A summery take on a bakery-favorite bread, this lemon blueberry babka looks impressive but is completely doable in your home kitchen. A rich lemon-hinted dough is beautifully swirled with a homemade blueberry filling, and topped with buttery brown sugar crumbles. A drizzle of lemon icing on top is the perfect finishing touch! Follow my step-by-step photos and helpful tips for best results. You can also reference my Baking with Yeast Guide for answers to common yeast FAQs.
This recipe is brought to you in partnership with Red Star Yeast.
Have you ever made homemade babka before? Babka is made from a rich, buttery dough. It originated in the early 1800s with the Jewish community. Leftover challah dough was filled with jam or cinnamon, rolled up, and baked in a loaf pan. The babka we see all over the place today is richer and sweeter than its ancestor, typically filled with chocolate or other fillings like pesto or almond paste. Food52 has an in-depth article all about babka if you want to read more about its history and wonderful rise in popularity!
I have recipes for Nutella babka and apple cinnamon babka, and for today’s version, I wanted to introduce some fresh summer flavors to this unique twisted bread.
This Blueberry-Filled Babka Is:
- Buttery, moist, and flaky, with just the right amount of sweetness
- Swirled with blueberry filling made from fresh blueberries
- Topped with buttery brown sugar crumbles and a tangy-sweet lemon icing
- Worth the effort, trust me!
Ingredients You Need
These are the ingredients you need for the filling, dough, and brown sugar crumb topping.
- Fresh Blueberries: Use fresh blueberries to make the blueberry ham filling. In testing, the filling made with frozen blueberries was overly runny, which made for a very, very messy shaping experience. I do not recommend it at all.
- Sugar:Â A little sugar feeds the yeast in the dough, increases its activity, and tenderizes the dough. You also need sugar for the blueberry filling.
- Milk:Â Liquid activates the yeast. For the softest bread, use whole milk. Nondairy or low-fat milks work too, but whole milk produces the best texture.
- Yeast:Â You can use active dry yeast or instant yeast. If using active dry yeast, the rise times will be a little longer. I recommend Platinum Yeast from Red Star, which is an instant yeast blended with natural dough improvers.
- Butter: Butter promises a flavorful and soft bread. Make sure it’s softened to room temperature. You also need butter in the crumb topping.
- Egg + Egg White: 1 egg provides structure and richness in the dough, and you also need an egg white to brush on top of the loaf before baking.
- Lemon: You need zest for the dough, and juice for the blueberry filling and optional lemon icing. 1 regular-size lemon should be enough for all of it.
- Salt: You can’t make flavorful bread without salt!
- Vanilla Extract: A little vanilla for extra flavor.
- Flour: You can use bread flour or all-purpose flour in this dough. All-purpose flour is convenient for many, but bread flour produces a slightly chewier babka. You also need flour (either kind) for the crumb topping.
- Brown Sugar: A little brown sugar for the crumb topping.
Let’s Walk Through the Steps
The full written recipe is below, but let me walk you through the steps so you can understand the process before starting:
Make the dough. This is a soft, rich, puffy, and buttery yeast dough. If you need extra help with the kneading step, see my detailed video tutorial on How to Knead Dough.
Let the dough rise in a warm environment until (roughly) doubled in size. Since this dough is so rich with butter, it takes quite awhile to rise. Do not be alarmed if your dough takes up to 4 hours; this is completely normal.
If your room temperature is on the cooler side, you can use your oven to help with rising. Preheat your oven to 150°F (66°C), then turn the oven off and place the covered bowl of dough inside. Leave the oven door slightly cracked open.
Time-saving tips: As the dough rises, you can make the blueberry filling because it needs to fully cool down. You can also make the crumb topping during this time.
Easy Blueberry Jam Filling
We are essentially making a quick blueberry jam (without the pectin). You need just 3 ingredients: fresh blueberries, sugar, and lemon juice. Combine them all in a saucepan/pot over medium heat. You’ll bring it all to a boil until it’s somewhat reduced (if you have a candy or instant-read thermometer, it should reach about 215–220°F (102–104°C).
You should have about 1/2 cup, or around 160g, give or take.
Success Tip: Again, the homemade blueberry jam filling must cool completely before you spread it on the dough. To speed this up, pour the filling into a shallow heat-safe dish (I use a Pyrex pie dish) and let cool. The filling will thicken as it cools.
