Blueberry Lemon Sourdough Bread

Wait til you experience the delicate flavors of this delicious lemon blueberry sourdough bread. It's a lovely combination of sweet and tangy and will leave your tastebuds dancing!

This flavor combination works so well together! When playing around with these flavors, I tested out a few different ways to include the blueberries and I found that the best way was to use dried blueberries. They retained their shape when baked and didn't leach too much of their color through the bread (trust me this is super important and something I will talk more about in this post).

If you love this blueberry lemon sourdough bread, you might also enjoy these other sourdough blueberry recipes or perhaps this sourdough lemon and white chocolate loaf is your next bake?

Why You'll Love This Recipe!

Fresh Flavors - This blueberry lemon sourdough loaf encapsulates spring and summer flavors by harnessing the popular flavor combination in a sourdough loaf. But you don't have to wait until spring or summer, because this loaf uses dried blueberries which are available at any time of year.

It's Taylor Swift's Favorite - If you're a Swiftie, you'll be happy to know that this is one of Taylor Swift's fave recipes! Along with this funfetti sourdough loaf and this sourdough cinnamon swirl bread.

Ingredients

• Sourdough Starter - you'll need active sourdough starter to create this delicious loaf. I don't recommend using sourdough discard, as this will not have enough leavening power to rise your loaf.
• Water
• Bread Flour - make sure you use bread flour rather than all purpose flour. This is incredibly important for this loaf because of the inclusions you're adding. You could also add some vital wheat gluten to your bread flour to further increase it's protein content.
• Salt
• Dried Blueberries - I recommend 50g to 100g of dried blueberries for this recipe. 
• Maple Syrup - You can swap out the maple syrup for vanilla extract if you prefer. 
• Lemon Zest - I recommend using an unwaxed lemon to get the most flavor from the zest.

How to Make Blueberry Lemon Sourdough Bread

Before You Start - Prepare the Blueberries

An hour before you start mixing this sourdough, you need to prepare the blueberries. You could also do this while your dough is in autolyse. Put your blueberries into a small bowl and cover them with 10g of Maple Syrup and just enough boiling water to cover them. Cover with cling wrap and put aside until you need them (these can be made the day before if you want, but as long as they sit for an hour they will be fine).

Premix & Autolyse

Weigh out your sourdough starter and water into a large mixing bowl. This recipe is based on you having an active starter that you have fed a few hours before starting your bake.

Mix the water and starter together briefly. Then add your flour and salt and mix together with the end of a wooden spoon. The dough will be fairly shaggy and only just brought together.

Cover your bowl with cling film or a damp tea towel and let it sit at room temperature for around 1 hour. It's ok if it's a little longer.

Forming Up Your Dough

After the dough has been through autolyse, you need to bring it together into a ball. You'll notice that the dough is fully hydrated after soaking up all the liquid. It will be fairly sticky but as you bring it into a ball, it will become smoother and shinier.

Work your way around the bowl, grabbing the dough from the outside and stretching it up and over itself until a smooth ball is formed. You shouldn't need more than 20-25 folds to form the ball, you might need less. You just need to let the dough tell you

Once the dough has formed into a smooth ball, pop the cling film back on and let it rest for around 30 minutes.

Stretch & Folds / Adding Flavors

Over the next few hours, you need to create some structure for you dough by stretching and folding. Aim to do around 4-6 sets of stretches and folds. For each set, stretch the dough up and over itself 4 times. You'll find it gets easier to do at each set as the gluten in your dough develops.

Around your second or third set of stretch and folds, drain the blueberries and add the drained blueberries and lemon zest to your dough. Discard the liquid from the blueberries.

Try to incorporate them without disturbing all the beautiful bubbles that will be forming in your dough. I find it's easiest to actually get your dough out of the bowl and pop it on the bench top. Add the flavors on top of the dough and gently stretch and fold the dough around them. Don't worry if they aren't all through your dough on the first add - you'll have them worked through by the last set.

Bulk Ferment

Once you've finished your stretch and folds, place the plastic wrap or damp dish towel back over your dough and let it bulk ferment at room temperature until the dough has doubled. This is where you allow the dough to rest while the wild yeast create all those gorgeous gas bubbles!

Shaping Your Dough

Once your dough has finished its bulk ferment, you need to shape it. I've chosen to shape into a boule for this recipe, but you can use any shape you prefer. The main thing to remember is to create tension when you shape so that you get the best sourdough oven spring when your loaf hits the oven.

Once you're happy with the shape, place your dough into your banneton basket or bowl, ensuring that you've liberally floured whatever you are using. I like to use rice flour or semolina inside my bannetons to ensure that the sourdough won't stick to the basket.

Cold Ferment or Proof

Now your dough is in it's shaping container, cover it loosely with a plastic bag or damp dish towel and place it into the fridge.

Try to leave it for a minimum of 5 hours, up to a maximum of 36 hours. The longer you leave it, the better your bread will be. It gives the good bacteria in your loaf time to create that signature sourdough flavor, but also allows the lemon and blueberry flavors to infuse your dough.

