maillard browning on the surface while sealing in internal moisture. Allow the baked pastry to rest for at least thirty minutes on a wire rack before slicing, giving the internal starches time to set completely so the layers hold their distinct shapes when portioned.