How to Shape Lemon Blueberry Babka
Note that you should shape the lemon blueberry babka on a surface you don’t worry about possibly getting stained, because should the blueberry filling run over the edges, it will stain.
Punch down the dough to release the air bubbles. You’ll be left with super soft and supple dough. Roll it out into a 9×15-inch rectangle. Spread the blueberry filling on top:
Roll it up into a log, as if you were making cinnamon rolls. Fold log in half, then twist into a figure 8.
Why am I shaping the dough like this? Babka dough can be rolled up and then sliced down the center of the log so the filling is exposed. It’s how I shape Nutella babka, in fact. However, today’s filling and the filling in my apple cinnamon babka, are both quite messy. Shaping it this way, without the filling exposed, is much easier and neater. (And again, this filling can stain your work surface! So today’s shaping method is ideal.)
Let the shaped babka rise in a greased loaf pan for about 1–1.5 hours. After it rises, brush the surface with egg white, and then poke holes in the surface with a skewer or toothpick, to allow steam to escape during baking. This helps prevent the layers from separating.
Quick Crumble Topping
Mix a little brown sugar and flour together. (You could even include a little lemon zest if you have extra!) Add cold butter and use a pastry cutter, fork, or your fingers to mix it all together into crumbs. Again, you can make this while the dough rises. Sprinkle it on top of the babka.
The only thing better than eating babka is smelling babka as it bakes—just you wait!! The bread takes about 50 minutes to bake, give or take. If you notice the top browning too quickly, loosely tent the pan with aluminum foil. (I usually set a timer for 30 minutes, tent with foil, then set a timer for 20 more minutes.)
Let’s Eat!
Whisk together a simple lemon icing and drizzle on top of the warm babka, if you’d like. But the bread is plenty delicious without it, too.
Now comes the best part: slicing into your masterpiece, and getting your first look at those beautiful blueberry swirls inside! Every single loaf looks different. In fact, today’s photos were taken of two different loaves and the swirls are vertical in one, and horizontal in another. I can’t wait to see how yours turn out!
This is no lowly loaf of bread—this is lemon blueberry babka, and you made it from scratch. 🙂
More Lemon Blueberry Recipes
Description
A summery take on a bakery-favorite bread, this lemon blueberry babka looks impressive but is completely doable in your home kitchen. A rich lemon-hinted dough is beautifully swirled with a homemade blueberry jam filling, and topped with buttery lemon crumbles. Creamy lemon icing brings it all together, but it totally optional.
Dough
Blueberry Filling
Crumble Topping
Brush on Assembled Loaf
Lemon Icing (Optional)
- Prepare the dough: Whisk the warm milk, yeast, and 1 Tablespoon of sugar together in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a dough hook or paddle attachment. Cover and allow to sit for 5 minutes, until foamy and frothy on top. *If you don’t have a stand mixer, mix the dough by hand using a silicone spatula or wooden spoon.*
- Add the remaining sugar, butter, lemon zest, egg, vanilla, salt, and 1 cup (130g) of bread flour. Beat on low speed for 30 seconds, scrape down the sides of the bowl with a silicone spatula, then add another 1 cup of flour. Beat on medium speed until relatively incorporated (there may still be chunks of butter). Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a silicone spatula. Add 1/2 cup of flour and beat on medium speed until the dough begins to come together. As the mixer runs, add another 2–4 Tablespoons of flour depending on how wet the dough looks. This should be a very soft and almost creamy-feeling dough. Do not add more flour than you need.
- Knead the dough: Keep the dough in the mixer (and switch to the dough hook if using the paddle) and beat for an additional 6–8 full minutes, or knead by hand on a lightly floured surface for 6–8 full minutes. (If you’re new to bread-baking, my How to Knead Dough video tutorial can help here.) If the dough becomes too sticky during the kneading process, sprinkle 1 teaspoon of flour at a time on the dough or on the work surface/in the bowl to make a soft, slightly tacky dough. Do not add more flour than you need because you do not want a dry dough. After kneading, the dough should still feel a little soft. Poke it with your finger—if it slowly bounces back, your dough is ready to rise.
- 1st rise: Lightly grease a large bowl with nonstick spray or butter. Place the dough in the bowl, turning it to coat all sides. Cover the bowl tightly and allow the dough to rise in a relatively warm environment until nearly double in size, about 3–4 hours. This dough is rich with fat, so it takes longer than other doughs to rise. Do not be alarmed if it takes around 4 hours. (If desired, use my warm oven trick for rising. See my answer to Where Should Dough Rise? in my Baking with Yeast Guide.)
