Breakfast or dessert? You decide! Either way, this Bread Machine Blueberry Bread delivers bakery-worthy flavors without requiring you to spend your whole day working on it. A swirl of brown sugar berries runs through the bread, and the lemon-kissed crumb on top bakes up golden and just crisp enough to add a little texture to the loaf. It’s soft, sweet, and totally crave-worthy.
This Bread Machine Blueberry Bread became a bit of a project of mine. Every Saturday, I’d mix up another blueberry bread machine recipe, tweak something, slice it, and critique it. It was hard work, let me tell you!
Softer crumb. More blueberries. A little more sweetness. Longer bake time. And then one week I added lemon zest to the topping, and I'm like… okay. That’s it.
Every version of this bread machine blueberry bread got eaten. None of them were bad. But this is the one I'll make again and again.
I didn’t want a basic sandwich loaf with blueberries tossed in, so I knew I was going to oven bake. I wanted something with the flavors of lemon blueberry sweet bread, but with a yeasted bread machine dough. This recipe hit the sweet spot.
If you already make my Bread Machine Focaccia, Bread Machine Sandwich Bread, or Bread Machine Cinnamon Bread, this bread machine blueberry bread recipe fits right in.
Let’s Talk Ingredients
I recommend using whole milk because the fat gives you a softer crumb.
If you can, use small frozen wild blueberries because bigger fresh blueberries can make rolling trickier. If you use frozen blueberries, don’t thaw them. Toss them straight with the flour and brown sugar so they don’t bleed all over your dough. That little flour trick makes a huge difference in blueberry bread in bread machine dough like this.
That crumb topping is what sets this apart from a lot of other bread machine blueberry bread recipes. It bakes into a slightly crisp, sugary lid that makes the whole thing feel like something from a bakery case. If you prefer, though, you could always go with a sugar glaze.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Tips & Tricks
- If the top browns too quickly, tent loosely with foil during the last 15 to 20 minutes.
- For the best results, I recommend that you use an instant-read thermometer to make sure the loaf is done. You want to bake until the internal temperature reaches 190 to 200°F.
- I know it is tempting to slice before the loaf is cool, but from experience, I can tell you that it makes the loaf gummy. Sorry.
- For a lighter texture, measure flour by weight. Over-measuring is a frequent cause of dense results in a bread machine blueberry bread recipe.
Bread Machine Blueberry Bread
Equipment
- Bread Machine
Ingredients
- 240 grams water at room temperature, (1 cup)
- 120 grams milk at room temperature, (½ cup)
- 58 grams butter melted (¼ cup)
- 480 grams all-purpose flour 4 cups
- ⅓ cup white sugar
- 2 teaspoons bread machine yeast
- 2 teaspoons fine sea salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
For Filling
- 1 large egg
- 1 ½ cups small blueberries like frozen wild blueberries
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
Topping
- 30 grams all-purpose flour ¼ cup
- 55 grams brown sugar ¼ cup
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 2 tablespoons butter melted
Instructions
- Place the water, milk, butter, flour, sugar, bread machine yeast, salt, and cinnamon in your bread machine.
- Select the dough function, and process according to the manufacturer’s directions.
Rolling & Filling
- Grease a 9 x 5 bread pan.
- When the dough is done, transfer to a flour-dusted pastry mat.
- Shape the dough into a ball, and then stretch the dough from the outside of the ball to the inside all the way around.
- Roll into an 8 x 16 rectangle.
- Beat the egg in a small dish and brush the surface of the dough. (Save the remaining egg.)
- Toss the blueberries with the flour and brown sugar and sprinkle over the dough.
- Start from the short side and roll the dough up. Pinch the ends together and then tuck under.
- Transfer the dough to the loaf pan and allow to rise in a warm place for 1 hour.
- Make the topping by combining the flour, sugar, and lemon zest in a small bowl. Add the butter, and blend with your fingers until crumbly.
Baking
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Brush the bread with the egg and sprinkle with the topping.
- Bake for 60 to 70 minutes, until the internal temperature is 190 °F.
- Allow to cool in the pan for 15 minutes, and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely before slicing.
Kristine Trapp says
I made this for the first time. I was a little nervous at first because the dough was real sticky when I took it out of the bread machine. However just a little dusting of flour on the mat made it more manageable. The topping didn’t seem like it was enough but after baking it spread out fine like the pictures. I had to bake for the full 70 minutes and did put a foil tent over it the last 20 minutes. I definitely waited until it cooled before cutting into it and it looked and tasted awesome. Will definitely make again!