Preparing To Bake

Once you're ready to bake your sourdough, you'll need to preheat your oven to 230C/450F. Place your Dutch Oven into the oven when you turn it on so that it gets hot. Try to preheat for around 1 hour to ensure your oven is super hot - but you know your oven, so just adjust this time if you need to.

Leave the dough in the fridge until the very last minute.

Time To Bake!

When your oven is at temperature, take your sourdough out of the fridge. Gently place it onto a piece of parchment paper.

Gently score your bread with a lame, clean razor blade or sharp knife. A cross is sufficient, but you can get as artistic as you like.

Carefully take your Dutch Oven out of the oven. Place the sourdough into the hot Dutch oven using the baking paper as a handle. Put the lid on and place into the hot oven. If you want you can spritz your dough with extra water before you put the lid on.

BAKE TIME:

Bake your sourdough for 30 minutes with the lid on at 230C/450F plus

12-15 minutes with the lid off at around 200C/390F.

Keep an eye on your bread at this stage - because it has blueberries and sugar in it, the sugar can make the top go very dark, very quickly.

I tend to turn my oven back to 200C for the last 10-15 minutes with the lid off as I don't want to caramelise the crust too much on this one. I find a lighter crust works better with the delicate lemon flavor.

Once the time has elapsed, remove your sourdough from your Dutch Oven. Turn off your oven and place the sourdough back into the oven, directly on your oven rack. Let it cool in here with the door ajar for 1-2 hours, rather than using a wire rack.

Sample Baking Timeline

TIME	PROCESS
9 am	Premix and autolyse for around an hour, forming up the dough and leaving to rest for another 30 minutes before stretch and folds. Soak the dried blueberries while the dough is in autolyse.
11 am	1st stretch and fold
11.30 am	2nd stretch and fold - add the drained blueberries and lemon zest
12 pm	3rd stretch and fold - continue to distribute the soaked blueberries and lemon zest through the dough.
12.30 pm	4th stretch and fold
1 pm	Bulk fermentation at room temperature remembering that the soaked blueberries will speed up the fermentation process due to the sugars.
6 pm	Shape dough into a boule or batard, place into banneton and then into fridge for cold fermentation.
9 am	Wake and bake! The next morning, you can get up, make a coffee and bake your blueberry lemon sourdough loaf (I recommend some Taylor Swift to set the mood).

Flavor Notes

Blueberries and lemon go well together because the sweetness of the blueberries complements the tartness of the lemon, creating a balanced and harmonious flavor profile. The sweetness of the blueberries offsets the tangy citrus notes of the lemon, resulting in a delightful combination that is both refreshing and flavorful.

• As with any recipe, you can adjust the amount of blueberries to suit your personal taste. I like from 50g to 100g of dried blueberries but you can adjust the amount to suit your taste.
• I use the zest of a whole lemon in this recipe - you can certainly increase this if you want to. I peel the lemon and then slice the zest to get as much as I can. Alternatively, you can use a lemon zester to do this. I highly recommend using unwaxed lemon.
• If you want a more intense lemon flavor you could increase the lemon zest or add a teaspoon of lemon extract along with the water. I don't recommend adding lemon juice to this loaf.

Serving Ideas 

You're going to love serving this lemon blueberry sourdough bread with homemade butter. You might also like some of these serving suggestions:

• Toast slices of this loaf and smear with homemade lemon curd for the perfect sweet afternoon snack.
• My personal favourite is toasting this lemony bread and topping it with homemade ricotta then dusting with a little powdered sugar and lemon juice. YUM! It's kind of like a dessert vibe, but it's totally acceptable at breakfast!
• You might also enjoy serving this special lemon blueberry sourdough loaf with this cinnamon honey butter or whipped maple butter.

I'm sure you'll find your own way of enjoying this delicious loaf!

Recipe Testing Notes

When creating this recipe I tested so many ways of adding the blueberries in order to create the perfect loaf. Here are some of my recipe testing notes so you can understand why I chose to go with dried blueberries for this loaf.

Fresh Blueberries - I did have success adding fresh blueberries to this loaf, however, I found that there was often issues with fermentation using fresh blueberries. Fresh blueberries are better suited to sourdough quick bread like this sourdough berry banana bread.

Frozen Blueberries - I don't recommend using frozen blueberries when making sourdough bread. The frozen blueberries become very wet and juicy when defrosted and will add too much liquid to the dough. You'll end up with a big, sticky mess. Frozen blueberries are perfect for these sourdough blueberry muffins or these sourdough brioche blueberry cheesecake rolls.

Dried Blueberries - I tested this recipe using straight dried blueberries (without soaking them first), as well as soaking them first. I much preferred the loaf where the blueberries have been soaked, but you can of course add them without soaking them first. I also found that using dried berries didn't interfere with the hydration of the bread.

How To Store + Freeze

Like most sourdough bread, this blueberry lemon sourdough loaf is best eaten within 24 hours of baking. Allow it to fully cool at room temperature before slicing with a good quality bread knife.

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