Breakfast with the BBB - Blueberry Yeast Coffeecake

Join us this month in using the summer bounty of berries in this delicious yeast risen coffee cake chosen by our host kitchen at Judy's Gross Eats.  We are fortunate to be in an area where "U-pick" berry fields are easy to come by, but this rich and delightful coffeecake is easily made with a homemade blueberry jam using frozen blueberries any time of year.  The original recipe is made with a brioche, but I am on a challah dough loving kick right now, and happy enough that it is lovely tasting and not quite so rich as brioche!  I had used the same bucket method for challah recently as is described for the brioche in the original recipe and post and knew it would work beautifully.  If it will make awesome sticky buns, it will make brilliant coffeecake!

Since this recipe makes enough dough for 3-4 batches, consider trying out something else, like cinnamon rolls, sticky buns, or sweet rolls of some sort.  You can cut down to a quarter batch with the challah dough easily for just a single coffeecake since the eggs split up nicely that way.  Feel free to use the original brioche from our host kitchen's post, or the challah listed here.  They are both the same method and super easy, since you basically throw it in a bucket, barely mix up, and leave it overnight to be ready in the morning!  I think I over-baked mine by 5 minutes because I wasn't sure it was done due to the center rise differential, and it was still delicious!  My daughter's friend happily gobbled up two pieces.  Hubby and youngest loved it as well.

We would love for you to join in as a buddy baker this month! You don't have to have a blog to participate, a picture will do.  Just send a picture or your post of your finished bread to the host kitchen by the 29th of this month.  You will receive a Bread Baking Buddy graphic to keep or add to your post, and be included in our Buddy round up at the end of the month.  New recipes are posted every month on the 16th.  Check out our Facebook group to see the participants' baking results during that time.

Yeasted Blueberry Coffee Cake

Challah Dough:
makes enough for 3-4 cakes

Lukewarm water:  1¾ cups/14 oz./400 grams

Granulated yeast:  1 tbsp/.35 oz./10 grams

Kosher salt:  1-1½ tbsp/.6-.9 oz./17-25 grams

Large eggs, lightly beaten:  4/8 oz./225 grams

Honey:  ½ cup/6 oz./170 grams

Butter, melted:  ½ cup (1 stick)/4 oz./115 grams

All-purpose flour:  7 cups/2 lb., 3 oz./990 grams

Mix the water, yeast, salt, eggs, honey, and melted butter in a 6-quart bowl or a lidded container/dough bucket.

Mix in the flour until fully incorporated, but without kneading.  Use a Danish dough whisk, a large wooden spoon, or a heavy-duty stand mixer (with paddle).  The dough will be loose but will firm up when chilled; don’t try to work with it before chilling.

Cover loosely and allow to rest at room temperature for 2 hours, then refrigerate.

The dough may be used as soon as it is well chilled and easy to handle, at least 3 hours. Refrigerate the container and use over the next 5 days.

This recipe may be halved if you don't want to end up with extra.  If you halve it, try to use at least a 3-quart container to prevent the dough rising above the top.  Even a half recipe will provide enough dough for two separate bakes.

Blueberry Skillet Jam

one cake worth

5 cups fresh or frozen wild blueberries

1 cup sugar (I only used ½ cup)

Juice of ½ lemon (juice of a whole lime plus a tbsp lemon juice)

Cook the berries, sugar and juice until the blueberries have broken down a bit and the fruit juices are thick enough that you can run the spoon across the bottom of the pan and it doesn’t immediately fill in.  It should be the consistency of honey.

You are welcome to experiment with other fruits.

This can be made ahead.

Streusel Topping

one cake worth

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup brown sugar

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

Pinch salt

2 tbsp unsalted butter, softened

In a bowl mix together the flour, sugar, cinnamon and salt. Add the butter and work it into the sugar mixture with your fingers.

This can be made ahead.

Assembly:

Take 12 ounces of the brioche (challah) dough, or 16 ounces if you are using a 9” springform pan. (You can also use Whole Wheat brioche dough.) (I did use the 9" springform.)

Divide the dough into 3 pieces, shape each piece into a ball and then roll out into disks that will fit comfortably into the springform or cake pan.  It’s okay if the edges go up slightly on the sides.  Let the dough rest for a few minutes if it does not want to roll out easily.

Lay one of the disks into the pan.

Cover with 1/3 of the jam, spreading it out, but not quite to the edges.

Repeat with the remaining two disks of dough and jam.

Cover the pan and allow to rest for 1-1½ hours, depending on the warmth of your kitchen.

While the coffee cake is resting and rising, set out or prepare the streusel topping.

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Add the streusel to the pan just before baking, otherwise it will get soggy from the jam.  Scatter it over the top, still in pieces.  Don’t press it down, just leave in nice chunks.

 

Bake for about 45 minutes. Let it cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing the sides of the pan.

Let cool for 20 minutes before cutting to allow the bread layers to set or cool longer and serve room temperature.

The rest of the Bread Baking Babes

• Blog from OUR Kitchen – Elizabeth
• Judy’s Gross Eats – Judy
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories – Karen
• My Diverse Kitchen - Aparna
• Bread Experience - Cathy
• Thyme for Cooking - Katie
• My Kitchen in Half Cups - Tanna
• Bake My Day - Karen
• Feeding My Enthusiasms - Elle 

Approximate nutrition for a wedge of a coffeecake cut into 12 pieces :