Blueberry Pull-Apart Bread

 This was one of the many, many delicious-sounding blueberry recipes I collected for my study in blue challenge.  Finally got around to making it this week, and wow!  Pull-apart bread rocks!  Plus this one has flax seed and wheat flour, so you know what that means.  Healthy-ish!

I made this one afternoon when we had friends over, and us two adults and six kids devoured it up in one sitting.  The middle part was unfortunately still doughy or else we would have eaten even more, but don't worry.  I've fixed the original recipe so that won't happen to you.  Blueberries are so sweet this time of year - go bake some into pull-apart bread!

Blueberry Pull-Apart Bread (print recipe)

Makes 1 loaf

Dough:
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, divided
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 T ground flax seed
1/4 cup sugar
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/3 cup whole or 2% milk
1/4 cup water
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten
1/4 cup maple syrup

Filling:
1 cup light brown sugar
6 oz. fresh blueberries, rinsed and picked over
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted until browned

1.  In a large bowl of a stand mixer, with the whisk attachment, whisk together 1 cup all-purpose flour, the whole wheat flour, flax seed, sugar, yeast, and salt.  Set aside.

2.  In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt together milk and butter until butter is just melted.  Remove from heat and mix in water and vanilla; wait until the temperature of the liquid is between 115-125 degrees F.

3.  Change to paddle attachment.  On low speed, pour the milk mixture into the dry ingredients.  After well combined, pour in eggs and maple syrup.  At this stage, the dough will fall apart and separate into pieces - just keep going.  Add in the final 3/4 cup all-purpose flour; mix until everything comes together again.  The dough will be sticky.

4.  Place the dough in a large greased bowl.  Cover with clean humid towel. Place in a warm place and let it rest until double in size, about an hour.  Or you can place it in the fridge overnight.  Remove from fridge 30 minutes before step 8.

5.  While waiting for the dough to rise, in a small bowl, combine filling brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  Set aside.

6.  In a small saucepan, melt the 1/4 cup butter until browned.  The milk solids in the butter will turn medium to dark brown and it will all smell heavenly and nutty.  Do not burn.

7.  Grease a 9x5 or 10x5 loaf pan.

8.  Gently deflate the dough with your hand. Flour a work surface and roll the dough into a 20" by 12" rectangle. You should measure it and make it as accurate as possible. Use a pastry brush to spread the melted butter evenly and liberally over the dough. Sprinkle with all of the sugar-spice mixture.  Use a pizza cutter to cut the dough crosswise in five strips, each 12" by 4". Sprinkle about 1/5 of the blueberries (a small handful) over the first sugared rectangle. Top it with a second rectangle, sprinkling that one with 1/4 of the remaining blueberries. Continue to top with rectangles and blueberries, so you have a stack of five 12" by 4" rectangles, all buttered, sugared, and berried.

9.  Slice this new stack crosswise, through all five layers, into 5 equal rectangles, each about 4" long and 2 - 2 1/2" wide. Carefully transfer these strips of dough into the loaf pan, cut edges up, side by side. This is easier if you prop the loaf pan up on its end. There will be some extra room, but the bread will expand during the second rise and baking. 

10.  Cover with a clean humid towel and let rest again in a warm place for about 45 minutes.

11.  Preheat oven to 350 F.

12.  Place loaf on a parchment-lined baking sheet.  This keeps the bottom from burning but more importantly, catches the drips of juicy, bubbly goodness that may overflow.  You don't want your oven and kitchen filling with smoke like mine did!  Place in the oven and bake until the top is very golden brown, about 30-35 minutes.  Tent with foil if it is browning very quickly.  Bake for another 10-20 minutes, for a total of 45-55 minutes.  Remove from oven and rest for 20 minutes before serving.  

Recipe adapted (=fixed!) from http://sweetmakemesmile.blogspot.com/

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2 years ago:  Kiwi Pops
3 years ago:  Mrs. June's Heavenly Coconut Cake