- While the dough is rising, make the blueberry filling: Combine blueberries, sugar, and lemon juice together in a small saucepan with tall sides over medium heat. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula, pressing the blueberries against the sides of the pan (stand back in case they splatter!). Once the blueberries are mostly smashed and the sugar has dissolved, stop stirring and allow to come to a boil. Boil, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is slightly reduced, about 10 minutes. (If you have a candy or instant-read thermometer, the mixture should reach about 215–220°F.) You should have about 1/2 cup (around 160g). Remove from heat and allow to cool completely. The filling will thicken as it cools. You can transfer it to a shallow heat-safe dish and place it in the refrigerator to cool down quicker. Set aside.
- Grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan with nonstick spray or butter.
- Shape the dough: When the dough is ready, punch it down to release the air. Flour a work surface, your hands, and a rolling pin. Roll the dough out to a 9×15-inch rectangle. *Note: Should it run over the sides of the dough, the blueberry filling can stain a work surface. If needed, transfer the rolled-out dough to a piece of parchment paper or silicone baking mat.* Gently spread the blueberry filling mixture on top, leaving a 1/2-inch border uncovered. Using floured hands, tightly roll up the dough to form a 15-inch-long log. Place the log on its seam. Fold in half, then twist it to form a figure 8. Pinch the ends together. Place in the prepared loaf pan. Visuals for this step:
- 2nd rise: Loosely cover shaped babka. Allow to rise until it’s puffy and nearly reaches the top of the loaf pan, at least 1–1.5 hours.
- Make the crumble topping: Mix the brown sugar and flour together in a small bowl. Add the cold butter and, using a pastry cutter, fork, or your fingers, cut the butter into the brown sugar mixture until pea-size crumbles form. Refrigerate or freeze until ready to use. (Cold crumbles are best!)
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C).Â
- Brush the surface of the babka with egg white. Using a toothpick, poke 10–12 holes all over the top of the loaf; this helps prevent an air bubble gap in the interior layers. Sprinkle with crumble topping. Visuals:
- Bake: Bake for 50 minutes or until golden brown on top. The surface of the bread browns quickly, so I recommend loosely tenting the pan with aluminum foil around the 30-minute mark. To ensure the bread is done at 50 minutes, give the warm bread a light tap. If it sounds hollow, it’s done. For a more accurate test, the bread is done when an instant-read thermometer reads the center of the loaf as 195°F (90°C).
- Remove from the oven and allow bread to cool in the pan for at least 30 minutes before slicing and serving. A serrated knife is best for slicing.
- Make the lemon icing, if using: In a medium bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk together confectioners’ sugar, lemon juice, and milk. Drizzle over the babka. Slice and serve.
- Cover leftover babka tightly and store at room temperature for 2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: Baked babka (without icing) freezes wonderfully. Wrap the cooled loaf in plastic wrap, then a layer of aluminum foil. Freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw wrapped loaf overnight in the refrigerator or at room temperature, then unwrap and warm to your liking. You can also freeze the dough. After punching down the dough in step 7, wrap the dough tightly in plastic wrap, then a layer of aluminum foil. Freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then punch the dough down again to release any air bubbles. Continue with the rest of step 7.
- Make-Ahead Instructions: Prepare the dough through step 3. Place into a greased bowl (use nonstick spray to grease). Cover tightly and place in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours. Remove from the refrigerator and allow the dough to come to room temperature, then let it rise until doubled in size, about 3 hours. Continue with step 6. You can prepare the blueberry filling and crumble topping ahead of time as well. Let the filling cool completely, then store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Refrigerate or freeze the topping for up to 1 week.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Stand Mixer or Large Glass Mixing Bowl | Citrus Zester | Citrus Juicer | Silicone Spatula or Wooden Spoon | 9×5-inch Loaf Pan | Rolling Pin | Pastry Cutter | Pastry Brush
- Yeast: Platinum Yeast from Red Star is an instant yeast. Any instant yeast works. You can use a 1:1 substitution of active dry yeast instead with no changes to the recipe. Rise times will be slightly longer if using active dry yeast. Reference my Baking with Yeast Guide for answers to common yeast FAQs.
