Whole Wheat Blackberry Cream Cheese Swirl Bread with Vanilla Bean Glaze
As an amazon associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Whole wheat bread swirled with homemade blackberry jam and a rich cream cheese swirl, drizzled with sweet vanilla bean glaze!
Lately I'm all about scaring myself, it seems.
For my most recent post, I made jam. The kind you have to sterilize jars for, and put in a water bath. (!)
And now, here I am baking bread. (!)
But it's all good. I mean, it's working out fine. The jam came out amazing, nice and thick and like a super-intense, sweet blackberry flavor bomb. And the jars all sealed! The whole business only took an hour or so, and most of that time was spent running the fruit through a sieve to get the seeds out.
I will never fear jam again. In fact, I'm embracing it. I totally want to do it again! It's fun! (<--Yes, I am kind of a dork...)
Bread has always been a little scary for me. I mean, I'm not totally afraid of yeast. I do make pizza dough. And cinnamon rolls. They are always good. But the one time I took a crack at actual BREAD-bread, the results left a bit to be desired.
But I just couldn't get the idea of freshly baked homemade bread swirled with cream cheese and blackberry jam outta my head.
Let's conquer our fears!
I really wish I had taken better photos for this post, because these pics do not do justice. Hindsight's always 20/20, and I'm kicking myself for not taking an extra minute to check a few test shots on the computer screen and bump up the iso. No amount of editing can turn a bad photo good, and hopefully I won't forget that lesson again. >:(
Anyhow, this bread is even SO much better than I thought it would be. I totally did a double-take when I tasted it!
It bakes up super fluffy, soft, and moist, with a little bit of a nutty texture from the whole wheat flour. And the dough's so easy to work with. You don't even need to sprinkle the work surface with flour! It comes together in a snap, with most of the prep time indicated in the recipe being rise time, which is completely hands-off. And that blackberry cream cheese swirl! Omg, heaven! The vanilla bean glaze just takes the whole thing to another level. It's a little detail but it adds so much!
Mix up the dough and pop it in a greased bowl. Set it in a warm place to rise for an hour.
Roll it out to a rectangle shape, about 9 inches on the short side, and ¼ inch thick. Spread on a thick layer of seedless blackberry jam, and then layer the cheesecakey goodness on top.
Carefully roll it up like a log, just like if you were making cinnamon rolls...
...and plop it into a greased loaf pan. Another hour to rise, and then bake it up all puffy and golden!
Once it's cooled, it gets drizzled with the most intensely aromatic vanilla bean glaze...
It's just the perfect touch of sweetness against the nutty whole wheat bread, the tart blackberry jam, and the rich cheesecake.
Baking this up while the kids are busy at school is definitely the right move. You're going to want to get right on that.
Your whole house will smell amazing (hi, fresh baked bread), and it makes THE most perfect breakfast on-the-go for busy mornings. I mean, even easier than toast, friends! You don't even have to spread anything on it.
It's all right there!
How do you do with bread? Does it scare you a little bit? Canning jam? Or is it something else that freaks the bejesus out of you? What motivates you to conquer your food fears?
As an amazon associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Whole Wheat Blackberry Cream Cheese Swirl Bread with Vanilla Bean Glaze
Ingredients
For the Bread:
- 1 ¼ cups (156.25 g) all-purpose flour
- ½ cup (60 g) whole wheat flour
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
- ¼ ounce (7.09 g) dry active yeast, (1 packet)
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- ⅓ cup (78.86 ml) milk, (I used almond milk, but any kind would work), lukewarm
- 1 egg, (large)
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter,, softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the Filling:
- 8 ounces (226.8 g) cream cheese,, softened
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 egg yolk, (large)
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice, (juice of half a lemon)
- ⅛ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup (170 g) seedless blackberry jam
For the Vanilla Bean Glaze:
- ¾ cup (90 g) powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste, (extract may be substituted)
Instructions
Make the Bread Dough:
- Place the first 5 (dry) ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Stir to combine.
- Add the remaining ingredients, and allow to knead (with the dough hook attachment) for 5 minutes.
- Transfer to a lightly greased bowl, cover, and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size (about 1 hour).
Make the Filling:
- Place the first 5 filling ingredients in a medium bowl. Stir until well combined.
Assemble the Bread:
- Roll the dough out, in a roughly rectangular shape, to about 9-inches on the short side, and about ¼-inch thick.
- Spread the surface with blackberry jam, leaving a ½-inch margin around the perimeter.
- Spread the cream cheese filling over the blackberry jam.
- Roll the dough up into a (short) log, and place in a lightly greased 9x5-inch loaf pan.
- Cover, and allow it to rise in a warm place until doubled in size (about one hour).
- Bake at 375 degrees F for 50 minutes, or until golden brown.
Make the Vanilla Bean Glaze:
- While the bread bakes, combine the vanilla bean glaze ingredients in a small bowl and whisk until smooth.
- Allow the bread to cool completely in the pan.
- Remove bread from the loaf pan and place on a wire cooling rack. Drizzle with the vanilla bean glaze.
Stopping by to let you know you've been featured this week at the TGIF Link Party! We hope you'll stop by to link up with us again!
http://www.livingbettertogether.com/2013/09/tgif-link-party-no-12.html
Yay! Thank you so much, Rebecca! I've linked up two recipes this week 🙂
Hi from your newest follower on G+, twitter, pinterest, facebook and bloglovin! Like I said over at BlogHer, this recipe looks awesome and I can't wait to give it a shot! We have having a linky party over at Wonderful at Home. I hope you can stop by and link up some of your Wonderful Recipes! Here is the link: http://wonderfulathome.blogspot.com/2013/09/wonderful-wednesdays-link-up-4-with.html
Have a good evening!
Thank you, Kristen! And I'm so sorry I didn't see your original comment on BlogHer! I'm sorta new to posting on BlogHer and it never occurred to me to check for comments there (duh!). I will have to start doing that. Thank you so much for all the follows, and I have reciprocated. I'll be linking up to your party in just a few; thanks so much for inviting me!
Such a pretty bread Allie and I just love the swirl! Pinned!
This bread looks absolutely incredible Allie!
Wow, thanks Nancy! It's super delicious, I hope you try it sometime. Thanks so much for stopping by here, and leaving such a nice comment!
Allie, I'm stopping over from Show Stopper Saturday to say this bread looks pretty amazing! I love the combination of blackberries and cream cheese in a whole wheat bread.
Hi Ashley, thanks for stopping by! So glad you enjoyed the post. Hope to see you here again!
I think your pictures look amazing! I'm afraid of yeast too, but this bread looks so delicious, I think I need to get over my fear!
Aw, thanks Christin! But don't be afraid, this bread recipe is goof-proof! I'm thinking about making it again, just as a plain loaf, because it was so easy and the texture is so similar to the sandwich bread I usually buy. I hope you give it a try, and thanks for stopping by again! 🙂
Your bread is beautiful! You are right, the kids would love to have that as an afternoon snack. I am not afraid to bake bread, but canning is a whole other issue. First I have to grow enough in my garden to can 🙂 (that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.)
We don't have quite enough in our garden either! I just stopped at the market to pick up more tomatoes, because our entire harvest amounted to only two little jelly jars once it was cooked down, lol! But don't be scared, it's as simple as using warm, sterile jars, softening the lids, and then submerging them in boiling water for 10 minutes. I'm a canning fool now 😀
Thanks for the sweet compliment about the bread. We are currently devouring our way through it on a daily basis... 😉
Wow this looks soooo good! I don't usually make bread for a simple reason: I suck at multitasking! So if I have to wait an hour for it to prove I'll probably be sitting nearby doing some kind of mindless task. I simply cannot concentrate on anything else really hard when I'm expecting something to get ready! It's weird, I know, probably some type of anxiety issue 😉 I think I'll have to buy a bread machine...
Ha ha, I can see that. I was pretty impatient waiting for this one. I was just so anxious to see how it'd come out! But other times I've left the dough go for hours, distracting myself with other projects around the house. Glad you liked, though! xx
I love baking bread! But this is not just a bread - it's a masterpiece, Allie! I love the swirl and the glaze!
Awww, thank you Anna! It was so much fun to make, and even more fun to nibble on for breakfast! So happy you enjoyed, thanks for reading, and for the sweet comment! <3
This is such a great idea! I am afraid of jamming and bread baking but need to conquer those fears!
Just go for it, Melanie! If I can do it, anybody can! Thanks for stopping by ;D
I LOVE these kind of sweetened yeast breads, I could eat the whole thing. It looks so delicious.
Thanks, Laura! It tasted even better than I expected. Thanks for the sweet comment!
Bread which tastes of cheesecake? Ok, what, is this even real??? I need to try this now, wow this looks so good and your pictures are as perfect as always, it definitely looks delish!
I love making my own bread, it's actually my favourite part of baking! I used to be super scared of yeast, because I'd always get bricks instead of bread when I baked. But one day, I decided to give croissants a go (the flaky ones!) and I'd never got bread right, but my croissants turned out perfect... Since then, I've conquered my fear of yeast and now I always tend to get decent loaves, I love it so so so much!
Have a nice day :-*
I think croissants might be the holy grail of baking, lol! If you can get those right, then there's nothing you can't do! I've never tried baking them, but they've been in the back of my mind for a while... those and puff pastry, too. Maybe one day! xx
If I substituted blueberries in the bread instead of the blackberries ~ would that change the baking procress?
Sorry ~ I meant the baking process not procress....
I think blueberries would be fantastic! Just note that I've used jam, not fresh fruit. Maybe fresh berries could work though...? You'll have to let me know if you give it a try. Hope you enjoy! 😀
Allie: I was going to use Polaner Blueberry Spreadable Fruit naturally sweetened with fruit juice (it's one of my favorites) it's a jam texture with the actually berries in it. Will let you know during the Fall if it turns out good.
Please do! I think the spreadable fruit would work wonderfully. Thanks so much for reading!
"It’s a little detail but it adds so much!"
Bread, in a nutshell 🙂
I'm a novice when it comes to bread baking, but I have a feeling you're right on the money, Mike!
After about 12 years of bread baking I assure you it's dead on 🙂 The variety you can create with merely water, flour, yeast and salt is staggering.
Of course, I can't cook anything ELSE.
Wow that looks absolutely delicious, definitely trying this sometime!
Thanks, Eric! I couldn't believe how easy the dough was and how tasty it all turned out! Thanks for stopping by! 😀
Oh, Allie, you have done it again! This looks out of this world good! I am so glad you couldn't get this combination out of your head because we get to reap the benefits. Now I have to work up my courage to make bread 🙂 I am not afraid of working with yeast but for some reason an actual loaf of bread makes me sweat just a little. Pinning this dream boat!
Hey Amy! I felt the same way about loaf bread, but found this to be completely goof-proof. I'm so happy you enjoyed the post! And thanks for pinning! xoxo